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travis perkins plc
2009 annu al repo rt and accounts a le ade r in builde rs me rch anting and home imp rovement ret ailing t r a v i s p e r k i n s p l c l o d g e w ay h o u s e h a r l e s t o n e r o a d 
n o r t h a m p t o n n n 5 7 u g 
t e l e p h o n e 0 1 6 0 4 7 5 2 4 2 4
t r a v i s p e r k i n s p l c 2 0 0 9 a n n u a l r e p o r t a n d a c c o u n t s 	 17334	 				proof	3	 1410
this document is important and requires your immediate attention if you are in any doubt as to what action you should take you are recommended to seek your  
own financial advice from your stockbroker or other independent adviser authorised under the financial services and markets act 2000 if you have sold or transferred all of your shares 
in travis perkins plc please forward this document together with the accompanying documents as soon as possible either to the purchaser or transferee or to the  
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d e s i g n e d b y r w h d e s i g n c o n s u lta n t s · p h o t o g r a p h y b y c a lv i n h e w i t t a n d c h a r l e s w a r d · p r i n t e d b y j o n e s a n d pa l m e r  
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1 c o n t e n t s
contents
overview
highlights of 2009 2
who we are 4
reports
chairman’s statement  8
chief executive’s review of the year 10
chief operating officer’s review of the year  25
finance director’s review of the year  36
governance
directors and professional advisers  44
corporate responsibility statement  46
corporate governance  47
audit committee report  49
health  safety report 51
directors’ remuneration report  53
nominations committee report  64
directors’ report  65
statement of directors’ responsibilities  70
independent auditors’ report  71
financial statements
income statements  72
statements of comprehensive income 73
balance sheets  74
statements of changes in equity 76
cash flow statements  78
notes to the financial statements  79
five year record  118
shareholder information
notice of annual general meeting  120
notes to the notice of annual general meeting 122
directions to the annual general meeting 124
other shareholder information  125  
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2 h i g h l i g h t s o f 2 0 0 9
highlights of 2009
financial highlights
·  group revenue down 8 at £2931m
·  adjusted operating profit down 17 to £225m
·  adjusted profit before tax of £180m
·  adjusted eps down 22 to 75p
·  gross operating cost savings of £60m achieved ahead of target
·  retail operating profit up 19 with increased operating margin
·  free cash flow £294m up 59 note 35
·   capital base strengthened through rights issue with net 
debt more than halved to £467m
operating highlights
· likeforlike headcount reduced by 13 since start of recession
· operating focus shifted to cost and debt reduction 
· merchanting business rated top amongst national merchants
· successful wickes marketing campaign delivered market share gain  
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3
 with effect from 1 december 2009 the company and the trustee of the travis perkins’ defined benefits pension scheme agreed to cap future pensionable salary increases at a 
maximum of 3 per annum this created a curtailment event the resulting exceptional reduction in the benefit obligation of £327m has been included in other operating income 
in 2008 the group incurred an exceptional charge of £562m associated with the severe downturn in the construction market throughout these financial statements the term 
“adjusted” has been used to signify that the effect of these exceptional items has been excluded from the disclosure being made 
h i g h l i g h t s o f 2 0 0 9
   2009  2008
   £m  £m
revenue 29309	 78 31786
adjusted
 operating profit note 5a 2246	 173 2715
 profit before taxation note 5b 1800	 111 2025
 profit after taxation note 5b 1339	 69 1439
 basic earnings per ordinary share pence note 12b  752	 224 969
statutory   
 operating profit  2573	 195 2153
 profit before taxation  2127	 454 1463
 profit after taxation  1574	 545 1019
 basic earnings per ordinary share pence 884	 289 686
total dividend declared per ordinary share pence note 13    145
highlights of 2009
revenue £m adjusted profit
before taxation £m
adjusted basic  
earnings per 
share pence
restated for impact of rights issue
2006 2005 2007 2008 2009
28488
26408
31867
31786
29309
2006 2005 2007 2008 2009
2203
2067
2614
2025
1800
2006 2005 2007 2008 2009
1004
921
1181
969
752  
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4 w h o w e a r e
who we are
andrew pike
company secretary  
and lawyer
carol kavanagh
group human  
resources director
martin meech
group property director
robin proctor
supply chain director
our group mission
“continue to deliver better returns by putting in place 
and growing the best businesses with outstanding 
people and operations providing comprehensive building 
material solutions to everyone creating maintaining 
repairing or improving the built environment… helping 
to build britain”
our group vision
to ensure that anyone in britain who wants to access 
any kind of building materials through any form of supply 
channel will have a travis perkins group operation as 
their first or first alternative choice
our group values
at travis perkins we
know our customers – we understand their needs beat 
their expectations treat them with respect and know our 
major customers personally
talk and listen	– we say what we mean clearly and 
honestly we listen carefully we respond objectively we 
explain our decisions
are with you not against you – we seek mutual benefits 
with all stakeholders we think about the impact of our 
actions we search for similarities
know how to do our jobs – not just today but for the 
next job we equip ourselves with the skills needed to 
perform and be confident we can perform
like to deliver – we enjoy being the best we know 
exactly what each of us is expected to achieve we focus 
on getting results simply
work together – we actively work with each other when 
something goes wrong the first thing we will do is fix the 
problem not look for someone to blame
always try to get better – we constructively challenge 
how we work we look for fresh ideas that are different 
we only have rules where they are necessary because we 
use our common sense
are proud to be here – this is a great company everyone 
working with us is welcome we make work enjoyable for 
everyone
travis perkins a major plc is a main supplier to the building and 
construction market one of the largest industries in the uk
the present day company was formed in 1988 out of a merger 
between travis and arnold plc a company with strong midlands and 
northern based business and sandell perkins plc a company with an 
equivalent strength in the south of england
the origins of sandell perkins can be traced back over 200 years 
to 1797 when a carpentry company was first established in london 
travis and arnold was initially formed as a partnership in 1899 during 
the early to mid 20th century both businesses expanded before even
tually becoming listed public companies travis and arnold was the first 
to the market in 1964 followed 22 years later by sandell perkins 
norman bell
category management 
director   
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5 w h o w e a r e
the retail division comprises two businesses wickes a national chain 
of diy retail outlets and tile giant a ceramic tile merchant acquired 
in 2007 
wickes stores are designed to appeal to tradesmen who undertake 
general repairs maintenance and improvement projects for house
holds and small businesses and to serious diy customers who carry 
out more complete diy projects these customers are more demanding 
in terms of service quality and price
the company meets these expectations by offering a focussed 
range of high quality primarily own brand competitively priced home 
improvement products such as timber building materials tools and 
decorative materials in addition wickes stores offer a range of kitchens 
and bathrooms which are sold through instore showrooms
wickes which opened its first store in the uk in 1972 at whitefield in 
manchester was acquired by travis perkins in 2005 and the company 
now operates from 195 stores nationwide 
the managing director of wickes is jeremy bird who joined wickes 
seventeen years ago and has fulfilled various roles including that of 
commercial director
in 2007 travis perkins acquired its seventh brand tile giant whilst 
in 2008 this business acquired tile magic a 17 store chain and tile it 
all a 16 store chain in 2009 travis perkins acquired tile hq an internet 
based retailer of ceramic and stone tiles the brand is now trading from 
a total of 86 stores
under the leadership of mo iqbal the managing director of tile giant 
the brand offers a strong pipeline for further expansion
toolstation
in 2008 the group invested in a 30 share of a direct retailer of light
side products this multichannel business has a strong internet and 
catalogue based business and a rapidly expanding store network which 
had extended to 59 stores throughout great britain by the end of 2009 
retail division
 jeremy bird
divisional chairman
and md wickes
mo iqbal
md tile giant  
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6 w h o w e a r e
the merchanting division of travis perkins plc supplies building mate
rials to specialist and generalist professional tradesman throughout 
great britain
the core businesses of travis and arnold plc and sandell perkins 
plc formed following the merger in 1988 what is now the general 
merchanting business within the merchanting division it trades 
nationally through the travis perkins brand and comprises four indi
vidual businesses 
joe mescall who has been with the group since 1974 leads the 
business in his role as divisional chairman the managing directors 
of the four regional businesses are ian church travis perkins 
midlands phil gransden travis perkins south east andrew popple 
travis perkins northern and mark nottingham travis perkins south 
west during the year norman bell formerly managing director of 
travis perkins south west was appointed to the new role of category 
management director with mark nottingham formerly managing 
director of travis perkins northern moving to the south west to 
replace him andrew popple who had been a regional director for over 
10 years was promoted to managing director in october 2009
the customers of the four general merchanting regional businesses 
are primarily professional tradesmen ranging from sole traders to 
national housebuilders whose key requirements are product range 
and availability competitive pricing and customer service 
the strategy of the general merchanting business aims to increase 
market share through implementation of our best practice programme 
and ongoing branch network expansion the best practice programme is 
designed to enhance our overall service to trade customers and covers 
all of their key requirements even though all four general merchanting 
businesses are already operating to high standards in these areas they 
have stretching targets in place to deliver further improvements
network expansion will be concentrated on local authority and 
housing association store projects in the short term potential exists to 
double the number of such outlets over the next few years 
joe mescall
divisional chairman
ian church
md midlands 
phil gransden
md south east
andrew popple
md northern
mark nottingham
md south west
merchanting division  
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7 w h o w e a r e
the specialist merchanting business of the merchanting division 
consists of four separate businesses trading under the following brands 
keyline city plumbing supplies ccf and benchmarx it is led by the 
divisional chairman arthur davidson he has worked in merchanting 
for over thirty years having joined keyline prior to its acquisition by the 
travis perkins group
in preparation for any market upturn the businesses have strength
ened and reorganised their external selling resources to focus on 
market growth sectors this initiative is being led by the division’s 
commercial sales director david stewart who has been with the group 
for 23 years and who was formerly managing director of keyline
andrew harrison formerly managing director of benchmarx has 
been with the group since 1989 he became managing director of 
keyline in succession to david stewart in july 2009 keyline is a 
specialist merchant supplying heavy building materials and civils and 
drainage solutions to the construction industry throughout the uk 
keyline is known for its knowledgeable staff and excellent delivery 
service 
city plumbing supplies is a major nationwide plumbing and heating 
merchant serving both the contract market and the general plumbing 
and heating market the company offers high quality products and 
expert service to the trade the managing director of city plumbing 
supplies is john frost who joined the travis perkins group in 1983  
during 2009 city plumbing supplies established a new heating spares 
business under a leader who previously performed a similar role with a 
competitor of the group
ccf is a leading supplier of interior building products to the construc
tion industry it operates throughout the uk offering a onestopshop 
to its customers from its nationwide branch network ccf’s managing 
director is kieran griffin who joined the group in 1995 and progressed 
via its management training scheme branch management and regional 
management roles to the position of managing director 
