FTSE 250 movers: Travis Perkins, Workspace slip

(Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 (MCX) 21,947.79 -0.33% Building materials group Travis Perkins slumped despite reporting a return to underlying sales growth in its third quarter, as actions taken to "sharpen the competitive proposition" in its merchanting operations paid off.

Like-for-like sales over the three months to 30 September were 1.8% higher than last year, following a 1.2% decline in the first half.

Factoring in the 1.4% negative impact from network changes and a 0.1% hit from the lower number of trading days this year, group headline revenues grew by just 0.3% on last year.

Merchanting saw a swing to 1.7% LFL revenue growth, as a 2.5% improvement in volumes was partly offset by a 0.8% hit by price and product mix. That's a stark improvement from the first half when LFL revenues fell by 2.1%.

Conditions in the General Merchant business have improved, but trading in the Specialist Merchants' markets remains "subdued", the company said.

Over at Toolstation, Travis Perkins' other division, LFL sales growth remained solid at 2.3%, thought slightly down from the 2.9% registered in the first six months of the year, though the company said actions were being taken to drive further margin improvement.

"In what remains a highly competitive market, we have invested in pricing and targeted promotions and will continue to do so in the near-term," said chair Geoff Drabble.

That puts year-to-date LFL sales growth at -0.2%

Flexible workspace operator Workspace Group fell as it posted a 2.3% decline in like-for-like occupancy, dropping to 80% in the second quarter, largely due to customer vacations at The Centro Buildings.

Like-for-like rent roll was down 3.2% in the quarter to £107.1m, while total first-half rent roll decreased by 3.9% to £134m. Like-for-like rent per square foot edged up 0.1% to £47.55.

The FTSE 250-listed firm stated that it had completed 326 new lettings during the period, generating £7.3m in annual rental value, and said it had exchanged or completed £52.4m of non-core asset disposals, 1.6% below March 2025 book value, with a combined net initial yield of 3.5%.

Net debt rose £20m to £833m, while cash and undrawn facilities stood at £167m.