Welcome to the April 2025 edition of Moorgate Management’s Merchant Matters, where we look at current trends, news and related stories from around the builders’ merchant and building materials supply industry to help bring you and your business the information you need to develop your business and navigate the challenges that lie ahead.


Monthly Market Review

The monthly macro trends continued to be seen, with the Glenigan | Powered by Hubexo April 25 Construction Review showing a fall in Q1-25, with the value of project starts dropping 4% compared to the previous three months and falling 21% year-on-year, partly driven by Gateway delays. Click here to read more.

Similarly, when looking at the latest housing starts and completions published by Office for National Statistics (ONS), these show that in 2024 that housing starts were 30.8% lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2029, and 25.7% lower than in 2023. When looking at completions, the picture is slightly more positive, with a total of 184,390 dwellings completing in 2024, being 13.9% less than pre pandemic levels in 2019, and 5.3% fewer than in 2023. These fall considerably below the government’s stated ambition of building 300,000 dwellings per annum. To read the full report click here.

In contrast, the S&P Global Flash PMI numbers for Mar-25 showed a remotely positive sign, with quarterly GDP growth of 0.1%. However, with employment continuing to be cut ahead of the NMW and er NI changes, confidence was still running close to January’s two year low. To learn more click here.

Looking forward, the Spring forecast from the Construction Products Association shows that after two challenging years impacting new build and RMI, total construction output is forecast to grow by 1.9% in 2025 and 3.7% in 2026 – being a slight revision downwards from their previous Winter forecast. This was attributed to a slow start in Q1-25, higher inflation and subdued consumer and business confidence. Click here to learn more.

This is underpinned by the potential opportunity that exists within RMI, highlighted by the latest research from Impact Data Metrics Ltd estimating that the UK housing retrofit bill could hit £118bn to bring UK homes up to 2030 government benchmark EPC level C energy efficiency standards. To read more click here.

Similarly for new build, the 300,000 homes per annum opportunity exists, and is supported by Government initiatives such as the Home Building Fund (to partner with private sector funding including HSBC) to help housebuilders deliver these Click here to learn more. In addition, targeted funding to help small and medium sized housebuilders is now in place, in the form of the Greener Homes Alliance 2 fund targeting sustainable homes. To read more click here.

Trading updates from customers across each section of the Built Environment continued to show a mixed set of results.

For Tier 1 Contractors, Balfour Beatty plc delivered upbeat results for 2024 with underlying profits from operations up 7% at £252m (to read more click here), where in stark contrast Wates Group saw its pre-tax profits drop over 90% to £2.6m based on “difficult market conditions”. Click here to learn more.

In positive signs for housebuilding, Bellway Homes Interim results showed an 11.9% increase in operating profit to £156m, coupled with a similar 11.9% increase in homes completed in the period to 4,577. To read more click here. Similar positive sentiment was seen from Persimmon Homes in its full-year results, with completions up 7% to 10,644 homes and underlying pre tax profits up 10% to £395m. Click here to learn more. In contrast, regional housebuilder Allison Homes reported completions down 8% at 392, and a pre-tax loss of £3.4m on turnover of £97.7m, reducing from prior year losses of £7.3m. To read more click here.

Within facilities management, Mears Group PLC reported a 37% increase in profit before tax to £64.1m and a 20% increase in its order book to £3.0bn, highlighting strong commercial and operation performance supporting the housing sector. Click here to learn more.

Housing associations are also showing positive signs, with Clarion Housing Group results to Mar-25 showing a net surplus before tax up 14% to £94m and a 12% increase in homes completed to 1,727. To read more click here. Similarly, Southern Housing reported a 15% increase in its operating surplus, with 807 homes completed to £124m despite a claim submitted against Henley Construct following its administration. Click here to learn more.

Consolidation through M&A activity continued with both inward and outward investment.

Within the retrofit space, M Group‘s acquisition of Aran Group expands its offering in the energy efficiency and social housing retrofit market, alongside its previously acquired Agility Eco. To read more click here. With its acquisition of repairs and maintenance contractor EBS Construction, Glasgow groundworker M Squared will expand its offering to customers and joint capability. Click here to learn more.