in 2006 benchmarx became the first group brand to be created as 
a completely new business within a market adjacent to the markets 
already served by the group based mainly in the south east the busi
ness is a leading supplier of kitchen and joinery products to the trade 
through its competitive pricing quality products and knowledgeable 
staff benchmarx is led by chris larkin formerly a regional director 
within travis perkins south east who became managing director in 
succession to andrew harrison in july 2009
arthur davidson 
divisional chairman
andrew harrison 
md keyline 
john frost
md city plumbing
kieran griffin 
md ccf
chris larkin
md benchmarx
merchanting division  
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8 c h a i r m a n ’ s s t a t e m e n t
chairman’s statement
for the year ended 31 december 2009
tim stevenson chairman
like many other company chairmen my report this year is set against 
a background of the most difficult trading conditions your company has 
faced in recent memory during 2009 our sector along with the rest of 
the uk economy was impacted by the worst recession in 80 years this 
resulted in our markets becoming even more competitive and made 
our decision to take preemptive action to reduce costs and conserve 
cash of even greater importance
results
group revenue for 2009 fell by 78 to £29309m whilst adjusted 
profit before tax ie on an underlying basis declined by 111 and 
adjusted earnings per share were down by 224 after restating for 
the effect of the rights issue
overheads were reduced by approximately £60m during the year 
through a combination of careful cost control and improved produc
tivity peak to trough headcount was reduced by 13
a combination of the midyear rights issue which raised £300m 
after expenses and strong free cash flow resulted in underlying net 
debt reducing by £550m to £4672m gearing is now 28 having 
fallen 62 during 2009
net expenditure on capital and acquisitions was £88m compared 
with £105m in 2008 in addition we provided a further £129m of funds 
to our associate company toolstation to fund its continuing expansion 
in december the company and the pension scheme trustee imple
mented a 3 cap on future pensionable salary increases for members 
of the group’s final salary pension scheme this resulted in a one off 
pension liability curtailment gain of £327m which is treated as excep
tional in the income statement
dividend
although the company has performed well during 2009 and exits the 
year in a strong position the board has concluded that there remains 
too much economic uncertainty for it to be able to recommend to 
shareholders the reinstatement of the dividend at this time we expect 
to resume dividend payments once improved prospects for our markets 
are visible
board of directors 
i am pleased to welcome both philip jansen and robert walker onto 
our board of directors philip joined the board in april 2009 following 
a search which i referred to last year to replace mike dearden who 
retired in november 2008 philip’s marketing experience and current 
executive responsibilities are already enabling him to add much to our 
board discussions robert joined us in september 2009 following a 
search specifically to identify a new chairman for the business he will 
succeed me as chairman after the agm on 17 may he brings a wealth 
of experience to the group gained over many years whilst working for 
a number of major companies he already has great knowledge of both 
the retail and builders merchanting sectors and i am confident that in 
the coming years he will make a valuable contribution to the continuing 
success of the business
“the group has 
delivered another 
market leading 
performance in a 
year that saw the 
most difficult trading 
conditions in the 
group’s history”  
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9 c h a i r m a n ’ s s t a t e m e n t
i step down as chairman of your company after more than 8 years in 
post it has been a privilege to lead the board during that period i leave 
with regret working with travis perkins and board colleagues of very 
high calibre has been a major highlight of my business career but it 
is right to move on and certainly good to be doing so at a point where 
i am totally confident that the business and its future are in such good 
hands throughout the 8 year period of varied economic conditions the 
business has consistently demonstrated its underlying strength and the 
depth and quality of its management – and that is particularly true of 
the way in which the business has been managed through the recent 
period of deep recession by the exceptionally able management team
employees
during 2009 the recession has made huge demands on all of the 
people employed by the group at a time of great uncertainty they have 
risen magnificently to the challenge of controlling overheads maxi
mising revenues and generating cash on behalf of both the board and 
of shareholders i would like to thank them all
outlook
our markets appear to have stabilised following a sharp decline at 
the start of the recession however much uncertainty remains about 
the condition of the uk economy and the prospects for construction 
markets we are prepared for a long period of probable low growth and 
difficult trading conditions before we can anticipate a return to growth 
in our markets whilst the longterm prospects for construction remain 
strong particularly when considering the ever rising demand for better 
environmental performance from buildings the affordability of many 
types of industry investment remains weak
against this relatively unpromising background the condition of your 
company remains remarkably strong the group has delivered another 
market leading performance in a year that saw the most difficult trading 
conditions in the group’s history management has taken decisive and 
resolute action to deal with the impact of the downturn and in doing 
so has maintained travis perkins as one of the strongest operators in 
the sector our core strengths have been retained whilst costs have 
been reduced our profitability although lower than in prerecession 
conditions compares well with our competitors 
having managed effectively through the recession the group’s 
strategy is to focus on organic growth in this low growth environment 
our stable and experienced management team has a proven track 
record of driving organic growth in these market conditions
tim stevenson
chairman
23 february 2010  
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10 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
chief executive’s review of the year
for the year ended 31 december 2009
geoff cooper chief executive
introduction 
in 2009 the group’s priorities were almost exclusively focussed on 
dealing with the unprecedented downturn in construction activity our 
principal focus was on cutting costs and trading profitably to deal with 
a predicted 25 fall in activity levels and on taking a range of actions 
aimed at reducing net debt
whilst our overall forecast of activity levels for 2009 proved broadly 
correct the retail market held up much better than expected following 
actions taken by monetary authorities to boost consumer sentiment 
in contrast the trade market fared a little worse than expected the 
group in comparison with competitors with a more narrow focus 
has benefited from its breadth of business activities across these two 
segments of the building materials market this benefit was further 
boosted in 2009 by the success of wickes’ refreshed commercial 
strategy which led to market share gains profit growth and operating 
margin expansion
performance
summary
the group’s results reflect the impact of the early action taken to 
prepare for the recession the divergent fortunes of our two divisions 
and the successful rights issue completed in the first half of 2009
throughout this annual report consistent with our approach last year 
the term “adjusted” has been used to signify that the effects of excep
tional items have been excluded from the disclosures being made 
before adjusting for the effect of exceptional items in both years the 
group recorded an increase of 45 in pbt to £2127m and an increase 
of 29 in earnings per share to 884 pence including the effect of our 
£3003m rights issue shareholders’ funds increased by £4422m
the group incurred an exceptional charge of £562m in the 
prior year as a result of actions taken in response to the downturn 
in construction markets in 2009 the exceptional item related to a 
£327m pension scheme curtailment gain which arose in december 
when future increases in pension scheme members’ pensionable sala
ries were capped
for 2009 the group reported revenue down £2477m at £29309m 
2008 £31786m this revenue decline drove adjusted operating 
profit down 17 to £2246m 2008 £2715m adjusted profit before 
tax down 11 to £1800m 2008 £2025m and adjusted earnings 
per share down by 224 to 752 pence 2008 969 pence the 
revenue decrease of 78 comprised a decline of 86 in likeforlike 
“lfl” sales with network expansion accounting for growth of 10 
and a reduction in trading days accounting for 02
adjusted group operating margin fell by 088 to 766 2008 
854 note 5c whilst adjusted operating margin in the retail division 
improved by 07 to 581 merchanting division adjusted operating 
margin fell by 129 to 876 reflecting the challenge of in reducing 
fixed costs in line with the significant fall in volume experienced by 
the market
the actions we implemented in late 2008 ahead of the expected 
“our businesses 
have strong brands 
experienced 
management teams 
and market leading 
financial performance”  
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11 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
sharp downturn in construction activity in 2009 served us well we 
exceeded our original target for cost savings with the 2009 cost 
base of the company being over £60m lower than in 2008 against 
an original target of £50m having made additional headcount and 
distribution savings these savings would have been higher were it 
not for our initiatives to invest in opportunities to grow revenue in the 
retail market our cost reduction programme combined with initiatives 
to improve stock ratios and constrain capital expenditure have helped 
boost cash flow the group generated free cash flow of £2944m in 
2009 a 589 increase on last year overall including net proceeds 
from the rights issue of £3003m net debt was reduced to £4672m 
for covenant purposes net debt was £4131m giving a net debt  
ebitda ratio of 147 times and interest cover of 107 times
as expected with less construction work available competition in 
merchanting intensified during the course of 2009 with a related dete
rioration in pricing conditions product cost and price inflation continued 
to be relatively strong by historical standards in these circumstances 
we sought to trade flexibly preferring to protect our gross margin rather 
than fill our capacity with low margin work and redoubled our efforts 
to obtain favourable input prices through a range of procurement initia
tives we estimate these actions helped to offset over half of the fall 
in gross margins in the merchanting market in contrast the pricing 
environment in retail remained relatively benign as competitors sought 
to restore their low operating margin and achieve an economic return 
overall the gross margin percentage for the group decreased slightly 
mainly reflecting a decline in the merchanting division margin
for the 7 weeks to 20 february the group lfl sales performance 
was down 27 with our merchanting division down by 28 and our 
retail division down by 24 with our core and kitchen and bathrooms 
“kb” down 8 and up 233 respectively
merchanting division 
our merchanting division continued its work to ensure we offer superior 
services and products to customers our research continues to indicate 
the success of this strategy and overall merchant customer satisfac
tion improved in 2009 our merchanting branch network is rated as 
a preferred source of building materials amongst national merchants 
in 8 out of the top 13 criteria used by customers when selecting a 
provider of materials whilst this is lower than in 2008 the differences 
mainly relate to our pricing stance where we chose not to seek low 
margin work
merchanting division sales fell by 129 with sales from new 
branch openings contributing 10 and lfl sales falling by 135 
and a reduction in trading days accounting for a further decline of 
04 the lfl decline comprised 36 of price inflation offset by a 
171 decline in volume given our trading stance on low margin work 
we estimate that both our general and specialist merchanting opera
tions recorded a lfl performance behind the market with lfl sales 
in general merchanting falling by 141 and specialist merchanting 
falling by 126 independent merchants who traditionally accept 
lower operating margins appear to have increased their market share 
at the expense of national merchants with our trend of lfl sales now 
very similar to other national merchants we judge our trading stance in 
the recession to have been successful particularly when compared to 
the operating profit and margin trends of most competitors
retail division
the retail division enjoyed relatively stronger market conditions as 
consumers found their discretionary spending power increasing mate
rially following cuts in mortgage costs utility bills and other elements 
of their nondiscretionary spend this meant that despite the general 
economic uncertainty the value of the diy retail market increased by 
an estimated 3 over 2009 considerably better than expected retail 
