Travis Perkins plc ($TPK)
Earnings Call Transcript · March 17, 2026
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesGood morning, everybody. Nice to see so many people here in the room, and a very warm welcome to everyone who's following us on the webcast as well. I believe we have several hundred people out there watching us on the webcast this morning. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Gavin Slark. I'm the CEO or more correctly, the CEO of 10 weeks. And I'm joined today by Duncan Cooper, who obviously most of you will know as our CFO. And we also have quite a few members of our group leadership team in the room today as well. So very happy for you to badger them with questions at the end. Obviously, they've been well briefed not to answer any of them. But I'm very happy for you to have a go anyway. I think most of you will know, although 10 weeks in the role here at TP, very well versed with the sector, having been in the sector for kind of well over 25 years, but really delighted to be here as the CEO of Travis Perkins and really looking forward with a lot of excitement to what happens going forward. I think it's fair to say that the business has been through quite a lot of flux and quite a lot of change over the last couple of years. I think as many of you will know, Duncan has been here for 2 years. And during that period, he's technically worked with 3 different chairs and 4 CEOs and also 3 managing directors of our Travis Perkins Green & Gold business. So a huge amount of change. And what I would just say at this point is just thank you to everybody who was involved in the group last year, particularly the leadership team who got us to the point in where we are today. My aspiration in terms of the business is very simple. It's to build a group of world-class businesses and for all of our stakeholders, whether they be colleagues, whether they be suppliers, whether they be customers, but just to build a great experience for everybody involved in the business. And it doesn't really matter what we do. One thing we need to be sure of is that everything that we do is driven by the needs and the wants of our customer base. We do have an all-new leadership team in place. And what I would say there is we've got a leadership team in place now that I think is really committed in terms of delivering value in the business going forward in the medium to long-term. I'll talk a little bit more about the leadership team later on. And as I said, you'll have an opportunity to talk to them one-on-one when we finished. We are and we should be a branch-based sales-led organization. But I think that kind of organization can work absolutely in harmony with a mindset of a disciplined approach to margin, to cost and to capital allocation. And I think particularly with where the macro is now and the construction market, in particular, having that disciplined approach to the balance sheet management is a really important factor that Duncan will talk more about later on. I know many of you will be aware that we had the Oracle transition in the group last year, and I don't want to underestimate or understate in any way the pain that the business suffered during that Oracle transition. But that Oracle transition is now principally behind us, and we're now starting to see the positive benefits of Oracle in the business starting to come through. I really believe that our success will be defined by what we do. It won't be defined by what happens in the market. Some market growth would be great, and we'll talk more about that later on. But I think what we can focus on is what we have control over, what we can do in the day job and be really disciplined about the way that we run the business. But I firmly believe that our success is driven by us and not by external factors. The focus right now is to improve what we have. It's to remove distractions, it's to remove background noise and to really give the leadership team the opportunity to focus on the business that we have today and the necessary improvements that we need to make. I'm not going to go into sort of detail around numbers because obviously, we have a CFO for that, but I've really got sort of 3 numbers that I think I just want to focus on for one moment. If you look at the revenue number there, you'll see that the revenue in total was down by 0.9%. If you look at that on a like-for-like basis, it was positive by 0.3%. So for the sake of sensible conversations, we'll basically say revenue was broadly flat. If you look at the adjusted operating profit at GBP 133 million, I believe that's absolutely right in line with where consensus was for the business. But I do think that the most important number on that page there is the balance sheet number. And even though it's a relatively small number of GBP 1 million, but on a pre-leases basis, being net cash positive, I think, is a really important place for us to be and gives us an underlying financial strength. And it's the best cash position that Travis Perkins as a group has had in over 25 years. We don't have any significant refinancing to do probably until 2028, and we also have a really substantial level of liquidity headroom in the business. So the financial underpinnings of the group remain really, really strong. What I will do at that point is pass you over to Duncan, who will take you through the more interesting parts of the numbers. And then I will come back after Duncan's finished and just give you some of my early observations on the group and what I think we can do going forward. So with that, Duncan.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesThanks, Gavin. Good morning, everyone. So I will start with the usual financial overview slide. Group revenue for the year was GBP 4.6 billion, down 0.9% on prior year. And as I normally do, I'll provide some color on the moving parts within that shortly. Adjusted operating profit for the year was GBP 133 million, down 12.5% on prior year and in line with company compiled consensus of the same number. That delivers an adjusted earnings per share of 30.8p per share, down 15.8% on prior year, reflecting the reduction in earnings on prior year and the fixed nature of interest expense between years as well. Net cash of GBP 1 million before leases puts the group, as Gavin has said, in the strongest cash position for nearly 30 years. And accordingly, despite the reduction in earnings, leverage adjusts down another 40 basis points to 2.1x, and I'll talk more about the good work we've been doing here later. Finally, the Board is pleased to announce a final dividend of 7.5p per share to make 12p for the full year, in line with the group's policy to pay a dividend of 30% to 40% of adjusted earnings. Over on to the next slide and our revenue walk then for the year. I'm not going to dwell on this too long as I think Geoff and I covered in some detail at the half year, the challenges we faced in the first half with key vacancies and trying to grapple with the implementation of Oracle. As we move through those challenges into the second half, we were able to be far more front-footed with some key promotions, which drove an improvement in our sales performance. This saw the general merchants start to reverse market share losses and retake share, a trend we are seeing continue into early 2026. And you see that reflected in the cadence of the like-for-like sales performance in Merchanting that we have reported today as well, minus 3.2% in Q1 like-for-like, improving to plus 2.1% in Q4 as we exited the year. We saw 1 fewer trading day 2025 versus 2024. And finally, the impact of disposing of Staircraft is also presented, which was not material enough to the group's performance to be reported as a discontinued operation. On the next slide is the usual operating profit walk we provide. The first 4 blocks relate to Merchanting segment only. The first block represents the reduction in gross margin for the year, and this reflects the ongoing competitive intensity in a market starved of volume growth. Manufacturers' price increases have been hard to pass through in full or in some cases, at all. And as we ourselves have demonstrated in the second half, some price investment has been necessary to kickstart a volume recovery. One fewer trading day is the next block, and then we come to overheads. We saw about GBP 40 million of total overhead inflation in the year, about half of which is represented in the next block and the other half is netted off within the Toolstation bar for consistency of reporting. I'll go into more detail on this in the next slide, including the actions we've taken to reduce overheads whilst facing into these headwinds. Toolstation U.K. continues its strong earnings growth and remains on track with our longer-term expectations and aspirations for that business. And finally, property profits were in line with prior year. So let me come on to talk about cost inflation and mitigation in a little more detail. So firstly, you will remember at last