Travis Perkins loss triples as construction weakness and impairments bite

Travis Perkins has reported a deeper full-year pre-tax loss due to weak construction activity and impairments among some of its subsidiaries.

The UK’s largest building materials supplier saw its statutory pre-tax loss more than triple from £38.4m to £134.7m in the year to 31 December 2025.

Revenue was stable at £4.56bn, down by 0.9 per cent on the previous year’s £4.61bn.

Chief executive Gavin Slark said the loss was “primarily due to accounting impairments” from the group’s “perennially loss-making” Toolstation Benelux business and “some of the smaller merchanting businesses in the UK” such as the CCF drylining subsidiary.

He added that the firm’s adjusted operating profit of £133.4m – down from the previous year’s £151.8m – aligned with market expectations.

Today’s announcement described a “challenging market backdrop for UK construction activity”, with lower trading volumes in Travis Perkins’ core Merchanting division in London and the South East.

This continued a trend seen earlier in the year, when Travis Perkins chair Geoff Drabble described a “difficult” first quarter with a loss of market share and revenue decrease in the Merchanting division.

Travis Perkins held £7.2m in short-term loans and borrowings, while long-term debt was stable at £419.4m compared to £421.8m in 2024.

Net cash before leases totalled £1m – marking the first positive total for almost 30 years, according to today’s Stock Exchange announcement.

And the firm’s liquidity improved with cash at hand almost doubling from £244.4m to £426.9m in the course of the year.

This gives Travis Perkins “very substantial liquidity headroom” in the short term, said Slark, who joined the group as chief executive this January.

But directors recommend a lower final dividend of £15.8m compared with £19.1m in 2024.

“The trading environment since the start of the year has remained subdued and this reflects a continuation of the weak UK construction activity figures reported for the final quarter of 2025,” the firm said in its results announcement.

Slark said the group will focus on blending “a branch-based, sales-led culture with a disciplined approach on margin, on costs and on capital allocation”.

He described the next few months as “a potentially rocky road to travel” given the ongoing Middle East conflict.

“I think in terms of the direct impact of the conflict at the moment on our business this year, a lot of our UK-based suppliers would be quite energy intensive, so we anticipate some pricing pressure coming through from higher energy costs from our supplier base.”