Travis Perkins ‘very capably’ dealing with supply issues as it upgrades profits

The building materials firm, which also owns Toolstation, said disruption to its customer service has been ‘minimal’.

Building materials firm Travis Perkins increased its profit targets and said it is navigating supply chain challenges ‘very capably’ (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Archive)

Building materials firm Travis Perkins said it is navigating supply chain challenges “very capably” as it increased its profit targets.

However, shares in the company dipped despite the third profit upgrade in five months.

The UK construction sector has seen recent rapid growth threatened by soaring raw material prices and supply chain disruption amid global sourcing issues and logistics problems in the UK.

Nevertheless, Travis Perkins, which also owns Toolstation, said disruption to its customer service has been “minimal”.

Chief executive Nick Roberts said: “The group has delivered a strong performance in the third quarter and is navigating well-documented supply chain and cost inflation challenges very capably.

“End-market demand remains robust and we are confident that we are in a strong position to deliver future growth.”

It came as Travis Perkins reported like-for-like sales growth of 13.1% for the third quarter of 2021, compared with the same period last year, buoyed by 15.3% growth in its merchanting business as demand remained “robust”.

The company’s board said it now expects that adjusted operating profit for the year will be “ahead of current market expectations” and at least £340 million.

Mr Roberts added: “As outlined at our investor update in September, the focus of the group is to enhance our market-leading propositions to win share and to provide new value-added services to our customers as the construction process evolves to improve quality, drive efficiency and reduce carbon and waste.”

Shares in the business were 2.8% lower at 1,539.7p after early trading on Thursday.