Inward investment from Malaysian IJM Corporation Berhad into JRL Group Ltd supports IJM’s existing JV with Network Rail and provides access to JR:’s full service delivery model. To read more click here. Outward investment by Murphy, with a 40% stake in Australian contractor Abergeldie Complex Infrastructure, follows similar JVs in Canada and acquisitions in the US as it continues to develop a global presence. Click here to learn more.

Interestingly, similar to trends being seen within the merchant space, Gilbert-Ash has become the latest contractor to transition into employee ownership with a sale to its Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). Click here to read more.

The trends within both contractor and housebuilder insolvencies sadly continue, with the highest number of insolvencies in the 12 months to Jan-25 at 4,031. To learn more click here. Recent examples include Housing maintenance contractor Breyer Group and Taggart Homes.


The Merchant View

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The Jan-25 Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) highlighted like-for-like sales of -(2.5%) in the month, driven by flat sales volumes at +0.0% and price deflation of -(2.3%) in the month, with the last three months from Nov-24 to Jan-25 being -(1.9%) lower like for like against the same period last year, with volume sales up +1.3% and prices down -(3.1%). Looking at product categories, tools (+2.4%) and Heavy Building materials -(1.2%) outperformed the index like for like, with decorating being the worst performing category at -(6.3%). Click here to read more.

Showing more positive signs supported by seasonality, the Jan-25 Plumbing & Heating Merchant Index (PHMI) showed like-for-like sales at +0.7% compared to prior year, with sales volume up +6.4% set against price deflation of -(5.3%). The last three months showed a slightly worse position, with -(2.0%) like-for-like sales for the period from Nov-24 to Jan-25 driven by +3.8% sales volumes offset by -(5.6%) price deflation. Interestingly, the report highlights the drop in consumer confidence for the coming 12 months compared to last year, driving a negative sentiment in demand. To learn more click here.

At the time of publishing, the timber data for Jan-25 had not yet been published by Timber Development UK.

The positive trend being seen within renewables has continued, with the latest data from MCS showing that Mar-25 has been the best month to date regarding installations, with 31,000 installations in the month, up 49% on prior year. Of these, a record 5,604 installations related to heat pumps, supported by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Click here to read more.

Based on these macro trading conditions, merchant trading updates have shown a mixed picture:

Having previously delayed publishing of their results, national Travis Perkins plc published its Q1-25 results showing a -(2.1%) like-for-like sales performance, driven by -(3.2%) from its merchant business and +3.7% from Toolstation. To read more click here.

In contrast, MKM Building Supplies results for the year showed a +6.3% growth in revenue for the year to Sep-24 and a -(12.5%) decrease in profits, although not on a like-for-like basis, having opened 11 new branches in the year. Click here to learn more.

H1-25 results to Mar-25 from Victorian Plumbing showed a +6% increase in revenue and a +3% increase in adjusted profit before tax although not like for like, following its acquisition of Victoria Plum in May-24. To read more click here.

The trading update from KBB merchant Howdens for the 16 weeks to Apr-25 showed like-for-like (same depot basis) revenue was +1.4% for the period (after implementing price increases at the start of the year). Interestingly, their international branches’ like-for-like performance for the same period was +14.8%. Click here to read the update.

The trend in builders’ merchants insolvencies continued with Mar-25 seeing a record 69% increase in insolvencies as published by Insight Data (to learn more click here). Businesses closing included Shropshire-based JC Dyke Supplies and Leicester-based HAC Pipeline Supplies.

With the current interest rate environment remaining high, the level of acquisitions remains subdued, with an interesting bolt on to Grafton Group plc‘s Irish Chadwicks Group being the acquisition of HSS Hire Ireland to compliment its existing 23 location Sam Hire business (click here to read more). In an interesting example of vertical integration, Northern Irish contractor CosyGroup has acquired J. & W. MCCALL SUPPLIES (N.I.) LIMITED in a move aimed to widen its supply chain for its construction operations. Click here to read more.