division total sales were up by 43 to £9807m with sales from new 
branch openings contributing 12 lfl sales increasing by 32 
38 price inflation and a 06 volume decrease and a reduction in 
trading days accounting for a decline of 01 
lfl sales for the full year of wickes’ core products were down only 
slightly by 08 and on the same basis kb sales were ahead by 
277 wickes’ strong kb sales performance reflects wickes’ initia
tive to capture market share following the withdrawal from the market 
in late 2008 of a significant kb competitor wickes enjoyed great 
success with this initiative exceeding its targets for share gain and 
taking more share than its overall market presence
markets
overall
evidence of stabilisation in our markets emerged in the second half 
of the year shortly after the outset of the downturn we estimated that 
in response to the underlying difficult economic circumstances in the 
uk volumes in our markets would fall from their peak in late 2008 by 
about 25 and reach a low point in mid 2009 our view of 2009 now 
points to an overall trough of 25 but the trough in merchanting of a 
little over 30 occurred a few months later than we forecast whilst the 
retail trough of around 15 occurred in first quarter of 2009 again 
here we have seen the benefit of our spread of businesses across the 
retail and merchanting segments of the market
although the recession has broadly followed our forecasts there 
have been a few noteworthy differences from our predictions the retail 
market performed more strongly boosted by good weather and surviving 
operators benefited from the exit of a competitor from the showroom 
market by contrast the merchanting market performed less well due 
to exposure to the heavier end of the market serving large construction 
projects where the reduction in activity has been more severe
retail market
as noted above consumers found themselves better off as a result of 
falling housing and related costs although savings rates climbed and 
mortgage equity withdrawal turned negative consumers were prepared 
to spend more in a few selected markets – such as improving their   
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12 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
homes in addition the moribund nature of the housing market meant 
many householders were spurred to improve their existing home in pref
erence to extending their borrowings to acquire a new home in addition 
worry about jobs and a search for value seems to have boosted the 
proportion of householders ‘doing it themselves’ with less use of small 
building firms this category of trade customer is important to both 
wickes and travis perkins also wickes has little presence in seasonal 
categories such as outdoor living for which sales were increased by 
the generally benign weather in 2009 compared to other diy retailers 
wickes were therefore faced with additional challenges without the 
relief to revenue trends available from seasonally sensitive products
although the decline in retail markets followed our expectations at 
the beginning of the year the boost to consumers’ spending power 
meant we saw a steady improvement in rates of decline over the year 
with the market returning to growth in the fourth quarter overall we 
estimate the diy shed market over the year as a whole was down in 
volume by 35 and up in value by 3
merchanting market
markets for our merchanting businesses including travis perkins fared 
less well we estimate that nearly 60 of the merchantsupplied part of 
the construction materials market comprises repair maintenance and 
improvement “rmi” activity with new housing and new commercial 
public sector construction each taking up roughly half of the remainder
with little exposure to consumers purchasing directly from merchants 
and a greater reliance on the small building firms referred to above the 
merchant supplied part of the rmi market suffered the full force of the 
recession whilst this segment of the market is normally quite resilient 
since many building jobs are nondiscretionary we estimate that activity 
levels fell by 11 – an unprecedented level of volatility this fall would 
have been much worse had it not been for the expansion of public sector 
refurbishment work such as programmes to upgrade social housing
new construction fared even worse than rmi activity much atten
tion has been given to the very sharp – we estimate some 50 to 60 
peak to trough – dip in new housing activity however new construc
tion of retail commercial and industrial buildings suffered an even 
sharper and deeper decline again an expansion of public sector work 
softened the blow with a continuation of the hospitals programme 
expansion of the schools and colleges programme and extra invest
ment in infrastructure this latter category sources most of its material 
requirements directly from manufacturers and only specialist civils 
merchants like our own keyline business derive any significant benefit 
from this additional spend
after taking into account the differential level of penetration of 
merchantsourced supplies into the various segments of the market 
and the annualisation of the monthonmonth peak to trough trend we 
estimate that the merchant market declined by 12 in value and 15 
in volume for the year as a whole compared to 2008
again the impact of this decline was softened by the closure of some 
competitor businesses and branches we now estimate that since the 
retail productivity
per employee £k
2006 2007 2008 2009
189
197
186
200
merchanting
productivity
per employee £k
2006
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2009
206
220
216
215
a ian biddle driver
b bob webb ph manager 
c mathew plumridge yard superviser
d jose diaz assistant branch manager  
e adam bennett ph product leader 
a b
a c
d e 13
 
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c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r  
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14 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
start of the recession around 500 merchant branches have closed 
taking 5 of capacity out of the market allowing for the transfer of 
business to surviving branches where competitors have consolidated 
branches in our own case we have only closed 3 merchant branches 
over the year with our greater profitability sustaining branch contribu
tion levels despite falling volumes
managing through the downturn
in last year’s report to shareholders we described the actions we had 
taken in 2008 and our priorities for 2009 to deal with the downturn 
in our markets – as shown below the analysis indicates the extent to 
which we have been successful in these plans
actions	 and	 priorities	 achievements	 and	 performance
management focus
●
 scale back development activities 
●
 all but key projects terminated
●
 prioritise short pay back projects 
●
 cash projects ahead of plan
●
 boost service levels 
●
 higher customer ratings recorded
●
 increase branch supervision 
●
 field management prioritised
●
 reduce central function headcount 
●
 peak to trough central function headcount down by 9
market share gains
●
 generate sector leading performance  
●
 share lost in merchanting due to margin stance retail share up by 03 
●
 increase penetration of growing customer segments 
●
  further gains in social housing cash based builders major contractors
and interiors
gross margin protection
●
 increase common and direct sourcing 
●
  increased our direct purchases by 50 and added c30bps to our margin
●
 extend use of new pricing tools 
●
 over 15 bps margin gained in the merchanting division
●
 sustain higher price inflation 
●
 full year 17 ahead of plan
●
 overall seek to compensate for anticipated market price pressure 
●
 group gross margin percentage down slightly
cost reduction
●
 sustain the late 2008 cuts in headcount 
●
 peak to trough headcount down by 13
●
 reduce transport costs 
●
 delivery cost to sales ratio lower than 2008
●
  achieve £50m net reduction in overhead cost  
●
 cost reduced by over £60m compared to 2008 after absorbing inflation
ie after absorbing inflation on the cost base 
working capital efficiency
■
  manage any supplier pressures from the difficult credit 
●
 all suppliers maintained trading on normal terms with average creditor  
insurance market    days improving by 5 days
●
 use new supply chain capabilities to reduce stock by £20m 
●
 stock likeforlike adjusting for inflation reduced by £34m from initiatives 
●
  limit the deterioration of debtor and bad debt ratios 
●
  debtor days improved by 3 days and bad debt ratio improved by 011  
092 to 081
property realisations
●
 generate in excess of £16m of cash 
●
 £19m of cash generated from 17 property projects
●
 contribute in excess of £10m to ebit as a ‘steady stream’ 
●
 2009 profits before taxation of £11m
●
 maintain the quality of the freehold estate 
●
 freeholds incl long leaseholds maintained at 30 of the estate
reduce capital expenditure
●
 constrain 2009 capex to £37m limiting new works 
●
 capex kept to £28m with all essential works completed
●
 target £60m capex for 2010 
●
 capex forecast for 2010 of £60m
further cost and cash actions
●
 reduced energy transport and waste costs 
●
 these costs reduced by £4m within total noted above
 managing through the downturn  
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15 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
overall we succeeded in achieving the majority of the challenges we 
set ourselves when plotting a course through the difficult market condi
tions we faced this demonstrated yet again the strength of our opera
tional management when executing difficult change programmes
development
the onset of the recession altered dramatically our stance on expan
sion with the cancellation of many projects and withdrawal from 
acquisition negotiations we continued brownfield expansion at tile 
giant in 2009 where new stores enjoy a good cash payback profile 
and toolstation under the terms of our development agreement most 
development work in other brands in 2009 therefore involved a range 
of projects to evolve our offer to customers
wickes
there was limited network expansion in 2009 with total retail selling 
space expanded by 04 only stores under contract opened in the 
year and as a result we launched a net 2 new stores having relo
cated our oldham reading and slough stores and rebuilt our store at 
chadwell heath destroyed by fire in 2008 at 31 december we traded 
from 195 stores 
we continued to invest in new products and new formats during the 
year we opened our smallest ever full range store with an extended 
multichannel offer reflecting our continued view that the lower fixed 
costs of smaller stores backed by the efficiency of smarter supply 
chains are right for the future several stores were refitted or relocated 
giving a net improvement in the quality of the estate during the year
we completed a successful refresh of our showrooms eliminating 
the poorly performing conservatory and bedroom categories and 
expanding our bathroom offer showrooms are now dedicated to 
kitchens and bathrooms use of this new space was supported by the 
employment of new design consultants and a strong television adver
tising campaign which significantly improved both brand awareness 
and recognition of the high quality of product we offer
travis perkins
expansion for travis perkins was limited predominately to the opening 
of 6 new sites to support local authority stores contracts won during 
the year and 1 other branch we had 25 managed stores in partner
ship with local authorities or their contractors by the end of 2009 out 
of a total of 618 sites of which 174 incorporated a toolhire outlet 
an extension of the concept of stand alone stores that service 
individual local authorities is ‘inbranch’ local authority contract point 
these meet the demands of individual authorities that do not require a 
stand alone branch but still want the benefit of centralising purchases 
made by their employees and subcontractors in 2009 we established 
8 of these dedicated service points within existing branches and 
currently have secured agreement to open a further 3 in 2010
we continue introducing initiatives to secure new business during 
the year we focussed on increasing the number of active trade cash 
cards and active trading accounts by the end of 2009 we had achieved 
a 7 uplift 
we have successfully trialled a new tool that better enables the 
external sales force to target new and dormant customers which 
will be rolled out across the business during the first few months of 
2010 this tool together with the team of territory managers we are 
currently building will further increase the sales opportunities avail
able to the business
stock availability and control remain at the core of our efforts we 
have trialled ‘branch select’ to our larger or more specialist branches 
which for them is an extension of our already successful company
wide mandated stock requirement where all branches have to main
tain certain stocks in project quantities in addition we have introduced 
autoreplenishment of planed square edged timber and mouldings 
from our timber supply centres this improves colleague productivity 
and helps optimise branch stock quantities and availability 
keyline
our 83 branch heavy building materials and civils and drainage 
specialist is the most exposed of our brands to new construction 
activity since it specialises in serving ground workers and civil engi
neering contractors 
after a difficult start to the year keyline found its markets stabilising 
in q3 whilst we have therefore chosen to constrain its expansion its 
