National retailer Wickes continues to report poor results for its design & installation business, despite assurances that the ongoing decline is now “stabilising”.
In its recent Q3 trading update (which covers the 13 weeks leading up to September 28), Wickes reported design & install revenue of £79.2m, representing a decline of 7.1%.
Though this is still a less than ideal result for Wickes, the retailer says design & install revenue decline is “stabilising”, as Q1 and Q2 saw a worse decline of 17.3% and 16.7%, respectively.
Like-for-like revenue decline is following the same quarterly trend, but is significantly worse than the quarterly results. Q3’s like-for-like revenue decline is reported as 13.3%, which has recovered slightly from the previous quarter’s 18.9% result.
Despite recovering slightly this quarter, Wickes’ year-to-date revenue for design & install is reported at £245.9m, which represents a worrying 14.1% decline across the year so far.
Wickes said that the poor design & install sales “reflect the continued challenging environment for larger ticket purchases”. The retailer did say that although project orders were lower than during the same period last year, it had seen design & install orders become “more stable” in recent weeks.
Elsewhere, Wickes reported strong growth across its total retail sales. Q3 saw Wickes generate an impressive £312.1m in revenue, representing a 4.7% increase over last quarter. This is an encouraging return to form for the national retailer, as the previous quarters saw growth of just 1.9% and 0.3% respectively.
Looking at Wickes’ revenue across the year to date, the retailer has generated £945.3m, which represents revenue growth of 2.2% – or 1.8% like-for-like growth.
Within retail sales, Wickes said its TradePro business continued its robust performance, with this quarter’s sales up by 16% year-on-year. In addition, the retailer said its number of active TradePro members had increased by 18% year-on-year, to 564,000.
In its latest trading update, Wickes said it believed retail sales were boosted by customers wanting to catch up on outdoor projects delayed by the wet weather seen across the country earlier this year. It also said it expects this “pent-up demand” to subside during Q4.
Continuing a trend Wickes reported earlier in the year, it said that DIY sales remain in “moderate” decline, as it believes customers are continuing to focus on smaller projects.
David Wood, chief executive of Wickes, commented: “Our excellent value and service-led offer keeps home improvers coming back to Wickes. We’ve seen pleasing further progress in Retail, successfully growing volumes and increasing market share, driven by a particularly strong performance in TradePro.”
He also added, “We remain on track for the full year and are well positioned for 2025 and beyond.”
Earlier this year, Wickes announced that it was looking to cut 200 design roles across the UK, as the company said it was looking to reduce its number of kitchen and bathroom advisors.
In other news, Wickes also recently released its Great Bathroom Report, which reported that customer spending on bathroom products has increased by more than 80% over the last three years.