In contrast, there is significant investment in new branches from less leveraged regional independent merchants. Bradfords Building Supplies Ltd opened its new branch in Barnstaple, Lords Builders Merchants opened its new branch incorporating Advance Roofing Supplies in Bicester, AW Lumb Ltd opened its third branch in Mansfield, MP Moran opened its new branch in Tottenham and Eurocell plc set out its five-year organic branch opening strategy with a new branch to open in Winchester.

In an interesting sale and leaseback of four of its branches to GEMPOINT 2000 LIMITED, of which Lords Group Real Estate is the PSC, Lords Builders Merchants will use the sale proceeds to reduce group borrowings. To learn more click here.


The Suppliers View

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Supplier consolidation continues with some very innovative combinations taking place.

Carron Bathrooms Ltd‘s acquisition by Brand K Group/Kartell UK Ltd. provides a broadening of the Brand K offering and is supported by new production facilities in China and Spain. Click here to read more.

In an interesting partnership to provide customers with a solution offering, roofing tile manufacturer Northstone (NI) Limited has partnered with Onduline Building Products Limited to provide a joint solution in the low pitched roofing market. To learn more click here.

In a move mirroring inward investment within customers, Northern Ireland’s W.& R. BARNETT, LIMITED has acquired a majority shareholding in Symphony Kitchens, designed to strengthen its position in the KBB market. Click here to read more.

Supplier trading updates continue to demonstrate resilience within the manufacturing part of the sector.

Heavy-side manufacturer Forterra PLC‘s results for the four months to Apr-25 showed a 22% growth in revenue for the period, in both their bricks and blocks and bespoke products offerings, with brick despatches for the period to Mar-25 up 17%. Click here to learn more.

Timber wise, Stora Enso‘s Q1-25 trading update showed that both sales were up +9% as well as adjusted EBITDA increasing for the fourth consecutive quarter by 17% on prior year, helping to support its planned acquisition of Finnish sawmill Junnikkala Oy. To learn more click here.

Bathroom manufacturer Geberit reported a 5% growth in sales for Q1-25 with pre-tax profits up +0.7% and indicating a positive outlook in demand, expecting the industry to stabilise through the course of 2025. Click here to read in detail.

The positive sentiment being signalled by suppliers through announcing investments in capability continues.

Russell Roof Tiles has announced a £100,000 capital investment in its production facilities in injection moulding machines, to further improve efficiency at its Burton on Trent facilities. To learn more click here.

Following its £2.7m series ‘A funding round’, ADAPTAVATE has announced a strategic partnership with SigmaRoc plc designed to scale the low-carbon walling technology by leveraging SigmaRoc‘s position as a leading limestone player. Click here to read more.


Merchant Buying Groups

An interesting move by two of the privately owned buying groups, IBC Buying Group and The IPG, who have developed a partnership to support the independent merchant trade sector – providing unified support, increased visibility and a fresh marketing approach to put local businesses front and centre and noting that “when independents thrive, communities flourish” – social value in action. To learn more click here.

In an interesting move using a proven solution, NMBS, together with the Builders Merchants Federation Ltd, have appointed Proplanet PIM (now called Omiteo) as the technology provider for the Industry Data Pool (IDP) JV previously announced. Having been used by the Electrical Distributors’​ Association (EDA) for their data pool for the last five years, synergies in implementation and cost should hopefully be realised by eventual users of the data. Click here to read more.

With the continued growth of volume in the UK through NMBS OnePlace, with order values now in excess of £686m, it is interesting to see the parallels with North America and Canada, where the market-leading LBMX Supply Cloud now has over US$5.7bn of invoices processed with its similar “one to many” Procurement to Pay (P2P) approach, showing the value that the NMBS OnePlace solution provides to independent merchants.


Industry Trade Associations

In an positive step by Timber Development UK to support the industry’s move to provide visibility to sustainability data, they have launched a collaboration with 2050 Materials to provide their members with real time access to EPDs, LCAs and embodied carbon insights via their platform, tools and API integrations. To learn more click here.

