2019 will go down as one of those years we won’t forget. Brexit dominated the headlines and created uncertainty across all spheres of business in the UK, including the timber and builders’ merchant sectors. The year also reminded us the effect weather and long periods of rain can have on business and sales.

Year-on-year

Total builders’ merchant value sales in Q4 2019 were 4% down compared with the same quarter in 2018. Adjusted for trading days, average sales a day dropped 2.4%.

Tools (-8.5%) and timber and joinery (-6.7%) were particularly affected, closely followed by heavy building materials (-4.6%).

The best performing sectors year-on-year were renewables and water saving (+6.4%) and work wear and safety wear (+5.8%).

Quarter-on-quarter

Quarter four 2019 did not end well, with total value sales dropping 13.9% compared with Q3 2019. The drop was less marked when adjusted for trading days (-5.2%).

Most product categories reported lower value sales over the period, with sales of the seasonal category landscaping down the most, by 33.2%, followed by heavy building materials (-14.8%) and timber and joinery products (-13.1%).

The only two categories to report quarteron- quarter growth were work wear and safety wear (+11.2%) and plumbing, heating and electrical (+3.8%).

Index

The total BMBI index for Q4 2019 was 106.4, a significant drop from 123.6 in Q3 2019. The index for timber and joinery products was marginally higher at 107.4.