Wickes DIFM sales doubled on two-year basis

DIY retailer Wickes has reported its Do It For Me (DIFM) sales doubled on a two-year basis and it will accelerate its store program, in full year results for 2021.

30 Mar, 22

DIY retailer Wickes has reported its Do It For Me (DIFM) sales doubled on a two-year basis in its full year results for 2021 and announced plans to accelerate its store program.

Wickes employs first women installation apprentices

Wickes posted a revenue of £1.53bn for 2021, up 14% on 2020 with like-for-like sales up 13% on 2020 and 18.6% on 2019.

Adjusted profit before tax increased to £85milion from £49.5million in 2020.

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Wickes stated its performance was driven by having sales in local trade, DIY (or Core) and Do-It-For-Me (DIFM), with two thirds of its sales in 2021 driven by digital channels.

Its Core like-for-like sales increased by 35.7% on a two-year basis, while DIFM order strengthened over the course of 2021 from Q2.

DIFM like-for-like revenue grew by 8.5% for the full year, with “buoyant” bathroom sales.

However, Wickes stated DIFM order conversions into delivered sales were hampered by the availability of installers in the final quarter and the onset of the Omicron COVID variant.

Together with an “elevated” pipeline of orders from earlier in the year, the retailer reported its year-end order book had more than doubled on a two-year basis at well over £100million, supporting 2022 sales.

To strengthen its installation capability, the company grew its installer network in 2021 with 700 installation teams, taking its total to over 2,600.

Wickes also plans to test and roll out new installation services such as joinery and landscaping.

Digital development, as well as a “major” refresh of its kitchen range, home office introduction and a new bathroom range complemented by its first ever bathroom TV ad underpinned DIFM sales.

The company has expanded its kitchen digital experience to now include bathrooms and is using virtual/Augmented reality to also grow adjacent categories such as flooring and tiling.

Recognising the “excellent” trading of its refitted stores with average sales outperformance of over 25%, the company will accelerate the pace of its refits.

During the 2021 financial year, Wickes completed 10 refits and two refreshes and now has 151 stores trading in in new stores.

It now plans to complete its store refit programme within five years, compared to the previous plan of seven years, with 12-15 refits annually at a cost of £1million each.

In addition, Wickes believes there is scope to open an additional 20 stores over the next five years.

Chief executive of Wickes David Wood commented: “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 continued: “Looking ahead, we expect to continue outperforming the market and are well-placed to capitalise on the ongoing requirement for home improvement – namely an aging housing stock, favourable consumer trends, and the increased focus on insulating and retrofitting homes.

“While we recognise the pressure than 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.”