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Wickes: Share price jumps as recovery gets underway

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Retail Reporter

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Wickes has entered the FTSE 250 after its stock price has soared 35 per cent in the last three months
Wickes has entered the FTSE 250 after its stock price has soared 35 per cent in the last three months

Wickes has reported an uptick in the revenue for the second half of the year, driven by small retail purchases and lower losses in its installation segment.

The company’s share rose more than 10 per cent in early trades.

Revenue at the home improvement firm rose by 1.8 per cent in the six months ending December 28, to £738.9m.

This was driven by growth in its retail segment, with revenue up three per cent year on year to £579.1m “despite challenging market conditions”.

Wickes said sales were driven by volume growth, with deflation of around two per cent in the second half of the year.

The company added that TradePro sales, a retail membership program for tradespeople in the UK, rose 14 per cent year on year, while active TradePro members increased by 19 per cent year on year to 581,000. 

In Wickes’ second key segment, design and installation, revenue fell 2.5 per cent to £159.7m.

Wickes has been struggling with demand for larger-ticket items like installations, with revenue down 17 per cent in the first half of the year.

“While the market environment for larger ticket purchases remains challenging and the outlook uncertain, the changes we [have] made to the business enabled ordered sales to move into year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter,” Wickes said.

Wickes’ new store in Leamington Spa opened in October, its fourth new store for the year.  The company refitted a further two stores.

Chief executive David Wood said: “Wickes’ differentiated model continues to deliver. We’ve grown sales and volumes in Retail, and TradePro had yet another period of double-digit sales growth, as local tradespeople continue to choose us to save them time and money.  

“Meanwhile, measures we took to improve our offer in Design & Installation have enabled us to return to ordered sales growth.  

“We expect to deliver FY24 profit towards the upper end of the forecast range and looking to the year ahead we are well positioned to outperform the market as we continue to invest in our strategic growth levers.”