year's prelims and half year, Geoff and I both talked about the need to reinvest in some frontline predominantly branch-based roles, which were removed at the end of 2023. Most of the 350 colleagues I referred to on this slide were onboarded early in the first half of 2025. A small amount of that increase relates to the opening of 3 new general merchant branches. At the same time, I think we've also been consistently open with the market that the group had become too centralized and its decision-making and was carrying too much resource in central and regional management roles. Across several ways of activity during 2025, we remove roles from functions such as finance, co-sec, sustainability, HR, corporate communications, group procurement and marketing and IT to ensure that we start 2026 with over 300 fewer heads in these areas than at the start of 2025. Our total overhead inflation across 2025 was around GBP 40 million, which comes from a part year effect of the national insurance increase, national living wage, property rates and rental inflation. Through our focus on headcount and other discretionary costs, we did a good job of offsetting as much of this as possible during the year, but we cannot offset it in full. It's a similar story for 2026 where cost inflation will be of a similar magnitude. And our ability to offset as much of that as possible will depend on identifying further operational efficiencies across the group. I would also add at this point that sometimes people ask me why we need to hold over GBP 800 million of property on the group balance sheet. There are lots of reasons I could share around why the flexibility and long-term location security, that gives us is important, but I'm not going to go into those now. However, a positive consequence of our tenure mix is how it helps shelter us from some of that index-linked rental inflation, whilst also ensuring we don't shackle the group with long-term lease debt and leverage. And I'll close on this slide by offering example of what I mean by tighter controls on discretionary spend and headcount. Gavin now has to personally sign off all roles coming into the group above a certain salary threshold. On the next slide, I want to cover the adjusting items we've recorded this year. The first thing I will say is all of these are covered extensively in the notes to the accounts with detailed disclosure. The first charge of GBP 111 million could be split into branch level impairments, covering 196 branches in the merchanting segment, where the carrying value of the branches assets was above the value of our forecast discounted cash flows generated from those assets. The total noncash impairment recognized in relation to these branches is GBP 67 million. In the majority of cases, the branches are expected to deliver a positive contribution in 2026 with the vast majority delivering a positive contribution in the future based on our forecasts. A noncash goodwill impairment of GBP 44 million has also been recognized following the annual impairment review of the CCF business as an entity. Taking into account the structural challenges in its end markets and future forecasts of CCF profitability. The Toolstation Europe impairment charge relates to the noncash write-down of goodwill, property and right-of-use assets in the Toolstation Benelux business under IFRS accounting rules. The Toolstation Europe restructuring charge relates to restructuring costs in Toolstation Benelux and adjustments in respect of redundancy provisions and lease liabilities related to Toolstation France recognized in previous years. Again, this impairment is principally driven by our recent trading performance in Benelux and our future forecasts of its profitability. The restructuring charge of GBP 12 million relates to severance payments made as a result of the headcount reductions I referred to earlier on that were made during the year. The majority of these roles were in central functions or regional support teams. The Staircraft business was sold during the year for a consideration of GBP 21 million and resulted in a loss on disposal of GBP 3 million. It had already been impaired in our 2024 accounts. And finally, the adjustments to prior year items relates to the release of property and stock provisions recognized as adjusting in prior periods. So I want to come on to now talk about cash and the balance sheet. We reported a strong cash inflow of GBP 196 million for the year, and that is set against the backdrop of lower year-on-year EBITDA reflected in the first line of the table. You can see we have a similar level of excess costs associated with restructuring year-on-year, similar levels of interest expense and dividend commitments. The sale of Staircraft has broadly offset the lower cash receipts from property transactions principally sale and leasebacks. The 2 big controllables here remain capital expenditure and working capital. We've had another year of disciplined capital investment into the group. Our priority over the past 2 years has been to invest in our fleet and bring down its average age. We had allowed that to drift up in recent years. And whilst the useful and operable life of our trucks is around 10 years, based on the heavy usage they get, you see repairs and maintenance costs increase and utilization rates fall past about 7 years. So we want to ensure our branches and drivers can operate efficiently with minimal vehicle downtime. We're also starting the job of fixing some of the uninvested parts of our estate and the strength of our balance sheet means we can do this in a sensible and staggered way over the coming years. Our big focus though has clearly been in working capital. Stock has increased in line with inflation, but we know we have more work to do here across the group. Trade debtors have reduced by GBP 130 million as we have successfully managed to invoice much of the Oracle related backlog of debt I referred to last year, but also sharpened our disciplines on debt collection generally. Trade creditors have increased by GBP 26 million as we have harmonized payment terms across the group following the introduction of Oracle. These changes combined to deliver the significant working capital inflow number. In addition, we are targeting further self-help in terms of cash generation during 2026. And I'm not going to put a target on that or provide formal guidance. But I would reiterate what I've said about TP since I joined. This group is capable of generating very healthy levels of cash when it's focused in the right way. I'm happy to bring the obsession, and I'm really pleased to see how others are responding to that. But to affect a real cultural shift throughout the whole organization will take time, but we've made a good start. The last point I would make to give confidence in our cash generative capabilities is to remind you that we have managed to absorb some significant one-offs in recent years, including the closure costs of France -- Toolstation France, some significant restructuring and severance costs and the multi-year cost of implementing and launching Oracle and still demonstrated some excellent forward momentum. So that brings us on to the balance sheet impact of this cash generation. Net debt has fallen by GBP 224 million to GBP 621 million, and that leaves us just outside our desired long-run leverage range of 1.5x to 2x. It also puts us at net cash at the end of the year of GBP 1 million. It's only slight, I accept, but we'll take it. And that, as I said at the outset, it's the strongest cash position we've had since 1998. If you're looking for cultural reference points, Michael Owen's scoring wonder goals against Argentina was the first 1 that came into my mind. That cash profile has compounded steadily and consistently throughout the year as the benefit of the actions I referred to earlier on, have taken effect. It gives us when combined with our undrawn revolving credit facility at year-end, over GBP 800 million of available liquidity, which provides significant resilience in what remains a challenging market backdrop. But also the necessary firepower to underpin our competitive position if market conditions demand it. Being more optimistic and forward-looking, it also gives us the necessary headroom to invest in areas like inventory when market conditions do improve. The renewed cash discipline we've put in place over the last 2 years has also enabled us to refinance on competitive terms during the year. Across 2 tranches, we fully refinanced the GBP 250 million corporate bond due to mature in 2026 with U.S. private placement funding for both tranches and did so on an investment-grade basis, with a blended coupon across both tranches of 6.27%. We've also managed to smooth the time line of future tranche maturities, which now run out to 2035. This gives us excellent near-term as well as long-term financial security as we have no immediate significant refinancing events until 2028. And as I touched on earlier, we are targeting further cash generation opportunities and therefore, further deleveraging in 2026. So let me conclude with outlook and guidance. There is likely to be ongoing uncertainty attached to the economic and geopolitical environment. And therefore, we will remain focused on what we can control. We've started the task of rightsizing the overhead base of the group and implementing a more rigorous approach to expenditure generally, and we'll continue to identify and deliver further efficiencies. On the balance sheet and cash generation, we go again. From a guidance perspective, we expect the group effective tax rate to be around 30%. Capital expenditure is expected to be around GBP 80 million for the year and property profits will be around GBP 5 million. On a like-for-like basis, our interest expense is expected to be around GBP 6 million higher per annum from switching out the 3.75% corporate bond for the PP financing arrangements I outlined earlier. However, holding the healthy cash position that we currently do provides an offset to this through higher interest income. And finally, we expect a similar level of loss in Toolstation Benelux this year and Gavin will talk to you more about this when he returns. And with that, I will hand over to him now.