longerterm prospects are positive linked to a recovery in housing and 
continued good prospects for investment in infrastructure in 2009 
we appointed a new managing director andrew harrison to keyline 
andrew is a very experienced managing director having previously led 
ccf and benchmarx upon arrival at keyline andrew and the team 
launched a new initiative to concentrate on refining its specialist offer 
under the “best in town” banner which is aimed at demonstrating to 
customers that keyline should be their first choice in civils products 
alongside this it strengthened its sales team to enable it to make 
further inroads into the infrastructure sector
city plumbing supplies
city plumbing supplies “cps” via its 194 branches made good 
progress during the year by adding sales from market share growth 
to compliment its wellmanaged overhead base it focused on local 
customers by offering an enlarged range of products supported by an 
enhanced service from our distribution centre
with a newly refined and better balanced business model serving 
plumbing contractors and the installed bathroom sector cps offers 
good potential for expansion having held back any branch develop
ments in 2009 cps continues to trade from 194 locations cps is 
the smallest of 4 national businesses serving the plumbing heating 
and ventilation market and we have significant scope for growth once 
market conditions become more favourable development work in 
cps in 2009 focussed on trading ‘smartly’ to maximise the opportuni
ties available from this highly competitive market with a number of   
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16 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
refinements to ranges promotional schemes and supplier incentives
as an important addition to our customer offer cps has invested in 
a management team to establish a heating spare parts business which 
will be led by ian tillotson our group spares director
ccf
our drylining screeding ceilings and insulation specialist is more 
exposed to late cycle trends this means it enjoyed better volumes in 
2009 than the rest of the merchanting businesses however we are 
now seeing a similar sharp downturn in this specialist market which 
could well be longer and deeper than in the general trade market we 
are therefore holding back on any physical developments until we can 
see better market prospects this means the ccf business continued 
to operate from 33 branches at the end of the year 
ccf’s market is now very largely held in the hands of major national 
or international distributors who have recently invested in the sector 
and with only a few suppliers of the key products competitive condi
tions remained very tight despite this ccf’s “onestop shop” offer 
to contractors means it enjoys a good reputation and indeed it was 
accredited as best distributor by the influential federation of plastering 
and dry lining contractors by coming first in seven out of eight service 
categories
reinvigorated commercial activities resulted in ccf gaining 
significant market share it established a new flooring division and 
in addition invested resources in partitions and acoustics to good 
effect whilst improving its overall overhead management
benchmarx
2009 was another year of improved trading performance a new 
managing director chris larkin a former travis perkins regional 
director was appointed in mid 2009 to benchmarx our specialist 
kitchen and joinery business for the trade which was launched in 
2006 prior to chris’ arrival we had spent time refining the benchmarx 
business model to improve new branch breakeven volumes and 
cash payback profile chris and his team have built on this platform 
by improving the sales and marketing focus and have succeeded in 
increasing benchmarx’ customer base and revenues 
we took further market share improved our doors range through 
centralisation of distribution and established a contract sales presence 
to service the social housing sector we also developed a successful 
implant branch model for use within the wider merchant network 
affording us a low cost route to expansion
benchmarx’ 29 kitchen  joinery branches serve a market with 
attractive returns and growth characteristics and our offer has scored 
very highly with our new customers in this market we plan further 
branch openings and we remain committed to creating a business with 
a significant market share in this sector
tile giant
we entered the retail tile market at the end of 2007 via the acquisition 
of tile giant a 29store chain operating mainly in the midlands this 
business has subsequently been expanded rapidly through 2 acquisi
tions tile magic and tile it all and a number of brownfield open
ings including 10 stores opened in 2009 it traded from 86 stores 
at the yearend and we have a good pipeline of further opportunities 
to expand 
in 2009 we completed the rebranding of the businesses acquired 
during 2008 so all stores now trade under the tile giant banner our 
new stores are performing well and we plan to increase the rate of 
openings in 2010
on 1 august 2009 we added a further channel to tile giant when 
we acquired tile hq an internetbased seller of tiles and developed 
its range into natural stone products a faster growing segment of the 
market via the part acquisition of one of our key suppliers the mosaic 
tile company this will enable us to improve the supply of natural stone 
products and so remain ahead of the market in this area
using the acquired expertise we are completely redeveloping the tile 
giant website and aim to relaunch it as a fully transactional offering in 
the first quarter of 2010
toolstation
in april 2008 the group acquired a 30 equity interest in toolstation 
a rapidly growing direct retailer of lightside products since then under 
a development agreement the group has funded a rapid rollout of 47 
new stores 
toolstation added an additional 25 stores in the year bringing the 
total trading at the end of the year up to 59 in july 2009 it opened a 
new distribution centre at redditch to support its plans to rapidly grow 
its footprint across the uk this enabled the bridgwater distribution 
centre to return to its originally designed function of servicing the mail 
order and internet businesses
toolstation’s development in 2009 has created 175 new jobs 
in the uk which means that since travis perkins became a share
holder toolstation has created 381 new jobs and with its rate of lfl 
sales growth significantly outstripping its peers we are confident of 
further growth 
the group has an option to acquire the outstanding portion of 
toolstation’s equity under certain conditions in 2012
organisational capabilities
under a strategy of cost reduction in response to the recession our 
organisational capabilities were shrunk in 2009 leaving us with not 
much more than the essential requirements to continue running the 
business however we have been careful to maintain the core capabili
ties of the group for example by retaining key staff but redeploying 
them as a substitute for bought in services allowing us to cut back on 
the costs of using these external providers this leaves us well posi
tioned to take advantage of opportunities that may arise when volume 
growth returns
as well as the redeployment of staff we have streamlined manage 17
 
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c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
a hubert pawlowski warehouse assistant
b nigel lemon warehouse supervisor
c jeffrey whitbread warehouse assistant 
d steven greenen business development manager
a
b
c b
c d b  
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18 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
ment structures eliminated some departments cut discretionary 
expenditures and reduced headcount required in activities related to 
the volume of business we handle we expect to make a number of 
these changes permanent having proved we can operate satisfactorily 
with fewer resources in a number of aspects of the group however 
in 2010 we will also selectively invest in new resources to support 
improvement of our customer offer in our businesses this will involve 
some new activities in market research marketing sales multichannel 
operations it and supply chain
in 2009 we took specific actions aimed at maintaining morale and 
employee engagement in difficult trading conditions this included 
removing less engaged colleagues as we reduced costs improving remu
neration for the remaining employees increasing internal communica
tion activities and removing unnecessary and burdensome procedures
as we reported last year our senior management group experi
enced an increased and unusual level of turnover at the end of 2008 
as we cut costs in 2009 stability returned with only 11 departures – 
10 planned and 1 unplanned and undesirable after promotions and 
restructuring to support our streamlining of management structures the 
management group now comprises 187 executives in addition to the 
appointment of new managing directors to keyline andrew harrison 
an experienced md of a number of our businesses and benchmarx 
chris larkin a successful tp south east regional director described 
above we made 3 further changes to responsibilities norman bell our 
managing director of travis perkins in the south west was promoted 
to the executive committee to spearhead further development of our 
product offer norman’s role was taken up by mark nottingham our 
managing director for travis perkins in the north and andrew popple 
a regional director in the north was promoted to replace mark
the action we have taken to deal with the contraction in our markets 
and to pursue our stretched targets has increased the demands on 
our people the effect of seeking to reduce variable costs in line with 
sales trends seize opportunities from failing competitors and continue 
to serve customers well has manifested itself in an increased and 
more diverse workload for many of our people they have responded 
superbly in 2009 i continued my programme of regular visits to our 
branches stores distribution centres and offices and by the end of the 
year had seen 470 sites since joining the company i also continued to 
meet with all colleagues in our support functions over a rolling series of 
communication and feedback sessions during the year i am continually 
impressed by the dedication and commitment of my colleagues and 
would like on behalf of the board to express my thanks to all of them 
for all their hard work
environment
with the help of our non executive environmental advisory panel 
“neeap” we took a more active stance in 2009 to the development 
scope and pace of our environmental activity therefore in a year 
littered with government and ministerial announcements and consulta
tions about initiatives designed to reduce environmental harm we have 
confirmed our intention to go beyond demonstrable compliance and 
in some cases best practice our plans take into account commercial 
opportunities available and regard the environment as a stakeholder in 
the longterm survival of the business our objectives remain broadly 
the same and cover
●
  responsible procurement
●
 carbon management
●
 resource efficiency 
●
 local pollution prevention
we have invested in capital projects and in systems in pursuit of these 
priorities in 2009 with the aim of seeking a quantified commercial 
return and environmental benefit
continuous improvement
we monitor review and improve our environmental performance via an 
environmental management system certified to the iso 14001 stan
dard all our timber purchasing tracking and resale activity across all 
divisions is governed by our chain of custody procedures certified 
to external standards this allows us to bring fsc and pefc certified 
product to market
in this environmental review we present our latest quantitative 
and qualitative measures of performance lloyds register of quality 
assurance have examined how we have calculated and estimated our 
performance and have commented on the completeness and materi
ality of this review their assurance statement can be found on our web 
site – wwwtravisperkinsplccoukenvironment
performance trends can be seen by examining the graphs in this 
report the final indicators are a combination of measured averaged 
and estimated performance wherever possible we have used stan
dardised data collection and reporting techniques and we continue to 
work to improve the accuracy of the measures reported
we have adjusted historical data as noted below in order to increase 
reporting accuracy in 2010 we expect to improve further our accuracy 
by installing automatic meter reading equipment in many sites the 
equipment will improve our reporting of carbon emissions and will 
allow us to improve our targeting of consumption at site level
●
  historic carbon dioxide emissions from utility consumption have 
been amended to take into account increased data accuracy from 
the annual apportionment of kwh consumption this has resulted in 
a minor change under 1 to previously reported carbon dioxide 
tonnage data
●
  the natural gas carbon dioxide emissions factor has changed from 
net calorific value to gross calorific value basis in accordance with 
the “2009 guidelines to defra  decc’s ghg conversion factors for 
company reporting” version 2 30092009
●
  the waste tonnage charts reported in the 2008 environment 
report incorrectly showed total waste produced and the amount 
recycled the charts should have shown waste sent to landfill  
and the amount recycled the chart has been corrected for the 2009 
report  
17334   proof 3  1410
19 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
