BMF’s P&H Merchant Index confirms steady sales increase in Q1


26 May 2021

P&H Merchant Index confirms steady sales increase in Q1The latest edition of the BMF Plumbing & Heating Merchant Index (PHMI) confirms that sales of plumbing and heating products remain steady, with evidence of a slight upward trend in Q1 2021.

A year on from the onset of the Covid pandemic and the temporary closure of branches at the start of the first lockdown period, from 24 March 2020, an increase in year on year sales was to be expected.  However, comparing sales values with Q4 2020 and with the pre-Covid levels seen in Q1 2019 sheds more light on current market performance.

The latest figures reveal that:
Sales in Q1 2021 were up +6.8% compared with Q1 2020
Sales in Q1 2021 were up +3.5% compared with Q1 2019 (pre-Covid)
Sales in Q1 2021 were +3.1% higher than in Q4 2019, helped by three more trading days in Q1.  However, average sales a day were -1.8% lower in Q1.
Comparing monthly sales in Q1 2021 shows a slight month on month increase. March
returns were +15.5% higher than in February, albeit helped by three more trading days 
in March.  Taking extra days out of the equation, shows that average sales a day nudged up by 
+0.4%.
The data for the PHMI is taken solely from P&H specialists, including City Plumbing Supplies, Graham, James Hargreaves Plumbing Deport, PTS and Wolseley, who form part of GfK’s Plumbing & Heating Merchants Panel, and there is no overlap or double counting between the PHMI and the BMF’s established Builders Merchants Building Index which analyses sales at generalist merchants.
 
P&H Merchant Index confirms steady sales increase in Q1