In a parallel move, Timber Development UK has also published its Embodied Carbon data for Timber products , giving independently verified weighted average carbon data for the 10 major timber product categories. Click here to read more.

The latest manifesto for 2025 to 2027 from the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, entitled “Putting Education, Sustainability, Conservation and Safeguarding at its Core”, provides an aligned view with its peers, particularly regarding the skills gap and apprenticeships, helping Government see a cohesive approach to help our industry address and overcome this critical barrier. To read more click here.

In a similar way, the National Federation of Builders has supported the planned expansion of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which will provide customers with greater choice and for the merchants, along with the planned 18,000 more trained retrofit installers, sales and customer opportunities. To learn more click here.

With an increased momentum now being seen, Donaldson Timber Engineering and ARC Building Solutions join other merchants, distributors and suppliers who have undertaken Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) accreditation. To learn more click here and here.


Merchant Insights

Helping your customers to grow their business will lead to both greater loyalty and greater revenue and margin and can take many different forms.

Jewson reported a surge in its sustainable products offering over the last 12 months, including examples where renewable heating systems up 60% compared to prior year, and high efficiency insulation sales being up 12% on prior year. To learn more click here.

Embracing this trend, Wolseley Group opened its first renewables centre for installers in Shrewsbury, with a key focus on helping train installers with MCS-certified system design, support and product access. Several others are planned to follow, with the next being in Swansea, but the support being offered to customers for DNO approvals and Boiler Upgrade Scheme applications is a very positive sign. Click here to read more.

Stimulating end-user demand (as Worcester did with its television ads) can often have significant benefits, and the latest innovation from Nesta and the MCS Foundation (www.getaheatpump.org.uk) is trying to do just that, helping educate end users on heat pumps. This is a valuable tool available for merchants to promote with their customers who serve the end user. To learn more click here.

Helping customers with estimating is a well travelled path by independents and nationals alike, with the most recent example being with Jewson ‘s relaunching of its Project Estimator service (previously called Build Aviator), which not only saves customers time but also builds loyalty with the merchant who is estimating for them. To read more click here.

Another example is provided by Toolstation, which has partnered with Superscript to offer a tailored digital insurance solutions. Linked to its Toolstation Club membership, the offering not only helps their customers to grow their business, but reinforces loyalty with them as a fixed price merchant. Click here to read more.

Not only do “people buy from people”, but people also sell products that they understand. Training your colleagues on products is one of the quickest wins, whether using your valued suppliers to do so in branch, often alongside customers too. Where this is not practical, e-learning can play a pivotal role, whether through the Builders Merchants Federation Ltd Campus with its Building Blocks series or through suppliers, CPD-based courses provide an extra level of insight. Several examples, including the Aco Group Merchant Academy, show the opportunities available, together with a Building Regulations-based CPD module, including enhancing thermal performance from Rockwool.

Understanding where to look for new business can often prove difficult, and understanding frameworks and looking to become approved suppliers is not always readily considered by a lot of merchants. To support specific frameworks referred to in previous editions of this newsletter (such as Procurement for Housing and Fusion21 ), this excellent article from Thornton & Lowe sets out how the Crown Commercial Service Frameworks work, how to become an approved supplier and equally importantly, the opportunities available to merchants by doing so. To learn more click here.


Merchant Case Studies

With the increased insolvencies being experienced amongst customers, the importance of a merchant’s credit management processes has never been so key. Being able to manage the risk of non payment, collect the cash from customers and maintain a relationship with them is a very difficult aim to achieve.

Moorgate have shared their experiences with their clients with advice on how to set credit policies, evaluate and grant customers credit through to setting limits and how to manage when customers do not pay. To learn more click here.


If you’d like to learn more about any of the topics covered and how Moorgate Management can help you to grow, adapt or turnaround your business, contact us today or call 07767 291 379.

We hope you have enjoyed the content and thank you for reading.