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesThanks, Duncan. What I'd like to move on to now is just to really give you some kind of early views of what I've seen within the group as I said earlier, it has only been 10 weeks. I think we've crammed quite a lot into 10 weeks, but really trying to give you some sort of early observations of what I've seen. And working with the leadership team, we've tried to look at this very much from the point of view of all of the stakeholders, so whether that's customers, colleagues, suppliers or shareholders, but really trying to take a rounded view of what we've got and where we go with what we've got. A [ dead clicker ]. So trying to come up with a simplistic way of looking at the group. And what I've done is I've broken the group into 3 tiers, so different businesses in each of those tiers. And we'll talk about the individual businesses more. I've got some more slides after this one. But if you look at Tier 1, what we're really saying in T1 with Travis Perkins general merchanting or Green & Gold, how you want to refer to it. BSS, Toolstation U.K. and Keyline. These businesses are already delivering what I think is a sustainable financial return. That's not to say that they are at the endpoint, and they're performing absolutely at their zenith, but these are businesses that within the group are already giving us a decent financial return. The priority here is to improve the businesses and to really exploit some of the synergies that exist there. It's really important, though, not to confuse exploiting synergies with some grand centralization plan. I think as most of you know, I'm an absolute disciple of the sort of decentralized federated structure within distribution businesses, and that is absolutely core. But utilizing the businesses and really recognizing the synergies is about having a leadership team that understand the power of collaboration and what we can do with these Tier 1 businesses. The Tier 2 businesses being CCF and TF Solutions are in a slightly different position. To put some context around it, these 2 businesses together have revenues of around about GBP 600 million. But in broad terms, these businesses are trading at either side of breakeven. So we do need to make sure as we go forward, we recognize the different challenges within these businesses and how we move these businesses from being around about breakeven to getting into what we would comfortably refer to being Tier 1 businesses but it's a different set of challenges that we have to the Tier 1 business. And also, as I'll just explain in a moment, both CCF and TF Solutions have different challenges of their own as well. And then in Tier 3, we have Benelux Toolstation. It's fair to say that I think Benelux has been a perennial lossmaker within the group for quite some time, and it's also been a cash burn for quite some time. So what I'm going to commit to you today is, although I've only been here for 10 weeks, I've been across to Benelux, I've spent time with the leadership team, got a really much better understanding of the challenges that they face. But by the time we stand here and deliver the half year results in the summer, I will give you absolute clarity at that point of what the plan for the Benelux business is. So just moving on to some of the individual businesses. And forgive me if some of you really know this very, very well. But obviously, Travis Perkins Green & Gold #1 in the U.K. builders merchant market, 579 branches trading today. Within Green & Gold, we have the sub-brands as well of benchmarks. We have Hire and we have Managed Services, all coming under the remit of the new MD, Rich Lavin. Rich was formally appointed as MD, I think, in my second week in the business. So that was great to be able to do that. Rich had been running the business as the interim MD since the middle of last year. He's actually been in the business for over a decade and held a lot of sort of a senior finance and operations roles. So although brand new to the Managing Director role of Green & Gold, a huge amount of experience coming into that particular role. We do believe we've got opportunities that we've already identified in ranging, in sourcing, logistics and the way that we take the product to market. And I think when we're looking at how we can utilize the facilities that we already have in the group, we'll talk later on about how we can make some of the assets that we've got like the Toolstation distribution center, just sweat a little bit harder and bring value into the other parts of the group. One of the areas that we've identified that we think there's a greater degree of collaboration between Toolstation and Green & Gold, is in what we would call either the shop or the self-select area, where there was a real margin opportunity if we can be a little bit slicker at how we bring that product to market. Green & Gold is the largest turnover business within the group. In broad terms, it's around 50% of our turnover. So it's a really high potential business for us and a significant platform for growth as we go forward. recognizing that Rich is brand new into the MD's role, but what we've also done is strengthen the spine of the team around Rich. We've got a really experienced commercial director in Paul in there now and some of you will know Matt Worster, who was our Group IR Director. Matt is now the Finance Director in Green & Gold, which I think speaks volumes about, a, what we think about Matt; and b, the significance of getting a really high-class management team within Green & Gold. Just moving on to Toolstation in the U.K. Toolstation in the U.K., #2 market position, a 590 stores. There's a regular theme coming here that you're going to recognize. So Lakhvir was appointed Managing Director of this business in around about September of last year. But Lakhvir has been with the group, I think I'm right in saying for about 14 years. She's held very senior commercial roles. She's been a Pricing Director. She's been a Commercial Director. She's been a Finance Director, so brings a huge amount of experience to the role of Managing Director of Toolstation. And I think 1 of the things that you'll see from the leadership team that we're putting in place we're bringing through here the next generation of leaders within the group to give us real longevity and a long-term view of how the group should be operated. Within the 7 operating businesses within the Travis Perkins Group last year, Toolstation U.K. was the #1 profit earner within the group. So it's a really very significant business within the group and should be viewed absolutely as part of our core offering. As I mentioned earlier, we do believe there's opportunities to work better between Green & Gold and between Toolstation in utilizing the Pineham distribution center that we have in Northampton. To give you some context around that. Pineham is a 0.5 million square feet high bay distribution center that we believe can actually work harder and give us better value across the group in distributing for more than just the 1 business. We have got a new demand planning and forecasting software coming into this business, I believe, around August, September time of this year. One of the areas, I think we've been less efficient at in Toolstation U.K. is inventory management and this new demand planning and forecasting software will enable us to manage that inventory with a greater degree of diligence and really make sure that we're sweating the assets that we have. And as I said earlier, it's another growth platform along with Green & Gold, very significant turnover, largest profit maker that we have within the group and should be seen as really important as we go forward. Also in a Tier 1 business