●
  estimated 2008 packaging tonnage of 64041 is adjusted to 63332 
due to increased data accuracy
●
  the 2008 water consumption baseline has been revised from 
403779 m
3
 to 349390 m
3
 due to increased data accuracy
engagement
dialogue with stakeholders is an important part of our approach to 
environmental improvement in 2009 in addition to consulting with 
our neeap see the box below we consulted with over 60 groups or 
individuals about aspects of our performance to help us to set priori
ties on environmental issues customers and regulators were the most 
well represented stakeholder groups in our consultations our financial 
stakeholders were least well represented
statement of the activities of the travis perkins non executive 
environmental advisory panel approved by the panel 
the travis perkins group values the contribution made by its non 
executive environmental advisory panel this panel representative 
of the main stakeholders of the group meets twice a year and is 
chaired by the ceo geoff cooper the panel’s role is to inform and 
guide the group’s environmental objectives and to help travis perkins 
identify a clear response to environmental issues which can generate 
heat but with inadequate light the panel is particularly encouraged 
to examine emerging issues and areas where clear government envi
ronmental policy or best practice doesn’t yet exist
the panel currently has 5 independent members drawn from the 
financial construction product manufacture house building repair 
and maintenance and environmental regulatory sectors each panel 
member offers a different perspective on the issues the solutions 
and the driving forces behind the solutions
the panel has so far reviewed the approach taken by travis 
perkins and offered comment on the objectives of the group in light 
of emerging practice and the response in the finance market and the 
construction and retail industry the panel has significantly helped 
travis perkins to understand its role in the supply chain and the contri
bution to improved environmental sustainability that it might make in 
fulfilling this role the panel has particularly encouraged the group to 
adopt a clearer environmental vision that encompasses this
the panel’s role is exclusively forward looking and it does not 
provide any kind of assurance or verification to travis perkins’ 
current environmental performance travis perkins will continue to 
use a credible 3rd party to verify the accuracy of its environmental 
reporting travis perkins will also continue to draw on all its experi
ence of the market and on other sources of information on policy 
and good and emerging sustainable practice when considering 
its environmental position the panel complements the group’s 
understanding of environmental policy and best practice it also 
enhances the group’s dialogue with the broadest range of stake
holders ensuring that their views are considered by travis perkins in 
determining its environmental objectives
as well as listening to the views of our stakeholders we also 
contribute to debate and seek to influence opinion about business’ 
role in environmental issues in particular we are active in environ
mental forums in the construction product association british retail 
consortium and the wwf forest and trade network
information about our environmental performance is accessible by a 
wide range of stakeholders via our web site we also provide detailed 
reports to rating agencies such as the carbon disclosure project and 
forest footprint disclosure project disclose much detail on our timber 
buying to the wwf through the forest and trade network and are 
involved in sector performance agreements and reporting such as the 
brc’s “a better retailing climate”
in 2009 via wickes we signed the waste reduction action 
programme “wrap” voluntary home improvement sector commit
ment to optimise packaging through this we expect to make progress 
over the next few years
we expect our neeap to become more influential in framing our 
internal decision making about our environmental objectives we have 
rejoined the timber trade federation partly for the opportunity to influ
ence the responsible sourcing debate 
we will continue to engage in dialogue with a wide selection of 
groups and individuals but in particular will concentrate on our 
employees an underrepresented group both our employees’ enthu
siasm to adopt new and better environmental practice and their 
ability to generate improvements and to come up with ideas is largely 
untapped 
responsible timber trading
we estimate that in 2009 we purchased 84 by value of timber 
products from material that came from certified well managed and 
controlled forests this continues our record of consistent improvement 
in recent years and suggests that we will achieve our 90 interim 
target by 2011 we do best in those categories with the shortest supply 
chains between us and the forest and those where we are the importer 
and distributor for a large amount of the category volume 
last year we successfully introduced important and significant 
changes to our timber product chain of custody procedures in the 
merchant and retail divisions these have ensured that certified 
product remains on offer in all branches and stores that sell timber 
– over 800 sites the changes support our efforts to enhance the 
robustness of chain of custody as responsible sourcing comes under 
increased scrutiny revisions to public procurement standards and 
building codes now require an increase in the demand for demon
strably certified product 
in 2010 we will focus on increasing certified product purchases 
from the harder to influence product categories such as flooring and 
doors in these product categories the supply chain between ourselves 
and the forest tends to be longer and be filled with small intermedi
aries this raises the need to adopt a stewardship role over the whole 
supply chain  
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36
c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
carbon management
in 2009 we emitted 154818 tonnes of carbon – 8 less than in 2008 
the biggest contributor to this reduction was lower emissions from 
our consumption of gas our carbon dioxide emissions from burning 
gas were down 7 over 2008 despite the 2009 winter being colder 
we attribute this reduction in emissions to the work we have done in 
installing heating controls in wickes – our highest consumer of gas 
the work started in 2008 and all stores had been fitted with these 
controls by autumn 2009
in the supply chain we have had some success in improving effi
ciencies from customer deliveries and these also contributed to our 
absolute carbon reduction on average on a likeforlike basis carbon 
dioxide emissions from branch to customer deliveries were 4 lower 
for 2009 than for the 2005 baseline year the monitoring capability of 
our fleet management process has helped to achieve these efficien
cies over 2009 and indicates that there are more savings to be made 
unfortunately the negative operating leverage effect of falling market 
volumes has meant that our measured carbon footprint of 591 tonnes 
per million pounds of inflation adjusted turnover does not reflect these 
efficiency gains however our average emissions per occupied building 
have been falling year on year over the last 5 years and our 2009 rate 
of 125 tonnes of carbon dioxide per site is 24 less than it was in the 
baseline year of 2005
we do not believe that our emissions per site will rise significantly 
as turnover starts to grow and while we may miss our interim 15 
reduction target in 2010 we still expect to achieve our 20 reduction 
in emissions per million pounds of adjusted sales by 2013
in 2010 we will concentrate much of our effort in establishing the 
ability to monitor electricity consumption at a site level more accu
rately in turn this will allow us to engage the site management and 
target reduced consumption both of these activities will increase 
our efficiency and also allow us to enter into the carbon reduction 
commitment energy efficiency scheme with an early adoption credit 
and a reducing emission trend 
we also intend to continue to deliver carbon efficiencies in the 
supply chain and to examine how we can quantify this more accurately 
by including the parts of the distribution chain that are currently outside 
of our direct control
waste management
in 2009 we sent 29148 tonnes of waste to landfill some 35 less 
than in 2008 and 41 less than our baseline year of 2005 we believe 
that this rate of improvement in performance will be sustained and will 
allow us to deliver by 2013 the target we have set ourselves of a 50 
reduction in landfill 
much of the success we have had in reducing waste to landfill 
last year has stemmed from the gradual removal of large open skips 
because these do not encourage reduction reuse or recycling in 
2010 we intend to pursue this with greater vigour with many sites 
being reduced to 1100 litre “wheelie bins” we have also provided 
2006
fsc ocs
24 49
2005
fsc ocs
34
ocs
2007
fsc
28 48
ocs
2008
fsc
26 54
2011
target
fsc and ocs
90
ocs
2009
fsc
58 26
timber certification
2005 data excludes wickes timber figures
timber purchased £ 
fsc forest stewardship council ocs other certified schemes
co
2
 emissions
corrected data and oecd sales deflated figures
tonnes co
2
 per £m group sales
transport
2007
energy
256 278
transport
2008
energy
276 326
transport
2009
energy
269 323
2010
target
energy and transport
508
2006
energy transport
265 319
2005
energy transport
271 326  
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21 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
branches with simple lower cost alternative waste recycling options 
both via backhaul through our internal supply chain for packaging and 
cardboard and through specialist partners for other materials since 
july 2009 all of our 7 distribution centres have collected bagged up 
waste plastic and cardboard from our stores and branches we have 
bailers installed at each distribution centre to enable us to compact 
and then sell the waste over the half year we have picked up bailed 
and sold on to the reprocessing market 2139 tonnes of material and 
estimate that we have reduced the demand for general waste capacity 
in branch and store skips by up to 30 our recycling rate in 2009 
was almost 30
in 2010 we will increase the segregation of our waste at source 
and expect to take advantage of our distribution network to accumulate 
sorted waste we have made a promising start in 2010 already and all 
pallets including damaged ones can now be returned via our distribu
tion network for reuse or recycling 
packaging
in 2009 we estimate that we sold 59484 tonnes of packaging this 
is 6 down on our revised 2008 estimate of 63332 tonnes on a 
likeforlike basis this equates to 207 tonnes per million pounds of 
sales in 2009 compared to 199 in 2008 we have spent some time 
in 2009 consulting with wrap  particularly about retail packaging 
wickes was the first business to sign up to wrap’s home improve
ment sector commitment we have also been vocal in the construction 
product association “cpa” about packaging reduction both the wrap 
agreement and cpa packaging reduction forum will be important in 
delivering our packaging reduction ambitions which are split between 
improving packaging specification for our own branded products and 
influencing propriety branded suppliers to reduce packaging for the 
branded product we sell
work on packaging specification changes will start in 2010 to deliver 
a 3year programme aimed at achieving a 20 reduction in tonnes of 
packaging per million pounds of adjusted sales by the end of 2013
water
in 2009 we estimate that we used 330086 m
3
 of water on a 
consumption to real turnover basis our 2009 consumption is slightly 
up on 2008 we have done some work on improving the accuracy of 
billing but have not yet addressed water efficiency this is not a priority 
area for us in 2010 although the target of reducing water consumption 
by 5 per million pounds of adjusted sales by 2013 remains
pollution prevention
we reported 3 incidents of high level hazardous waste fly tipping at 
our sites to environmental regulators in 2009 in addition we recorded 
3 minor spills of fuel but these were not notified to regulators as the 
spills were prevented from entering any water courses
we had no prosecutions for any environmental offence in 2009 
however we did receive one enforcement notice from a regulator to 
waste tonnage
corrected data and oecd sales deflated figures
tonnes waste per £m yard and core sales excludes sales from direct deliveries 
2006 2005
waste
waste
recycling
recycling
17
10
196
219
28
recycling
2007
waste
180
31
recycling
2008
waste
184
36
recycling
2009
waste
133
2013
target
waste to landfill
109
environmental incidents
and complaints
2006
complaints incidents
10 5
2005
complaints incidents
5 5
2007
complaints incidents
10 6
2008
complaints incidents
17 4
2009
complaints incidents
6 3  
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22 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
clean up one of our sites we also entered into a dialogue with three 
regulators who were seeking confirmation about possible statutory 
nuisances and a failure to meet essential packaging requirements we 
do not believe that there is any planned action by any regulator relating 
to these incidents which we have recorded as complaints
in addition we received 2 complaints from neighbours about noise 
and in each case have worked to resolve the complaint by either 
changing working hours or installing white noise beepers on vehicles
