Wickes sales slide after rush to beat VAT rise

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Chief executive Geoff Cooper said that smaller tradesmen working on houses had stocked up before VAT was hiked to 20%. Increased competition from rivals also meant sales were down 36% on last year, so far in February.

Kitchens and bathrooms only account for around 5% of the company's turnover and it saw a strong start to the new year overall as building activity brought to a halt by December's snow was pushed forward to January.

Like-for-like sales across the group were up 11% so far in 2011, Cooper added.

Travis expects merchanting to drive business in 2011 rather than Wickes, where sales edged forward 0.2% in a DIY market which declined around 6% last year.

Merchanting sales are still around 20% below their pre-recession peak and the firm expects a "gradual recovery".

Cooper added: "Retail will be more difficult this year as people have not got a lot of money now, but we may see more people looking to improve their homes."

Pre-tax profits were up 20% to £217 million, with shares adding 5p to 1044p.