By Roger Baird, Press Association City Staff
The owner of DIY chain Wickes warned over profits after slow summer trading and a cooler housing market.
Northampton-based builder's merchant Travis Perkins said group like-for-like sales in the third quarter lifted 2.6%, although sales by volume across all of its businesses were impacted by a weaker July and August after slowing housing transactions.
The group - which has almost 2,000 UK outlets including Wickes, Toolstation and City Plumbing - said it now expected full-year earnings to be at the lower end of City expectations. Shares slipped more than 7%.
However, the builder's merchant said it had seen a gradual improvement in trading in September, which continued into the first half in October.
At Wickes, the group said the DIY market declined in July and remained weak in August, although trading picked up over the last two months.
The group added trading continued to outperform the general repair and maintenance market.
Chief executive John Carter said: "Whilst we planned for a modest reduction in repair-maintenance-and-improvement markets through the summer given the slowdown in secondary housing transactions towards the end of 2014 and early part of 2015, we saw weaker market demand than anticipated."
He said this slowdown dampened growth across all of its businesses.
Mr Carter added: "We indicated earlier in the year that we expected volumes to pick-up during the second half and October trading so far has seen a recovery in volumes."
Analysts at Liberum said: "The stock has been weak over the last two months, as market has sensed slower conditions, and the market will be encouraged by a better October."
Travis Perkins is 18 months into a five-year group investment programme, and in March announced it would open 400 new Wickes branches creating 4,000 jobs over the next four years at a cost of up to £200 million.
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