is BSS. I think some of you who've been around a long time will recognize this is a business that I used to know very well, having been the CEO there from 2005 through to 2010 and actually selling the business to Travis Perkins in 2010. It's #1 in its market. We've got 54 branches. Josie has been appointed as the MD in the middle of last year. I think it's fair to say when I was the CEO there in 2010, I think I'm right in saying that Josie was in her first year of branch management in BSS Peterborough. So again, although a new Managing Director has got huge experience, not only within BSS, but also across the whole of the Travis Perkins Group. We have got quite a unique distribution model within BSS. We have a superb central distribution center in Magna Park in Leicestershire, but we also have quite a unique big pipe national tube distribution center in Coventry, which is a facility that we have that none of our competitors really do have. So we have got some real unique characteristics within BSS that I think enable us to drive that business forward with quite a lot of vigor. We've also developed, over quite a number of years through the national accounts team, a real skill in what I would call significant projects. So when you look at airports, when you look at stadiums, when you look at prisons, when you look at these kind of secure environments in which we operate, we've now got a great deal of experience operating on-site facilities that, again, I think is a differentiator for BSS going forward. And just to be clear, while we're in the spirit of openness in the group last year, BSS was the third largest profit maker that we had behind the top 2. And lastly, but by no means least, within Tier 1, Keyline, our specialist civils distribution business, again, #1 in the civils distribution market in the U.K., 41 branches, a new Managing Director in Huw Jenkins. Huw joined the business. We could do this as audience participation, but in September of last year. I think it's also fair to say Huw's background is in logistics and distribution. That is wholly appropriate for this business because well over 90% of the business through Keyline is delivered either ex-yard or from our suppliers. So having someone whose expertise is in moving product from point A to point B in the most effective and the most efficient way is absolutely appropriate in this particular business. Huw and I have been working on this for a little while now in terms of growth opportunities for this business. We do see particularly in infrastructure. If you look at the areas like power and like water, we think we have got real growth opportunities here. And that also opens up new markets and new product opportunities. So it gives us really a very positive outlook for Keyline going forward as being 1 of our Tier 1 businesses, again, with that new leadership team. Just moving into Tier 2. So these are the businesses that predominantly have been trading at around about breakeven. CCF, which is our drylining and insulation business, is a structurally challenged business, but more importantly, operating in a structurally challenged market. Drylining, which is over 65% of the revenue in this business is very much about high volume, low-margin commoditized high cost to serve. And we really are going to have to look at how we operate this business and make sure that we can find a more efficient route to market, utilizing the assets that we have right the way across the group. I mean it's fair to say in terms of leveraging margin in this particular business, over 50% of the business is with one manufacturer. So our opportunities even to leverage margin on ex-yard sales are still a little bit challenged. 37 branches across the U.K., new Managing Director, the summer of last year, Chris. Fair to say Chris has got over 20 years' experience in CCF and has basically done every single job in CCF from working in a branch, getting through to be the Managing Director. And it shows how much we think of Chris as the MD of this business. For those of you who know me well, he is a Newcastle supporter, that would ordinarily be a challenge in my book, but I think Chris is bang on the right guy to be running this business going forward. We do believe we've got synergy opportunities again with Green & Gold looking at that from a distribution point of view, just reiterating, don't look upon that as some kind of like centralization move. But in the categories of plasterboard and insulation, Green & Gold also have volumes in that particular category that run into hundreds of millions of pounds. So I think there's just some opportunities there for us to do what we do a little bit better so that we can find the most efficient and effective route to market for CCF and again, get that to a point where we believe it can be a Tier 1 business. TF Solutions, which is a business some of you may not know very well, is our specialist distributor in air conditioning and refrigeration. Refrigeration being a relatively new sector that we've gone into, but one that we see with a real opportunity for growth and development. James is the MD of TF Solutions. He is the longest-serving MD that we have in the team, having been in place for 14 months. So in terms of like getting on a bit, he's the one that's been there, seen it and done it during the whole of 2025. To enable us to get the maximum benefit out of this business, we do believe we need to give it greater support in terms of logistics and distribution. We've identified what we need to do to make that happen. But to get to that point, we have to make some systems and processes upgrades. Those systems and processes upgrades are already in train. They will take place later this year. That will then enable us to move into a more efficient distribution model for TF Solutions. And I think for the first time, it will give us the ability to react to customers as opposed to just having what I would see as a more inefficient stockholding within the business. But I think TF Solutions intuitively, it's a business that ought to make money. I think the plans that we have in place will enable us to move that business forward as we go through 2026. And finally, in terms of Tier 3, the Benelux business, as I said, my commitment to you is to stand here at the half year results and give you absolute clarity over the plan for that business. We don't actually have a permanent Managing Director in that business as we stand here today. It's still an interim, but I have been over and spent time with the management team, getting to understand the magnitude of the challenges over there. And I think all I would ask for is, look, having only been in for 10 weeks, if you can give me that little bit of forbearance through to the half year, but we'll then give you some absolute clarity on where we stand on Benelux. So in summary, we've got a new leadership team. We've got a simplified structure. All of the managing directors now report directly into me. We don't have any intermediary level there, which I think just gives us a more efficient and more effective communication chain across the whole group. We've identified business improvement opportunities in every business. Don't get me wrong. Some market growth would be great and we would absolutely welcome it with open arms. But we absolutely can improve the business without that reliance on market growth. And I think making those improvements now will put us in a great position for when the market does turn. The leadership team is very focused on doing the day job, removing distractions, removing the noise around, let's just focus on what we do within the business today. There's a lot of noise outside in terms of the economy, in terms of the market, in terms of even the global macro situation now, but we will absolutely stay focused on what we can do, which is running the business the best that we possibly can. As we mentioned earlier, we're in the best financial position in terms of balance sheet that the group has been in for over 25 years. And I think in any kind of uncertain market that is a great place to be. And I think a lot of our suppliers, a lot of our customers and a lot of our shareholders will take a lot of faith in the business that we're starting here with a very, very strong financial structure. As I mentioned at the very beginning, culturally, we absolutely see ourselves as a branch-based sales-led organization that can work in harmony with a disciplined approach to cost-to-margin and also to capital allocation. And very, very simply and primarily around our customers, who are the main drivers in us being in business, it's about can we just be brilliant at what we do? And if we're brilliant at what we do and focus on the simple tasks, then I believe that everything else will follow through. And financially, we're in a great position to support all of the businesses in the group to develop and to recognize their potential. That's the end of the formal part. We're going to move on to Q&A.
