Housing recovery boosts profit at builders merchant Travis Perkins
TRAVIS Perkins enjoyed a 12.4 per cent rise in profits last year as the recovery in the housing market helped boost building activity in the UK.
Adjusted profit before tax rose to £321m for the year to 31 December while earnings per share were up 14.3 per cent to 103.6p, ahead of analysts forecasts.
Revenue climbed to over £5bn, with annual growth of five per cent on a like-for-like basis, thanks to rising confidence, driven in part by the government’s Help to Buy scheme.
Chief executive John Carter, said: “2013 was another good year for Travis Perkins and the momentum in the second half of last year has continued into 2014.”
However, Travis Perkins noted that the UK market for building and construction materials was still, in December 2013, 13 per cent below the peak levels of 2008.
Consumer markets were restrained towards the end of the year when they began to show signs of growth.
The company also benefited from modestly higher than expected property profits on disposals completed at the end of the year.
The final dividend was up 24 per cent to 21p.