even though the level of complaint and incidents in 2009 was at 
a 5 year low we remain committed to improving our performance 
we have a target of zero incidents and complaints and will remain 
diligent in our site operations in 2010 we will continue to communicate 
with our branches and stores to ensure that the site noise level control 
adequately reflects the environmental impact and environmental risk
community activities
our relationships with local communities and the public at large are 
deeply embedded in our heritage and culture and are strongly high
lighted through our work with charities the partnerships with our 
chosen charities continue to thrive through a variety of activities across 
all of our 1238 stores and branches in the uk as a group we have 
raised over £18m over the last three years for our chosen charities
this year wickes became the first of our businesses to succeed in 
raising more than £1 million for its nominated charity leukaemia and 
lymphoma research since the partnership with leukaemia research 
began 3 years ago the enthusiasm and support of colleagues has been 
overwhelming and reaching the £1 million mark is a testament to the 
dedication of all employees in our retail stores and teams in october 
2009 a group of wickes colleagues successfully climbed mount 
kilimanjaro raising over £75000
wickes colleagues play a vital role in organising many local fund
raising events such as football tournaments and golf competitions 
as well as instore events such as fancy dress days and car washes 
they also participate in larger public events including marathons 
triathlons and ‘bikeathons’ our top fund raising store last year raised 
over £9000
despite more difficult trading conditions the rest of the group raised 
over £850000 for action for children formally nch and mencap with 
its sister charity enable in scotland over a threeyear period 
in 2009 the merchanting businesses and our northampton head 
office raised over £230000 through a variety of fundraising activities 
63 employees from our travis perkins business and head office took 
on a “beat the moon” challenge which saw them cycle walk ride and 
canoe over 31 miles in one day raising £43000 through this achieve
ment two of our travis perkins’ businesses both held a charity ball 
raising almost £70000 between them
from 2010 each of our businesses will adopt its own nominated 
charity or charities this will enable further worthwhile causes to benefit 
from the fundraising efforts and generosity of our employees this 
means that starting in 2010 the group as a whole will be supporting 
11 charities – breast cancer campaign children’s hospices uk the 
prostate cancer charity childline happy days clic sargent donna 
louise hospice keech hospice care for children warwickshire and 
northamptonshire air ambulance and whizkidz wickes will continue 
to support leukaemia and lymphoma research as they celebrate 50 
years as a charity 
in 2009 we continued our role as main sponsor of northampton 
saints rugby club and continued to involve our northamptonshire 
colleagues in joint community activities including sportsmatch – the 
governmentfunded scheme that gives local primary schools rugby 
coaching sessions assembly visits and classbased tag rugby compe
titions our “1000 projects…” initiative continues to forge and develop 
relationships with local communities in the towns and cities in which 
we trade more than 700 local projects schools charities and ameni
ties across the uk have benefited from the time and talent and often 
materials donated by our employees
each project involves our teams giving their own time and working 
with suppliers local customers and community organisations to deliver 
a building project of real value to the communities in the towns and 
cities where we trade some recent examples include
●
  wood green school in walsall where the local travis perkins 
branches joined forces with sixth form students for a 5day project to 
create a leisure area within the school their remit was to construct 
the leisure area from sustainable or recycled materials to provide a 
safe and interesting environment for them to meet and socialise 
●
  our travis perkins’ vauxhall branch are supporting a local care home 
by repainting a relaxation area to brighten it up for residents
●
  employees from our keyline morley branch are donating materials 
and building a sensory garden for disabled children at northowram 
primary school west yorkshire 
●
  the team at travis perkins in colchester led by their branch 
manager steve bareham completed no less than 6 projects as part 
of our “1000 projects…” initiative and raised thousands of pounds 
for our nominated charities in recognition the team were rewarded 
at the prestigious colchester and district business awards earlier 
in 2009 for successfully incorporating community and fundraising 
projects into their everyday working lives
year on year the “1000 projects…” initiative proves to be instru
mental in helping our branch teams cultivate and develop relationships 
with the local community to develop team morale and ‘togetherness’ 
and gain excellent local publicity
investors
the rights issue in may removed the market uncertainty about the 
robustness of the group’s balance sheet and spurred a lot of activity in 
trading of the group’s shares
responsibility for communications with shareholders and debt 
providers rests directly with me and paul hampden smith our finance 
director with support and advice from the company’s brokers we do 
not employ an investor relations manager the company chairman and  23
 
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a neale mist telephone sales representative
b ray cox yard supervisor
c derrick steeletelephone sales representative
a b
c  
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senior independent director attend a selection of investor meetings 
throughout the year and the company chairman attends the meetings 
at which we present the group’s interim and preliminary results to buy
side and sellside analysts in addition to these meetings at least one 
day per month is set aside to meet investors and analysts 
this regular programme is supplemented with one trip per year to 
meet with investors in eire canada and the usa and we host a visit for 
analysts to a selection of our businesses once per year
in 2009 we conducted nearly 155 meetings with investors activity 
levels again boosted by the rights issue increased in 2009 as part of 
each exercise to present interim and preliminary results we typically 
meet shareholders representing around 60 of the shares outstanding 
this includes a ‘family lunch’ where we meet with representatives of 
the travis and perkins families
strategy
we have developed our strategy to respond to three distinct phases 
of the recession managing the downturn stabilisation and exploiting 
opportunities our priorities in managing the downturn are described 
above and we have now turned our attention to the prospects for our 
markets in this next phase of stabilisation 
although forecasts are particularly problematic in this recession we 
estimate our markets are now stabilising having fallen sharply from 
the third quarter of 2008 we are now in a phase of stabilisation which 
presents its own difficulties with no growth some exaggerated short 
term volatility in market trends continued intense competition and 
business failures and the potential for material shortages following the 
large cuts in manufacturing capacity implemented by manufacturers 
at this stage there is no clear indication of when our markets might 
return to growth again although we believe this might be evident by 
the end of 2010 we are also wary of the probable ‘false starts’ that 
we expect to see
whilst our markets are no longer exhibiting the abrupt declines in 
volume that characterised the start of the recession activity levels 
remain fragile we are concerned in particular about weak consumer 
spending trends in 2010 as inflation rises and the cushion of falling 
mortgage costs annualises out we expect the home improvement 
market to contract further in 2010 but with only limited benefit from 
competitors going out of business in contrast to the large capacity 
reductions seen in 2009 against this background we expect pricing 
discipline to be maintained since returns for most operators remain at 
subeconomic levels however there is always a risk of sporadic price 
aggression from less disciplined operators
we also expect a contraction in the merchanting market although 
it will be slight and will simply reflect the annualisation of the trough 
although there will be significant variations in the fortunes of the 
various segments of the market increased activity in housing construc
tion albeit from a low base and expanded public sector investment in 
the built environment will provide a ‘floor’ to activity levels
in an anticipated period of low growth our focus is shifting to driving 
organic performance
against the fragile market background we remain vigilant keeping 
a tight control on our core operating costs and looking to maintain 
gross margins wherever possible the structural improvements in our 
overhead base will be sustained with no reinstatement of manage
ment posts removed in late 2008 and cash generation will continue 
as a priority through pursuit of supply chain initiatives we will adopt a 
flexible stance to expansion of our successful retail marketing invest
ments credit extended to trade customers and sales prospecting 
activity in trade markets seeking to match the costs of these against 
the strength of activity levels
whilst remaining vigilant we have made provision in our cost plans in 
2010 to selectively invest in a number of new activities that have direct 
benefits to customers in the form of a steadily more attractive offer
until we can see signs of a recovery in our markets we do not 
think it worthwhile to comment on or further develop our strategy for 
exploiting opportunities the outline of these strategies can be defined 
but it is difficult to determine in present conditions when they are 
likely to become relevant 
our businesses have strong brands experienced management 
teams and market leading financial performance these strengths 
mean we remain confident of our ability to position the group to take 
advantage of further opportunities we believe will arise when our sector 
returns to growth
geoff cooper  
chief executive
23 february 2010  
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chief operating officer’s review of the year
for the year ended 31 december 2009
john carter chief operating officer
introduction 
we entered 2009 with sharply declining markets in both the merchanting 
and retail sides of our business we cut overheads early and swiftly in 
the latter part of 2008 which helped mitigate the effect of a difficult 
start to 2009 the themes of tight overhead control capital expenditure 
and working capital control present in 2008 were repeated in 2009
we have the strongest and most experienced operational manage
ment team in our sector and we implemented a significant number 
of selfhelp initiatives across our business to enable us to weather the 
recession better than most we now look to build on this position when 
better times return
our people
our vision – to create a ‘people first’ environment that facilitates high 
performance and provides the opportunity for career progression 
while celebrating and rewarding success through this vision we 
encourage everyone to play their part in making the travis perkins 
group both a great place to work and a safe place to work
writing these words is easy – we try hard to ensure we take concrete 
steps to put our vision into action allocating personal responsibility to 
individuals to make this happen
putting our vision into action
in delivering this vision engaging our people in the progress and devel
opment of the business and their part in it is paramount more than 
ever before our achievements in 2009 relied on our people and their 
close working relationships with customers suppliers and each other 
at all levels in the business we always actively encourage colleague 
engagement with the business as we believe it directly contributes 
to high morale to their wellbeing and to healthy operating margins 
and returns however in response to the difficult market conditions 
we have faced in 2009 we redoubled our efforts to maintain this 
engagement in support of this we enhanced incentive schemes to 
enable every colleague in the group to have the opportunity to share 
in our ongoing success
throughout the year and against a recessionary backdrop our 
people demonstrated yet again their neverending ability to find 
new ways to improve our business through working in collaboration 
with colleagues across the organisation this resulted in a year of 
outstanding achievements some of which are detailed below which 
we were delighted to celebrate internally many of these were to our 
further delight recognised externally 
●
  our teams have delivered over 80 new sales and customer service 
initiatives
●
  despite the tough markets our group productivity levels were close 
to their highest in recent years
●
  in our retail division wickes developed a new kitchen and bathroom 
sales training programme the roll out of which resulted in a significant 
growth in sales this tremendous achievement was recognised by a 
“now is the time” external national training award
“we have the strongest 
and most experienced 
operational management 
team in our sector 
and we implemented 
a significant number 
of selfhelp initiatives 
across our business to 
