Travis Perkins reports strong sales growth for the first quarter of 2014 ending March 31, with like-for-like sales up by 12.7%.
The company says this strong growth was helped by a comparatively weaker 2013 and the bad weather experienced last year, but overall trading was consistent with what was predicted at the start of the year.

The consumer division, which largely comprises of Wickes, saw like-for-like sales grow by 6.9%.

The company reports: "Within the consumer division sales growth for Toolstation and the Wickes core proposition was strong. However, the kitchen and bathroom categories in Wickes were impacted by significant promotional activity in this market."

Chief executive, John Carter said: "All of our businesses recorded strong sales growth in the first quarter of 2014 and lead indicators for our different markets are encouraging and performing and we remain on course to meet our targets set out in February.

"We are confident that the plans we have in place will support our drive to outperform our markets, improve earnings and ultimately increase return on capital. Our priorities remain to accelerate innovation of our customer propositions, expand and optimise our property network, exploit our scale advantage and prioritise investments throughout the portfolio."

In February Travis Perkins reported that for the year ending December 31 2013 revenue grew by 6.3% to £5.1bn, but profits within the consumer division dipped by 2.7% to £63m.

To help boost profit this year, the company has started to roll out parts of its strategic plan which was outlined in December.

A new online platform for Wickes will see customers benefit from improved functionality and click and collect options.

Expansion of the company's portfolio was also key and since the beginning of the year 39 new stores and branches have opened, including 34 Toolstation and Benchmarx operations which have opened within existing Wickes and Travis Perkins branches.