Gavin Slark
Executives[Operator Instructions] If you could ask your difficult questions first, so that Duncan can answer those and leave your easy ones for the end, and I can bowl in there, that'd be a great way to run it. So I think what we'll do, Sarah, if we start at the very front down here, and then we'll work our way backwards.
Ben Wild
AnalystsBen Wild from Deutsche Bank. Three questions for me, please. Firstly, Duncan, you mentioned delivery of '25 in line with consensus forecasts. You haven't given a quantitative guidance for '26, but are you happy with where consensus is? Secondly, in terms of pricing in the group and particularly in merchanting, and it sounds as though there's been a slight change of policy at the start of 2026 as compared to 2025. Given the inflationary backdrop, can you -- and the demand environment, can you make a comment on the price elasticity of your customers and how your attitude towards pricing? And then thirdly, you made a lot of the leverage in the presentation and have delivered an exceptional year of cash generation compared to your peers who are highly levered, you have significant balance sheet headroom to deploy maybe related to the pricing question, how do you think about deploying that balance sheet to drive competitive advantages? And is there a temptation given the market environment to push extremely hard on pricing given your competitor set probably can't follow?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. So I think -- well, we'll work our way backwards, and I'll certainly pick up on the pricing point. I think in terms of deployment of the balance sheet that I think everybody recognizes, we proved last year that we could increase market share by being more price competitive. But I think when you look at the overall financial performance as we go through this year, we absolutely need to have a slightly more balanced approach. So I think in terms of, can we still deliver great prices for the customers and improve the margins that we have within the business, it is a fine balance, but I think that is the right thing to do. If I'd have been in place last year, going aggressive on the prices is probably exactly what I would have done last year. But I think with where we are right now we need a more nuanced approach and making sure that we're balancing what we're doing on pricing and balancing what we're doing on margin. And that does drift into your sort of second point, which is when you look at the pricing models that we have within the business, the price -- the elasticity that our customers have, there's quite a lot of moving parts here right now. I mean, even in the last few days, literally over the last week, we've started to see communications coming in from manufacturers, talking about energy surcharges, talking about surcharges on transportation. I think we need to react to that really quite carefully in making sure that we're not being disadvantaged by what's happening in the sort of global environment. If you look at diesel, as an example, just as a one-off, we spend about GBP 15 million a year on diesel within our merchant businesses. So if we've got a 20% spike in diesel that lasted for 6 months, it's GBP 1.5 million, we need to make sure that we're not being disadvantaged by what's going on. So I think last year, pricing was quite aggressive, and we proved that we can take market share. I think the trick for us this year would be can we maintain and grow market share while still improving the margins that are within the business and making sure that we get the right level of return. So hopefully, that kind of gives you a skirmish around pricing. I'll let Duncan talk about '26.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesYes, we're not making any comment on consensus today.
William Jones
AnalystsWill Jones from Rothschild & Co Redburn. Three, please. Perhaps we just have a quick runaround of the end markets within the construction sector as it were? And whether you think the combination can deliver a kind of flat market picture for '26 or realistically, should we be expecting market volumes to be slightly down? Second, maybe coming back to overheads. I think you mentioned a similar rate of inflation, about the GBP 40 million mark underlying in '26 with then the challenge to be the extent to which you can offset that, perhaps you could talk about that ability to offset? And then maybe last 1 just on the businesses. Perhaps you could just expand on your thoughts with regard to Benchmarx. Obviously, sits inside Green & Gold, but a somewhat different business to the standard Green & Gold offer.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. Yes. So if I pick up Benchmarx, and again, we'll kind of work our way backwards. Look, Benchmarx is a brand within the Green & Gold business. We've got a good management team in Benchmarx. We've got a really talented Managing Director in that business who reports into Rich. because it is part of that overall business offering. I think we need to work out with Benchmarx exactly where it's placed in the market is, who is it trying to compete with? Who will its target audience? And I think there's improvements that we can make in Benchmarx. Is it a -- is it one of my burning issues as I sit here today, the answer well is no. I mean I think we've got other things that are sort of like better for us to address, but I think we spent some time with the Benchmarx leadership team. We've got a view on where Benchmarx will go over the next 12 months. But it is and will remain part of that overall kind of Green & Gold merchant model as opposed to being pulled out and standing alone. Do you want to do the overheads, one?
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesYes. It's about half, well, I think, is where we start the year at GBP 40 million, we think we can offset through some of the actions we've taken at the end of last year, but that doesn't include further actions we may then take in this year as well, which also help contribute to it. It comes back a little bit to the Gavin's answer to Ben's question earlier on, which is for all of our peers and all large multisite organizations in the U.K., which are also very highly labor-intensive based on the inflationary pressures, cost inflation pressures of things like NI and national living wage, et cetera. We're only going to get to margin expansion if we can start to expand gross margins. Either or we are trying to take out so much cost that we would, in my view, fundamentally impair the business and really hobble it in terms of its ability to sort of face into any recovery as well. So it's a careful balance. We've -- I don't think anyone could say that 300 heads isn't a meaningful and significant reduction in terms of the challenge that's out there. And we are also going to strong hand on every other element of discretionary cost. But I come back to my comments in the presentation, we can't offset that in full, but then I don't think anyone else can either.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesAnd just back to your point on the markets, I mean, look, we're sitting here sort of like middle of March, the world is in a very different place than what it was in the middle of January, who knows where it will be in the middle of April. So I think I'm just looking around the room, actually, the number of analysts in the room, we've probably got greater analytical brainpower sat out there rather than up here. So maybe ask some of your peer group when you're having a coffee after you might get a better answer.
