Travis Perkins resumes dividends as trading rallies

2nd Jul 2010 07:16

Builders' merchant Travis Perkins has seen a strong rebound in trading since March. The Wickes owner now expects the first half to beat expectations while dividends will resume again with a 5p interim.Group revenue for the six months ended 30 June was up by 4.7%, with like-for-like sales up 3.4%. Like-for-like turnover in the last two months was 10.3% ahead in Merchanting and in the last 9 weeks 1.6% ahead in Retail.Merchanting Division revenue increased by 6.1% including like-for-like growth of 5.3%. The increase in like-for-like sales was split 4.5% for General Merchanting and 5.8% for Specialist Merchanting.Retail sales for the 26-week period increased by 2.1%, with like-for-like sales declining by 0.4% compared to the same period in 2009."Given our pleasing trading performance in the first half we now anticipate recommencing the payment of dividends although initially we will be basing this off a conservative level of cover," chief executive Geoff Cooper said."Our objective is to grow the dividend ahead of earnings to reduce the current level of cover over the medium term," he added.Cooper also said the group would "shortly" give an update on progress on its £550m takeover approach to BSS Group.