Travis Perkins, the company that owns Wickes DIY stores, said at its results that it was thinking about selling it to concentrate on its more successful trade-facing business.
Wickes has been a drag on profits for the group as a whole as Brits continue to fall out of love with DIY.
One recent industry estimate said that DIY spending is down by a third in two decades as the era of DIY – or Do-It-Yourself – has morphed into the era of CBA – Can’t-Be-Arsed.
Although some say this is down to the requisite skills not being passed down, it is probably more to do with the fact that younger people spend longer renting, thus negating any incentive to improve a property that they don’t own.
Fortunately, there is an increasing trend of DFY – or Done-For-You – which means that people are more likely to get someone in to do a job, which means that trade business is doing well – hence the relative success of ToolStation (which is also owned by Travis Perkins) and Screwfix (which is owned by Kingfisher, which is the company that also owns B&Q).
As far as Travis Perkins is concerned, though, getting a good price for Wickes might be difficult in a downtrend, but then again the sooner it can get rid of the drag the better in my opinion.