enable us to weather the 
recession”  
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●
  a joint training initiative between our toolhire division and stocken 
prison which helped to rehabilitate prisoners and was recognised 
by an external “partnership” training award
●
  recognition in late 2009 by external observers of the quality of our 
work on this topic by the group’s inclusion in “britain’s top employers 
2010” run by the corporate research foundation in conjunction with 
the daily telegraph and independently audited by grant thornton 
all of these achievements are a tribute to the dedicated people in our 
group who design promote and execute each programme
the start of 2009 saw a very different trading landscape for all of 
our people for many of them it was the first time they had expe
rienced a steep decline in trading rather than growth furthermore 
about 2000 of their colleagues across the group had left the business 
as we realigned staffing levels to meet reduced construction activity 
in the market nevertheless throughout the whole of 2009 the depth 
and strength of our people’s engagement and their pride in the group 
ensured that it retained and enhanced its strong position within the 
british merchanting and retail sectors
pride is a cornerstone of our “building people building 
britain”employment brand and that pride is evident in all our branches 
and stores and in our central functions – pride in working for the 
organisation in their collective contribution to the organisation and in 
their individual efforts to ensure continued success 
managing costs was important for all our businesses and as a 
result of involving our people and communicating with them about the 
changing nature of the business and their role within it they ‘bought 
into’ the changes that needed to be made more importantly they 
continued to look for and achieve new ways to serve our customers 
and to provide them with the products and services that they needed
some examples of new employeedriven initiatives were
●
  broadening our product range and raising the level of availability of 
product throughout our network
●
  improved direct marketing campaigns tailoring products and 
services to customer segments
●
  a more efficient delivery solution for our major contractor business 
●
  the ‘proud’ internal engagement communication “wickes – it’s 
got our name on it” which supported the wickes’ advertising 
campaign
●
  instant feedback via customer text messages “sms” on the service 
provided by our branches
great collaboration also resulted in
●
  the successful transfer of 683 colleagues from our outsourced 
delivery partner lloyd fraser all of whom we are delighted to 
welcome to the travis perkins group
●
  numerous global product sourcing initiatives
●
  local teams volunteering to work more flexible hours to meet varied 
demand volumes which in turn ensured continued employment for 
their colleagues and reduced our costs
●
  the trial of local delivery ‘hubs’ to improve service to wickes 
customers
●
  sharing delivery vehicles between merchant branches and wickes 
stores 
in the extremely challenging environment in which we operated our 
central functions continued to give excellent support to our branches 
and stores they also looked for innovative ways of giving that 
support 
●
  price guidance systems were created increasing the information 
available to support and speedup local decisionmaking
●
  in wickes we developed a system to enable the introduction of “my 
card” our loyalty card which is an important step in developing 
customer relationships
●
  we installed gps trackers to our vehicles allowing us to increase our 
customer service offering through more effective routing
●
  new tailored sales and pricing system training programmes were 
written to help support new ways of working 
our central functions are highly regarded throughout the organisation 
and work handinhand with each of our businesses to provide excep
tional service to our customers
as we move further into 2010 the challenges of improving the 
group’s performance in an extremely testing trading period remain
to help us meet these challenges we will look to build on the innova
tion and collaboration that has been developed during this recession 
our focus will be on ensuring that we offer a compelling service to 
our customers – from every part of the business through whatever 
channel this will ensure our continued differentiation of the travis 
perkins group from its competitors most importantly equipping our 
people with new skills and knowledge to succeed personally and 
collectively will form a key focus for all of our leadership teams
training and developing for success
this year has seen a wide range of significant initiatives in training and 
development across the group we have demonstrated an ability to 
provide quality training that delivers tangible business benefits having 
reviewed our costs and priorities investment in training and develop
ment has been aligned with key business priorities our focus has been 
on training for sales and basic jobskills including product knowledge 
and customer service this approach is designed to reinforce our 
very high standards of customer relationship management and sales 
delivery reflecting the trading environment being faced we developed 
and delivered “train the trainer” workshops to equip a greater number 
of our people to be able to provide training across the group in a very 
cost effective way we plan to extend this in 2010 
we are delighted that the travis perkins group gained the two pres
tigious national training awards described earlier 
with our focus on training for basic jobskills and product knowledge 
and with a view to developing our own pipeline of quality people for the 
future we were pleased to be awarded a government funding contract 
for an apprenticeship programme within wickes this programme 
launched in january 2010 provides all new employees within wickes 
the opportunity to gain a level 2 retail apprenticeship we are looking 
a michael hunt flt driver
b michael derrig advisor
c asim akram customer assistant
d matthew hayestrade specialist
e andrew beckett merchandise supervisor
f mulisha nshinka cashier 
a
b
c
c e f
d 27
 
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to extend the opportunities for apprenticeships to other parts of our 
business during 2010
our training and development team play a pivotal role in the 
progress of the group this team gives support to our businesses by 
aligning our work to three key priorities the development of leadership 
and management potential sales improvement and improving core 
skills for the benefit of customers these will remain our priorities 
for 2010
our management trainee scheme has continued to deliver quality 
people with 79 of our 80 trainees securing positions within the busi
ness on completion of their training our current trainees are in the 
second year of their programme in preparation for appointment in the 
summer of 2010 a decision was taken not to recruit for the scheme 
in 2009 and to take the opportunity to thoroughly review the content in 
line with our changing business needs the revised programme will be 
agreed early in 2010 with the aim of recruiting trainees in 2011
rewarding and recognising success 
annual bonus and long term incentive plans are now in place to ensure 
that all colleagues have the potential to share in the group’s success
we aligned all bonus plans to reflect our priority of driving current 
results despite the challenging trading environment in 2009 as a 
result of the achievements of our people in our general and specialist 
divisions almost 40 of branches will receive a bonus payment under 
the “all colleague bonus plan”
all wickes employees will receive a special bonus payment in march 
2010 to reflect their outstanding performance during 2009 in addition 
to a reward payment made to each of them in april 2009 during the 
year and following the successful example in the merchanting division 
we designed a new bonus scheme for wickes based on a “balanced 
scorecard” approach the scheme will reward colleagues in stores who 
achieve high performance against financial and nonfinancial targets 
in wickes a new commission plan was introduced for kitchen and 
bathroom design consultants the scheme rewards exceptional perfor
mance and we are delighted that a number of our high performers 
shared in the success of the kitchen and bathroom business in 2009
our reward gateway scheme goes from strength to strength it 
enables employees to take advantage of a number of voluntary 
benefits together with discounts on everyday items bought from high 
street stores and provide assistance with their household finances 
an increasing number of employees are taking advantage of the 
discounts available 
in the interests of the welfare of our people in 2009 we introduced 
life assurance cover to all employees who do not participate in a 
pension plan – where life assurance is already provided – giving peace 
of mind to all colleagues and their families 
our approach to reward remains to enhance our position as an 
employer of choice by continuing to offer a range of attractive pay and 
benefits packages to our people including
●
  staff discount – reward gateway and purchases from group brands
●
  pension plans
●
  life assurance cover
●
  private health care
●
  salary exchange scheme – childcare vouchers cycle2work give as 
you earn small change big difference
●
  enhanced annual leave
●
  loyalty awards
●
  employee assistance programme
●
  flexible working options
●
  share save scheme
●
  recognition awards – getting it right branch  store manager of the 
year in each business unit management trainee of the year special 
achievement awards and the ceo award for manager of the year
engagement and communication – building on our success 
a direct relationship exists between the level of engagement of our 
people and their retention in the business our own data is confirmed 
by external research which shows that highly engaged employees are 
more than twice as likely to be top performers and will have 40 fewer 
days off work due to illness
our belief in the link between colleague involvement and business 
performance continues to drive our approach to people policies and 
practises in the business we recognise that the high standards of 
service we provide are dependent on the contribution application and 
loyalty of our people the “great place to work” people strategy now 
implemented in wickes is based on what our colleagues have told us 
about working in the business over the past 3 years we have developed 
a suite of programmes initiatives and policies to build and maintain 
their engagement these are now an integral part of our culture and 
way of working for example the introduction of our bright sparks initia
tive in wickes and the “skip spotters” initiative across the group in 
2010 we plan to introduce an innovation recognition scheme – ideas 
aimed at encouraging and rewarding new ideas across the group this 
will be supported by an investment of up to £1 million in cash prizes 
the building britain award programme is now well established and 
provides annual recognition of those colleagues who consistently deliver 
excellence in their roles our loyalty award programme continues to 
provide the opportunity for the group to demonstrate that the contribu
tion of long serving colleagues will always be valued over 20 of our 
people were recognised in 2009 for achieving 40 years of service with 
the group one brian ward reached an outstanding 50 years of dedi
cated service and this was recognised by us organising a celebratory 
trip he had always wanted to complete on the orient express 
our special achievement awards part of our “building britain 
awards” initiative continues to showcase those colleagues as nomi
nated by their peers who have gone that ’extra mile’ by excelling in 
customer service or by championing our values the additional work
load generated by the recession brought out the best in our people and 
this made judging these awards exceedingly difficult nevertheless we 
are proud to again showcase  
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●
  jan atkins from travis perkins who proved a real winner despite 
the downturn in trade turning enquiries into healthy sales and 
championing our trade cash card with new customers 
●
  chris thompson who focused his attention on delivering the best 
customer service by ensuring their experience and standards at his 
branch were the best they could possibly be
●
  dan brookes from city plumbing also focussed his attention on 
customers consistently delivering first class service to trade account 
holders and cash customers often in his own time 
●
  noncustomer facing colleagues were recognised too in wickes 
caretaker ian miller is often referred to as an ‘unsung hero’ always 
on hand to keep the offices in perfect working order and debbie 
sweeney continues to organise highly profitable fundraising activities 
for the group’s nominated and other charities
our commitment to ensuring regular twoway communications with our 
people continued in 2009 through regular head office site and store 
briefings by our business leaders we launched a quarterly colleague 
liaison forum in our head office campus enabling employees to have 
an opportunity to discuss business issues the liaison forum concept 
is already well established in wickes and we will seek opportunities to 
extend it further through our estate in 2010 
our focus on engagement extends to the way we go about charity 