Annelies Vermeulen
AnalystsAnnelies Vermeulen from Morgan Stanley. I have 2 questions, please. So you've mentioned ongoing competitive intensity and touching on some of what you said earlier, given the state of the world at the moment and what that implies for consumer and business confidence. Are you seeing any change in that competitive intensity in terms of some of your competitors? Any less discipline on pricing, not only as a result of the actions you've taken, but also given what the end customers are seeing? And then secondly, on the headcount reductions, do you expect to make further headcount reductions this year or are you happy by the businesses today? And as part of that, could you comment on your expectations for the exceptional charges and restructuring costs, how they -- how you expect them to stack up in '26 versus '25?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesDo you want to take the exceptionals?
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesYes. I mean, look, the first thing to say is we don't have any live and significant programs. And as you would expect me to say, the first people we'll communicate those to appropriate or our colleagues and then the market. However, I think we'd be reasonably open to say that Gavin's just arrived. So we are clearly lifting up every single rock in the business and looking around how we're resourced and how we're structured and whether we're appropriately set. Look, I'm not going to get into giving forward guidance around whether we would have an exceptional charge associated with that quantum or not. I mean you can backsolve analyst, the kind of number that we've got for what has been a very large reduction last year. If we end up having some further reductions, it may or may not qualify for an exceptional item, but it doesn't -- that wouldn't concern me in terms of either the profit impact or the cash if it was the right thing for us to do as a group.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesI think the other thing on cost, I would say is, it isn't just about the absolute level of cost. It's making sure that you've got the cost focused in the right place. So I think there's been quite a lot of work done in terms of -- as Duncan mentioned earlier, some central roles taken out, but making sure that we've got the appropriate level of cost in customer-facing roles, which is more important. So it isn't just about cost out. It is about the rebalancing of the cost and making sure the cost is in the right place as well. In terms of market behavior, I mean, look, we have hundreds of competitors across the whole country in different sectors. So it's really difficult to say whether people are behaving more or less rationally. What I would say is having been in this market for 25 years, it's always been a competitive market. You've always got competitive pricing. But I wouldn't say intuitively now I don't think people are behaving less rationally now than they were a year ago, 2 years ago or so on. So I don't think there's been a significant change.
Aynsley Lammin
AnalystsAynsley Lammin from Investec. I think I've got 3 as well, actually. Just first of all, on the kind of backdrop, I think we've heard last year that maybe some companies and particularly the independents are struggling a bit more. Just interested to hear your thoughts where you think any more capacity will come out of the market? And given your strong balance sheet, would you consider any M&A if it's even smaller bolt-on deals interested in that? Secondly, Gavin, in your various previous guys, as you always had very clear margin targets, just interested in your early thoughts on where do you think that merchanting margin could be over the medium term? I think we've heard 8% in the past and similarly for Toolstation U.K., is that still kind of reasonable, do you think? And then last question is just on the working capital. If we do get kind of flat sales, is there more efficiency that can be squeezed out of the working capital or actually, are we kind of broadly there?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesI think in terms of the backdrop and kind of M&A, I think at the very beginning, let's not get distracted by things. Let's focus on the day job and do what we need to do and do it really well. As you know, M&A has been a huge part of my career over the past 20-odd years. So as and when the time is right, there's also things that you can look at. But fundamentally, it's not about looking at distressed businesses in a market where there's overcapacity. Anything that you buy is going to be a really good business and bring strategic and financial value to the group. So I don't think it's a case of just saying, do we think some independents will be finding life tough and therefore, hoover them up. I mean we've got well over 500 locations in Green & Gold. We've got pretty good coverage. In fact, last week, I discovered some towns in Scotland, where we have branches that I've never even heard of. So I think our coverage is pretty good. In terms of margin targets, I don't -- I think it's far too early for me to give like a long-term margin target of where it all sits. But just a couple of points that you made. Do I think in the medium term, an 8% margin target in Toolstation U.K. is a reasonable target to have? Yes, I do. I think everything that I've seen so far, I think that's reasonable. In terms of Green & Gold rather than setting long-term targets there, let's just -- let's see some margin movement and start moving back towards the 5% level and then we can determine where we go beyond that. But I think there is definitely margin improvement to be had. But I'm not in a position, Aynsley, where I can sit here today and say, right, in 3 years, I want to be here in 5 years, I want to be here. We need to make sure we understand all the moving parts in there as well.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesAnd on your working capital question. Yes, I mean not just working capital, I mean, just generally cash opportunities I've got a metaphorical dartboard up, and it's -- there's a big number we're going at this year. I mean just to give you some examples, our relative percent of sales of our credit is still higher than it was pre-Oracle. We've still got, as Paul will attest when you speak to him afterwards, firmly under some pressure around payment terms elsewhere with other suppliers. There's loads we can go at within the group. What we've got to -- but the problem is or the challenge for me is I can't and won't see all of those sat in my seat. We have got to create a culture where everyone is forging for these opportunities across the group. And I said in a bit earlier on, we've started that, and I think that's really encouraging. I'm actually quite pleased and excited to see what starts coming back because I'm starting to get more things come back organically to me around suggestions around what we can do differently. So yes is the answer to your question. I think there's plenty still to go out.
Clyde Lewis
AnalystsClyde Lewis, Peel Hunt. Three, if I may as well. Firstly, on incentives and you stress the brand-focused, sales-led sort of structure you really want to push hard on. Are you happy with the current incentives for the team or do you need to tweak that and if you -- or if you have, which -- what have you done on that front? That was the first one. Second one, Gavin, you sort of talked about, again, very much focused on the day job. Where do you think the biggest noise is still within the organization that's stopping the team from doing the day job? The third one was probably following, well a little bit on Benchmarx. So I want to ask about managed services, similar sort of question -- well, it may well be, may well be, but slightly different business, obviously, the Benchmarx, so those are the 3.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. I think in terms of incentivization, we have tweaked some of the incentives this year. We have made some changes I don't think it's right and appropriate to sit and sort of go through details of incentive plans here today. But I think Rich and I, particularly in terms of Green & Gold, we believe that what we've put in this year gives a greater emphasis on driving sales and also driving profitable sales. So we have made some tweaks. We'll see how those incentives play out during the year, but it was something that very early doors I kind of looked at and thought, I think there's something that we can do better there. So we have made some tweaks there. In terms of the biggest noise in the day job, God, that's an interesting question. So I think it's -- from my perspective, I think the leadership team that we've got now, the newness of the leadership team in terms of being MD, I think, has taken a huge amount of noise away because what we don't have sitting in the room, when Duncan and I with them together, there isn't any kind of tendency of or 3 years ago we did this, 5 years ago we did that, 10 years ago we did this. I think we've got a sort of a young, hungry leadership team that I think have really got a new focus and actually looking at the business in a slightly different way. So I do think a lot of the noise in terms of the internal noise is gone. Now that needs to filter through hundreds of branches and areas and regions and make sure that we get down to a branch level and people understand it there. But I just want people to think, look, very, very simplistically, if we give people 3 or 4 things that we just need them to do, focus on the customer, sell more product, protect the margin those very simple messages. I think that's what we need to get down right to branch level so that people really understand what it is that we need them to do. So I think there's -- I'd like to think what we're bringing is a simplicity and a clarity of the messaging that I think takes a lot of the noise away. And the response I've had from that new leadership team has been really good in terms of, okay, we understand this, let's start getting that messaging through and we're having some really good dynamic conversations between us as a leadership team in terms of how we want to move the business forward. And in terms of managed services, I do refer the honorable gentlemen to the answer I gave some moments ago.
