Investors in Travis Perkins seem a hard bunch to please. Give them a profit upgrade and what do they do? Mark the builders merchant’s shares down straight off the bat. But they are right to be cautious.
On the face of it, conditions for the business are breezy enough: the combination of housebuilders and construction companies playing catch-up, together with a DIY boom from bored homeowners, has lifted sales ahead of 2019 levels. Like-for-like revenue was up 14.2 per cent during the third quarter and was 13.3 per cent ahead of the pre-pandemic figure. After banking £40 million in profit from the sale of property, too, adjusted operating profit is expected to be at least £340 million this year, £30 million higher than was
