Specialist plumbing and heating merchants’ value sales in May were more than double the previous year, up 111.6%, unadjusted for trading days.

The Plumbing & Heating Merchant Index (PHMI) report, published in July, stated sales in the three months March to May 2021 were 81.8% higher than the same period last year.

This figure was helped not only by an extra day’s trading and a fully open market.

Sponsored Video

Quarter sawn Tulipwood

However, sales were also up on the same three months of 2019 (+6.1%), with no difference in trading days.

It follows on from a strong April for the plumbing and heating merchant sector, where value sales were nearly triple on the previous year.

Month-on-month, total sales were slightly below April (-4.3%), with one less trading day in May 2021 and average sales were just 0.7% higher in May.

While the data points largely to the continuation of a strong post-pandemic recovery, May 2021 sales were flat (-0.1%) against the same period in 2019, a more normal year.

Average sales a day however, with two less trading days this year, were 10.4% up on May 2019.

Year to date sales (January to May 2021) were up 36.5% on the same period last year, with one less trading day, and 3% ahead on January to May 2019.

Over the last 12 months (June 2020 to May 2021), specialist plumbing and heating merchant sales were 9.6% higher that the same period a year before, with two more trading days in the most recent period.

May’s PHMI Index, which contrasts sales with the base period January to December 2019, was 97.4.

Bill Davies, sales director at James Hargreaves Plumbing Depot, which contributes to the PHMI commented: “There are many good reasons for optimism in the UK plumbing and heating industry for the remainder 2021, due to the general buoyancy of the marketplace and the extension of the stamp duty holiday.

“I am confident that this year will produce record sales for merchants. James Hargreaves Plumbing Depot has already generated a 29.5% increase in turnover for the second quarter of this year compared with the same three-month period in 2019.

“The challenges presented by Covid-19 and Brexit have produced supply shortages across all aspects of plumbing and heating – not to mention significant prices rises – but I feel sure that the industry can prosper if businesses stay true to sound principles and philosophies.”