The do-it-yourself chain Wickes started trading as an independent FTSE 250 company last week, after demerging from the building supplies company Travis Perkins. The split was meant to take place last year but was put on hold in March 2020 as the first wave of the pandemic sent markets spiralling.
Travis Perkins had been aiming to offload Wickes through a sale or demerger since 2018, after profits slid as DIY fell out of favour with a younger generation of homeowners. However, despair was premature, as Britons of all ages took up home improvement during the lockdowns. According to research by Wickes’ rival B&Q, 86 per cent of people took on a DIY project between March 2020 and March 2021.
So Wickes, which sells to trade
