Wickes' parent Travis Perkins has reported a 6% increase in group turnover for the nine months to the end of September 2010, compared with the same period last year.
The company's Q3 trading update, released today, also said that the group continues to gain like-for-like market share in both its merchanting and retail divisions.

Wickes' total turnover for the 39-week trading period to October 2 was up 2.1%, while like-for-like turnover per trading day was down 0.1%, with core products down by 2.8% and showroom sales up by 11.9%.

However, for the past 13 weeks, total like-for-like turnover per day was up 0.6% with relatively weak trends in big-ticket purchases.

Gross margins at Wickes for the third quarter are ahead of last year, although the recent response by competitors to the reduction in their market shares has resulted in an erosion of some of this gain, said the company.

Underlying net debt has reduced in Q3 from the £410m reported on June 30, 2010. Group trading for the last three months is in line with expectations, said the update, while the company's outlook for the year as a whole remains unchanged from that stated in July.

Travis Perkins' £558m purchase of BSS Group is still under investigation by the Office of Fair Trading, with a decision on whether to allow the takeover to go ahead expected to be taken on October 19.