Shane Carberry
AnalystsShane Carberry, Goodbody. Just one for me. Just to dig a little bit deeper into that kind of exploit synergies point and particularly in the Tier 1 bracket. And I know you've made it very clear, you don't want us to think about that as centralization. So maybe just a couple of live examples of what you're kind of getting at there would be helpful?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. So Shane, I think as a really good example, so our electrical range in the shop in Travis Perkins Green & Gold, I think, left quite a lot to be desired. And this is not about targeting electricians, but this is about looking at jobbing builders and the electrical product that they buy that currently they buy from somewhere else. We looked at the range that we have in Toolstation. And basically, Rich's response, I'm paraphrasing was, well, if we just take the top 50 selling SKUs from Toolstation and put them into Green & Gold, distribute them through Pineham, which is already going out to hundreds of locations on a daily basis, that's a really quick win. We don't need to go back and start reranging and rethinking and sort of reinventing the electrical range in Green & Gold because actually, the top 50 SKUs are very much fit for purpose in terms of Green & Gold and Toolstation. So it's just like it's those kind of examples, but it isn't -- it absolutely isn't centralization. And I think the -- utilizing the sort of Pineham distribution center, as I said, it's 0.5 million square feet. It's a very high bay. It's got a couple of mezzanines in there. And I think there's just efficiencies that we can utilize from there on distribution. Again, that distribution center is going out to hundreds of locations already. So it's just things like that, that we've just looked at very early doors and thought, no, no, we can do this a little bit better if it makes it more effective, makes it more efficient, takes a little bit of cost out, then it's just those like knocking these small things over one day at a time. That's the kind of viewpoint, Shane, really.
Arnaud Lehmann
AnalystsArnaud Lehmann from Bank of America. A few from my side. I mean, Gavin, you're quite recent in the business. We've been around a long time, and I guess we all had enough of talking about Travis Perkins' IT systems. That being said, do you think it's in good shape now? And do you see opportunities related to AI? It's a bit of a buzzword at the moment, but I'm sure there could be some improvement going forward. Secondly, I think a follow-up to some of the questions on the balance sheet. Could buyback be an option or are you just going to see it on your strong balance sheet for considering market uncertainties? Travis Perkins, thirdly, is in Tier 1. That's great. We've seen branch closures in the past, especially the smaller ones. Do you think if volumes continue to decline, would you consider that? And lastly, for Duncan as a trading day impact for 2026, please?
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesCan you repeat the last one?
Arnaud Lehmann
AnalystsTrading days and impact this year relative to '25. I think it's a small positive maybe.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. All good points. So in terms of branch closures, we have seen some branch closures. We're not sitting here right now with a mass branch closure plan. I think one of the things that we're doing already, we're looking at individual branches based on their P&L. Sometimes there's a lease impact, sometimes there's a property sale impact. But overall, I think the branch infrastructure that we've got gives us pretty good coverage across the whole of the country. And I'm -- what I certainly haven't done is coming with a mindset of let's reduce it by 100 branches. So I think every single branch that we look at is looked at on an individual basis. We looked at 1 or 2 with Rich last week where we thought, okay, is this border line? Do we keep it open? If we extend the branch that's 3 miles away, can we cover it from a transport point of view? But it is absolutely on a branch-by-branch basis as opposed to a program branch closures, that really isn't part of what we're trying to do. I'll touch on the IT systems because I know Duncan spoke a lot about IT in the last couple of years. So I'll try and kind of give you an outsider view of it. I think there were obviously -- there was a lot of pain last year from the Oracle implementation. It was very clear when I turned up that pain of the implementation was behind. And we were genuinely having conversations even down at branch manager level with people saying we're starting to see the benefits of that coming through. So I think with any big ERP implementation, there's always a lot of pain. But I think Oracle was particularly painful, but it's really good to sit here now and say Oracle is a reason to be positive now as opposed to a reason to be negative. And I would also say, in other parts of the group, we've done other stuff that has kind of gone under the radar. So like in BSS changing over to carriage from the system that, that was on. That went really smoothly. The team did a super job on that. So I think it's something that we are constantly looking at to make sure we have got the right systems. We're not sitting here today with any plan of another significant ERP change in any of the businesses. By virtue of just evolution of time, there'll always be some work that needs doing on the systems, but I'm looking at the next 2 years and thinking we haven't got anything in the next couple of years that's sort of a magnitude of what the group has been through over the past 2 years. And just in terms of things like AI, I mean, look, it's always easy to say that -- I appreciate it's a great buzzword. I think we're still some time away yet from an AI truck driver in TP who can drive a 36-tonne truck, operate a crane and lift a pallet over Mrs. Jones hedge and get it in the drive. But there are areas within the business. So when we're looking at things like credit management, when we're looking at inventory management, we're very alert to the fact that those developments can bring some value to the group. So it's not lost on us at all, but I think there are some quite specific areas, probably more so back office rather than front office.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesYes. I agree entirely. So I think your 2 on buyback and on trading day -- one more trading day in Q4 this year than the Q1 to Q3, the same. And on your buyback, I mean, somewhat rhetorical question in terms of you answered it at the end. We will come back with some more developed thoughts on strategy and thinking. And as you would expect me to say, capital allocation should follow as a logical extension or accompaniment to that in -- when we come back in the half year. So right now, we're just basking in having a relatively strong position, and it is pretty uncertain out there. So I think we'll sort of enjoy the resilience that affords us.
