Travis Perkins accelerates plans to sell Wickes
Builders merchant Travis Perkins has stepped up its plans for a £500m spin-off of DIY retailer Wickes.
Travis Perkins has begun to prepare to demerge Wickes next year by separating the retailer’s IT systems from the rest of the group, the Sunday Times reported.
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The project is reportedly being led by Travis Perkins chief financial officer Alan Williams.
Last year the company said it would explore a future sale of the struggling Wickes brand in order to focus on its core business.
It said it would aim to strengthen the company’s performance in the short term but would “look to review the options for maximising the value of Wickes in the medium term”.
Former Tesco executive David Wood has been brought in to replace Wickes chief executive Simon King after the company’s operating profit suffered a drop of almost a third to £69m over the past two years.
In a first quarter trading update in May the company said it had begun to see a good recovery in Wickes, with 10.5 per cent like-for-like sales growth.
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The company said the results followed a “strong turnaround in kitchen and bathroom performance.”
In a statement yesterday a Travis Perkins spokesperson said: “ As the group stated at its capital markets update in December 2018, we continue to prioritise improving the performance of Wickes to create optionality to maximise value over the medium term.”