Insider Media Limited

Northampton-based Travis Perkins says its acquisition of the Leicester-based BSS Group is expected to complete later today. It comes after the Office of Fair Trading agreed that the builders merchant can sell off 20 branches to complete the takeover of its rival. Meanwhile, in a trading update, Travis Perkins reported a 6.5 per cent rise in turnover for the 11 months to the end of November compared to the equivalent period in 2009.

The company said it continues to gain like-for-like market share in both its merchanting and retail divisions.

It said turnover for the first 11 months of 2010 in its merchanting division was up 8.3 per cent with like-for-like turnover per trading day up 7.8 per cent.

Like-for-like turnover per trading day for the last two months to 30 November increased 10.5 per cent.

Gross margins for the second half of the year to date are said to be in line with the trend of the first six months, slightly below last year.

In its general merchanting business, total turnover for the first 11 months of 2010 was up 7.6 per cent, with like-for-like turnover per trading day up 7.2 per cent.

The company said: "Whilst the most recent two months' trading has seen a continuation of both satisfactory market growth and market share gains, the exceptionally poor weather at the begining of December is expected to have some impact on our sales trends and financial performance for the last month of the year.

"With our continuing focus on cash generation, underlying net debt, before the impact of the acquisition of The BSS Group, has reduced in the fourth quarter from the £410m reported at 30 June 2010. There has been no material change to the financial condition of the business.

"These trends mean that our outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged from that stated in our June interim results announcement made in July.

"Our acquisition of The BSS Group plc is expected to complete later today, 14 December."