Zaim Beekawa
AnalystsZaim Beekawa at JPMorgan. The first is just on the CapEx. How sustainable is it to have CapEx at this level? And at what level do we see that reinvestment cycle come back? And then secondly, on Toolstation GO, just how that's been trending? And what's the opportunity set there?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesThe Toolstation GO. It's a new format store that we've opened up in Battersea. It's a physically smaller branch. It has about 4,500 SKUs in it as opposed to a full fat Toolstation that would get close to 10,000. SKUs. It has literally been open for a matter of weeks, but the early trading is really encouraging. I think it's something that lends itself predominantly to the London market rather than elsewhere. But it -- I mean, literally, it's been open for like 3 or 4 weeks. So we just need to see how it goes. But early indications have been really good.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesAnd yes, on CapEx, look, I mean it's -- at the moment, we are -- we say we've managed to move our way through what we need to fix fairly carefully. I think where we've been historically is we have made a number of large relocations or new branch investments, which are very -- which come with a higher CapEx bill. Mindset-wise, we are starting to move into a world where we've got great sites and great locations, didn't have our heritage, where we need to move into a mindset of effective refurbishment at a much, much lower cost, but ultimately still giving branch colleagues a better working experience and customers a better experience when they come in. So I think we can manage it at around this level. I think it's more, frankly, the previous number perhaps, which acts as a precedent has been too high. And as I said, we're nutting into and replacing our fleet and bringing down that average age. I think Ben asked a question earlier on around price to Gavin. I was thinking as he was making a point around that cash doesn't necessarily have to be deployed per se into price in terms of taking on. You can also create competitive differentiation by investing that capital into assets and equipment in the business, which also is a point of differentiation. And so there's nothing stopping us doing that.
Adrian Kearsey
AnalystsAdrian Kearsey, Panmure Liberum. Two for me, if I may. On Toolstation, on the distribution center you talked about sweating the assets and then provided the example of the electrical range within Green & Gold. Are there any other examples where you can use the Toolstation DC to sweat and provide service elsewhere? And then the other question sort of follows on from Duncan's comments about points of differentiation. I'm drawing on the point that you made about having the cost in the right place. Do you think you have the right number of people in different branches or is there something that you need to evolve over time to make sure that you can actually differentiate on service?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesSo I think in terms of Toolstation DC, are there other examples? And the answer is yes. I mean -- and I can't sit here and list them for you, but I think we've had very grown-up conversations around the leadership team in terms of how we can utilize the assets that we have. The Pineham distribution center is the most modern distribution center we have, there is undoubtedly efficiencies that we can bring across the group by using Pineham more. And when I mentioned earlier about the logistics support that we can give TF Solutions as an example, we will be doing that through Pineham. So -- and Pineham is the Toolstation DC. So the answer to your question is yes. I think in terms of how we got the right number of people in the branches as a point of differentiation, we're always looking because also branches change. So if you look at certain branches, they can land a very large contract. That very large contract may require extra manpower in one branch, but actually 18 months down the line, that contract could be gone and you then have to realign. So -- can I sit here and say, well, I'm absolutely confident we have got the right number of people in every single branch across the whole of the group? I mean, the answer is no because it's a very kind of fluid playing field, but I think the work that the guys did in the second half of last year before I started in January, there was quite a lot of work done in making sure that we have the right resources going in the right place. That was part of the changes in the center that Duncan spoke about earlier. But it's a constant area of focus, as is productivity, as is utilization of people, utilization of vehicles, that is very much part of what we need to be on top of as a top class distributor.
Unknown Analyst
Analysts[indiscernible] from [ Applied Value ]. A couple for me, but mostly in and around the whole of the IT system, whether it's actually giving you now the data that your decentralized structure will allow you to manage properly as well as get some of the benefits of centralization, for example, say, from procurement? So you've just spoken there about electrical products. I mean you can now go back -- can you -- does your IT system give you the data to be able to go back to manufacturers and argue properly for a group discount or group deals in and around those product areas? And just on the branch networks, quite clearly, I get your point about centralized management, but there's got to be centralized understanding of what's going on, plus not having those individual units in silos such that they can work across customers. So there's 2 questions there. One, really about procurement, centralized buying and the other one about centralized management of customers that might use both Green & Gold and Toolstation such that you can help them perform better, but also help you get more out from them as well?
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesOkay. I'll let Duncan pick up on your first point around the IT system. In terms of the decentralized structure, a decentralized structure does not mean it's a free for all. So there are parameters that we have people working within. We've got a lot of experience in making this work. One of the things that I would say actually is an opportunity for us and back to a point that was made about managed services earlier on, I think there are opportunities with Toolstation in the U.K., and we haven't really fully maximized what that can do perhaps with some of the managed service customers and those are still opportunities that we've got going forward. But do I think we've got the right level of communication and understanding of how that can work? The answer is yes, but there's still some implementation that we need to go. We had the guys together last week in Northampton. And one of the things I was very conscious of is make sure that we actually manage these initiatives in a well-managed way. You can't just pile everything in, in month 1 because that will just result in chaos. So I think there are improvements that we can make across the group in utilizing both inventory and in utilizing the branch network. We need to make sure that the backup systems are right for those. And I think as we go through the year, you'll start to see some of that come to value, Stephen.
Duncan Cooper
ExecutivesYes. I'll delight and disappoint you in equal measure and the response on kind of Oracle, particularly. I mean -- so look, on the one hand, things like stock visibility, stock valuation, branch level reporting, highlighting process issues around where we're not following process correctly and getting that right because Oracle is more sophisticated and because it's a closed box, it's flushing a lot of that stuff out. Just gone through a year-end audit, unsurprisingly, second largest ERP platform on the planet. Our auditor can come in and plug in and get a lot -- so there's a load of efficiencies and things started to come out of that. What I'll disappoint you in equal measure, though, is we didn't need Oracle to address some of the other things you addressed in your answer around can our group commercial function go and have a conversation around the fact that we're not getting the best price on the supplier. That was never a data issue. That was a will issue. And actually, we don't lack information in this organization. We are swimming in data and information in this organization. And as Rich will talk to you afterwards, we need -- you need 5 reports to run a branch. The challenge is, what insights is it giving you and who is holding that branch manager or any other person in the organization to account around why the KPIs don't tell you what they're doing. So for me, it's -- I don't think Oracle has necessarily addressed that. That's around better performance management, and that is a journey we're on and making good progress into.
Gavin Slark
ExecutivesWe've got any more questions in the room. I'm going to look at Bailey and say we've got any questions coming in off-line or not? Excellent. Well, that's it, ladies and gentlemen. So thank you for your time. Thank you for your interest. I look forward to seeing you all in the summer, and I hope everyone stays well. Stay safe. Thank you very much.
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