By Raechel Thankam Job
(Reuters) -British retailer Wickes on Thursday said it had continued to gain market share in the home improvement business at the start of the year and would launch a new share buyback programme as it forecast annual profit in line with market consensus.
Despite persistent inflation and the cost-of-living crisis limiting consumer spending, the company said it has been growing its customer base by focusing on artificial intelligence tools to enhance stock availability and targeted marketing.
Its shares rose by as much as 8.3% to 185.5 pence in early trade.
“The group remains a coiled spring, ready to capitalise on better market volumes with significant operational gearing and strong cash conversion,” Peel Hunt analysts said in a note.
Wickes has also been attracting more female Do-It-Yourself customers, who make up one in three of the target demography, CEO David Wood told Reuters.
Higher National Insurance Contributions following the October budget are expected to add about 6 million pounds to the retailer’s annual costs, which it expects its productivity initiatives to counter.
“We’ve improved customer availability, while reducing the amount of stock and working capital that we need tied up,” Wood said.
Wickes expects an annual adjusted pre-tax profit in line with market consensus of between 45.6 million pounds and 51 million pounds ($59.2 million-$66.2 million), according to a company-compiled poll.
It also plans to initiate a new 20 million pound share buyback in April.
Trading in the first 11 weeks of 2025 has been in line with expectations, Wickes said, driven by growth in retail like-for-like as customers turn to its digital retail platform, TradePro, to save time and money.
Adjusted 2024 pre-tax profit fell 16% to 43.6 million pounds, compared to a company-compiled analyst estimate midpoint of 43.2 million pounds.
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Kirsten Donovan)
