The BMF’s Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) tracks point-of-sale data from more than over 80% of builders’ merchants’ sales across England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland.
Five product categories performed better in February 2018 than a year before. They were: Plumbing Heating & Electrical (+7.9%), Timber & Joinery Products (+6.6%), Ironmongery (+5.0%), Kitchens & Bathrooms (+4.6%) and Workwear & Safetywear (+4.5%).
Six categories grew more slowly, including Heavy Building Materials (+3.2%) the largest category. Only Tools saw a decline in sales (-1.6%).
Average sales per day in February (which takes into account two fewer trading days) were up 12.0% compared with January. Landscaping (+19.1%), Kitchens & Bathrooms (+17.1%) and Heavy Building Materials (+13.1%) did better. All categories out-performed January.
The first two months of 2018 were 6.1% up on January-February 2017. Plumbing Heating & Electrical (+9.3%) did best, with Ironmongery (+8.5%) also performing well. With one more trading day this year, average sales a day in January and February were up 3.6% year on year.
Sales for the rolling 12 months March 2017 to February 2018 were 5.3% above the same period a year earlier.
February’s BMBI index was 104.5, with one additional trading day. Seasonal category Plumbing Heating & Electrical was top (125.2) followed by Kitchens & Bathrooms (115.2). Nine of the 12 categories exceeded 100.
|
VALUE EX VAT |
Index |
Oct 16 |
Nov 16 |
Dec 16 |
Jan 17 |
Feb 17 |
Mar 17 |
Apr 17 |
May 17 |
Jun 17 |
July 17 |
Aug 17 |
Sep 17 |
Oct 17 |
Nov 17 |
Dec 17 |
Jan 18 |
Feb 18 |
|
Total Builders Merchants |
100 |
112.3 |
113.6 |
77.1 |
94.7 |
100.5 |
122.8 |
106.7 |
121.1 |
120.2 |
119.2 |
120.5 |
117.5 |
123.4 |
121.6 |
76.7 |
102.6 |
104.5 |
|
Timber & Joinery Products |
100 |
112.8 |
113.7 |
76.1 |
99.1 |
100.9 |
121.2 |
102.9 |
117.1 |
116.7 |
116.3 |
118.1 |
116.9 |
124.4 |
122.1 |
77.8 |
108.0 |
107.6 |
|
Heavy Building Materials |
100 |
113.4 |
114.1 |
77.0 |
94.0 |
100.1 |
123.0 |
106.9 |
122.5 |
121.2 |
120.6 |
121.9 |
119.4 |
125.8 |
122.8 |
75.2 |
100.5 |
103.3 |
|
Decorating |
100 |
108.3 |
110.4 |
76.3 |
92.8 |
97.0 |
115.6 |
98.8 |
111.0 |
111.8 |
114.6 |
116.4 |
110.5 |
115.4 |
114.9 |
76.6 |
101.9 |
100.8 |
|
Tools |
100 |
106.5 |
111.3 |
74.8 |
97.6 |
101.7 |
120.7 |
97.2 |
107.0 |
109.9 |
109.8 |
109.1 |
110.4 |
119.2 |
119.8 |
75.3 |
101.3 |
100.0 |
|
Workwear & Safetywear |
100 |
110.9 |
133.2 |
72.6 |
109.5 |
102.7 |
114.1 |
85.1 |
101.4 |
99.4 |
95.2 |
100.5 |
107.0 |
112.9 |
131 |
86.1 |
117.2 |
107.3 |
|
Ironmongery |
100 |
118.0 |
119.9 |
84.6 |
107.5 |
109.4 |
129.2 |
107.5 |
121.6 |
124.5 |
125.6 |
126.9 |
123.4 |
130.6 |
129.5 |
85.5 |
120.4 |
114.8 |
|
Landscaping |
100 |
110.2 |
97.2 |
62.4 |
71.0 |
87.7 |
129.5 |
138.1 |
153.1 |
146.9 |
140.8 |
133.2 |
117.1 |
115.8 |
105.8 |
60.0 |
81.3 |
88.0 |
|
Plumbing, Heating & Electrical |
100 |
116.0 |
132.4 |
94.0 |
114.9 |
116.1 |
128.7 |
98.3 |
109.7 |
110.0 |
106.6 |
113.2 |
120.3 |
128.9 |
141.9 |
97.4 |
127.2 |
125.2 |
|
Renewables & Water Saving |
100 |
61.2 |
73.4 |
42.4 |
68.1 |
76.2 |
90.3 |
68.2 |
70.2 |
69.9 |
66.6 |
71.1 |
69.2 |
78.3 |
82.2 |
46.8 |
75.2 |
76.3 |
|
Kitchens & Bathrooms |
100 |
109.4 |
121.7 |
83.8 |
98.1 |
110.2 |
123.6 |
99.3 |
111.3 |
118.3 |
113.7 |
117.5 |
114.5 |
120.2 |
128.6 |
85.9 |
108.2 |
115.2 |
|
Miscellaneous |
100 |
113.6 |
122.2 |
92.6 |
113.2 |
108.8 |
124.4 |
103.4 |
120.5 |
113.7 |
117.2 |
124.4 |
119.8 |
118.4 |
125.3 |
90.7 |
114.4 |
113.2 |
|
Services |
100 |
108.3 |
107.1 |
81.3 |
87.8 |
95.0 |
115.0 |
100.6 |
112.4 |
109.7 |
110.6 |
116.1 |
110.6 |
114.0 |
109.2 |
79.0 |
93.1 |
96.4 |
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