Jobs to go at Travis Perkins as construction downturn hits business

Builders merchant Travis Perkins is set to make redundancies after it said that the uncertainty surrounding the economy had gone on for longer than it originally planned for.

The Northants-based giant hasn’t disclosed to TheBusinessDesk.com how many jobs will be lost, but says it wants to make the business “leaner and simpler”.

The news comes after profits fell by almost a third for the six months to June – down 31% to £112m; a performance it blamed on weak domestic and new build markets. Revenues also fell by 2% to £2.47bn.

A spokesperson told TheBusinessDesk.com: ““Challenging market conditions have continued for longer than anticipated and the uncertain economic outlook continues to impact across our industry.

“In the current trading environment, we are proposing some changes across our businesses that will ensure we are leaner, simpler, more customer focused and more agile.

“Unfortunately, these changes will mean that some colleagues will be leaving the business.

“Individual consultations remain ongoing and we are therefore unable to comment further.”

Travis Perkins said it will redeploy as many “displaced” staff as possible and that it is looking at alternative ways of reducing roles.