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Wickes has announced that its profit-before-tax soared by 71.7% to £85m in FY21, up from £49.5m the year before, as it hailed a “year of excellent growth”.
In the period ended 1 January 2022, the group also welcomed a revenue rise of 14% to £1.53bn, up from £1.35bn in 2020, while like-for-like sales rose by 13% against 2020 and 18.6% against 2019.
The group said this “significant outperformance” saw it grow at over twice the rate of the market, supported by range development, an enhanced service proposition and a strong digital performance.
It also said it has a strengthened trade position in the period, with over 80,000 new TradePro customers, taking this base to over 630,000.
Wickes noted that the strength of its market position and returns has given it confidence to accelerate investment to drive growth, investing an incremental £15m per year. The group will now be accelerating its store refit programme, and has also identified new store opportunities, with potential for up to 20 new stores over the next five years.
David Wood, CEO, said: “I am delighted to report a year of excellent growth. Our performance is testament to the resilience and hard work of our colleagues, our strong supplier relationships, uniquely balanced business model and market leading customer proposition.
“Our strategy is delivering strong growth and return on investment. The results we are seeing, plus these strong returns, give us confidence to accelerate our investments to drive further growth.”
He added: “Looking ahead, we expect to continue outperforming the market and are well-placed to capitalise on the ongoing requirement for home improvement – namely an ageing housing stock, favourable consumer trends, and the increased focus on insulating and retrofitting homes.
“While we recognise the pressure that consumers will be facing in 2022, we have the right model, a strong pipeline and order book, and remain confident of making further progress in the current year driven by a material increase in DIFM revenues.”