fundraising when we continue to find ways of capturing our people’s 
imagination through different initiatives in 2009 these included the 
landmark expedition of group and wickes colleagues led by jeremy 
bird managing director of wickes to the summit of mount kilimanjaro 
and also the launch of a monthly colleague lottery with more than 70 
of colleagues taking part and 50 of monies raised being pledged to 
our nominated charities
through our colleague attitude survey work in recent years we 
have established a strong correlation between colleague engagement 
and labour turnover we are extremely encouraged by the significant 
increase in group labour retention from 82 in 2008 to 89 in 2009
despite the recession we see this as evidence and confirmation that 
the people policies outlined above are having a really positive impact 
on our people and on business performance we will be conducting 
another colleague survey in 2010
we are pleased that during such a tough trading period our focus on 
continuing to be a great place to work has been recognised through our 
selection as one of britain’s top ten employers for 2010
keeping our people safe
such is the profile and importance of health  safety throughout the 
group we have created its own section within these accounts on 
pages 51 to 52
however on a personal note i am pleased to report a strong 
performance from all parts of the business in supporting our vision of 
“making injuries rare”
across the group in 2009 we have achieved a 12 reduction in 
the lost time injury frequency rate lost time injuries per million hours 
worked and a 29 reduction in the lost time injury severity rate days 
lost per thousand hours worked these significant achievements have 
been made possible by each of our business leaders embracing our 
health  safety vision collaborating to share ideas and involving and 
engaging colleagues at all levels
i and my senior operating team remain absolutely committed to 
our stay safe programme designed to ensure that all colleagues 
customers and contractors who deal with the travis perkins group 
return home safely at the end of every working day 
operational performance
merchanting division
the travis perkins brand remains the cornerstone of the group’s activi
ties and comprises 4 discreet business units namely south east south 
west midlands and northern each with its own managing director and 
management team it is a generalist mixed merchant trading across 
the main product groups offering a ‘best in class’ service to small and 
midsized builders and contractors as well as larger contractors and 
housebuilders across many segments of the building sector
throughout the year we continued to focus on product availability 
customer service and pricing systems
availability was improved to over 96 while overstocks were signifi
cantly reduced releasing working capital we realigned our external 
salesforce to deal with the changed market conditions and promoted 
our trade cash card offer this meant we actually ended the year with 
7 more trading customers than the previous yearend
across all four businesses gross margin was maintained at the 
previous year’s level due in part to mix benefits from lower direct to 
site sales but also to the efforts of the business unit management 
teams to protect margin in a tight market including extended use of 
new pricing tools
overheads were tightly controlled throughout the year our work
force was reduced by a further 5 on top of a 13 reduction in 2008 
and with the aid of our vehicle tracking system and utilisation data we 
succeeded in reducing distribution expenses by a further 15 well 
in excess of the decline in delivered sales without compromising our 
delivery service capital expenditure was tightly controlled except for 
health  safety issues where we continued to invest for the wellbeing 
of our colleagues and customers overall annualised overhead savings 
of over £21m were achieved against the previous year
although not a separate business unit in its own right tool hire is 
embedded within the branch network and has its own management 
structure led by richard dey throughout the year a number of initia
tives were undertaken to enhance customer service tool utilisation 
levels increased versus 2008 and a further repair facility was intro
duced in collaboration with the prison service this particular initiative 
has received positive feedback from the relevant authorities and the 
team has won a national training award as a result
during the year our management teams within the four specialist busi
nesses continued to devote their activities towards cost containment   
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cash generation and customer capture this proved to be an effective 
strategy capital expenditure both for replacement and development 
was cancelled unless health  safety related further refinement of 
product ranges enabled us to improve stock availability and release 
cash some of which was reinvested to take advantage of preprice
increase buying which supported gross margins credit management 
teams performed well in testing circumstances and maintained good 
cash collection standards throughout the year management focused on 
keeping morale high among our people despite the need to implement 
further headcount reductions carefully made to avoid cutting into the 
muscle of our businesses we rolled out the benefits of vehicle tracking 
into ccf and keyline enabling us to reduce fleet size and the average 
age of the remaining fleet we strengthened our selling capability 
through the appointment of david stewart as the division’s commercial 
sales director in order to accelerate customer capture sales teams 
were retrained and linked to inhouse sales tracking systems all to 
good effect marketing resource was focused on reactivating dormant 
and lowspending accounts and on attracting new accounts using the 
strength of group brands
national sales effort and managed services
the group’s dedicated national sales team manages relationships with 
major house builder and construction customers as well as a number 
of other customers with significant geographic coverage 
we restructured our team in late 2008 and have successfully in 
creased our share of business with a number of contractors working in 
buoyant markets such as infrastructure health social housing educa
tion and facilities management having secured new longterm frame
work agreements we have continued to enhance the team and widen 
our customer base ultimately delivering more sales for our merchant 
brands the team is structured to allow flexibility and alignment with 
key publicly funded projects as they are released as well as reacting 
to trends in the private sector in 2010 we are also focussing more 
resource on customers operating in the retail and leisure sectors
towards the end of 2009 we started to see early signs of increased 
activity from national house builders albeit at lower levels than before 
the recession factors such as the change in mix away from apartments 
to traditional housing provide us with additional opportunities
our managed services team has continued to target opportunities 
within the affordable housing repair maintenance and improvement 
“rmi” sector delivering and managing bespoke supply chain solutions 
to organisations and their partners operating within the social housing 
market throughout the uk during 2009 we experienced further signifi
cant sales growth with stores exclusively supplying local authorities 
housing associations and contractors increasing from 20 in 2008 to 
27 during 2009 additionally the group is now servicing in excess of 
another 50 similar clients through its existing branch network whilst 
we anticipate public expenditure will come under pressure during 
the course of 2010 and beyond we believe that the drive for greater 
retail
geographical sales
 of total 2009 annual sales
merchanting
 
 north
  midlands
  south east
  south west
31
17
27
25
26
19
39
16
number of branches
2006 2005 2007 2008 2009
1022
783
1125
1223
1238 31
 
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a stephen day assistant branch manager
a
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efficiencies within this sector should result in more outsourcing oppor
tunities for the group 
in 2009 we maintained our merchanting marketing focus on retaining 
customers and growing our share of their spend driving footfall into 
our branches and increasing our number of trading accounts direct 
marketing played a major and increasing part of our activity during the 
year and we continued to give priority to improving the quality of our 
customer data as business became tougher for our customers they 
focussed increasingly on value for money in response we accelerated 
the development of our own brand offering to give our customers a 
great deal on quality products we continued to develop our iflo and 
4trade own label product range offering professional quality alterna
tives to branded products at lower prices 
our sponsorships of the travis perkins plc senior masters at 
woburn golf club and the northampton saints rugby club continue 
this helps build customer relationships through hospitality increase 
awareness of our corporate and business brands and promote our 
product and service offering to current and potential customers as a 
major northamptonshire employer we also work with the saints in the 
local community to provide rugby coaching to primary secondary and 
special schools promoting issues including motivation healthy living 
and education
retail division
all indicators led us to expect that the economy would remain weak 
throughout 2009 and that the only growth prospects for wickes would 
be from selfhelp activity and a gain in market share whilst the market 
was stronger than we anticipated the work done before the end of 
2008 to remodel our cost structure for a recession paid off from the 
start of the year 
favourable weather and slightly better than expected diy consumer 
activity probably driven by the significant drop in housing transactions 
and subsequent home improvement projects led to stronger than 
anticipated sales particularly in the first half
the loss of a principal competitor at the beginning of the year led to 
considerable gains in kitchens and bathrooms “kb” in anticipating 
this event we made substantial investment in new products and in 
refurbished showrooms putting us in a unique position to be able to 
capitalise on the available market
we adopted an entirely new marketing strategy in 2009 designed to 
increase awareness differentiate the brand from competitors and drive 
footfall into stores at the heart of the new strategy was a shift in invest
ment from the wickes booklet which had served the business well for 
many years but had reduced in effectiveness to tv advertising scale 
economies from our own growth in recent years and the reduced costs 
of broadcast media meant that television advertising became viable 
we launched a highly successful campaign designed by wickes’ new 
marketing director rob murray that ran throughout the year in support 
of a number of product categories and of the brand as a whole in 
this first year the tv campaign focused on the quality of wickes own 
label products which is a key source of differentiation and featured the 
line “it’s got our name on it” research has shown that this campaign 
has resulted in strong positive shifts in brand equity and econometric 
modelling has shown a very strong sales impact and resultant high 
rates of return on investment 
the television campaign was one element of a radical overhaul of 
our customer communication strategy at the same time we launched 
a new multichannel catalogue to run alongside our fast growing online 
business and introduced increased delivery options for customers
the year also saw the launch of a new customer relationship 
management “crm” strategy including the introduction of “mycard” 
with small tradesmen being a key target for wickes our ability to 
develop strong relationships with our customers is important mycard 
rewards loyalty and provides valuable data relating to individual 
customers’ shopping behaviour initial results suggest a positive impact 
on shopping behaviour and crm will be a key element of the wickes’ 
marketing strategy going forward
market downturns usually favour those with strong value credentials 
and we gained market share for the third consecutive year in 2009 
as more customers discovered the great quality and value proposition 
offered by the wickes own brand products 
as wickes has continued to strengthen its marketing capability 
significant share gains have been achieved in a number of product 
categories this is most notable in kb where we have achieved more 
than our fair share of the opportunity presented by the failure of mfi 
due to investment in bathroom displays strong ranging and competi
tive pricing
we believe that we have one of the strongest brands the best 
management and the greatest longterm scope for growth anywhere in 
the sector these things leave us best placed to outperform the industry 
in difficult economic conditions as well as in any recovery
tile giant had another year of growth although the rate of growth 
was reduced from 2008 whilst business has been tough we per 
formed ahead of the market throughout the year and the teams in our 
stores deserve credit for the way they have applied themselves during 
this time
investing in our people is important at tile giant and we have taken 
significant steps forward in terms of new joiner inductions manager 
training and product knowledge
toolstation
toolstation continued to expand its branch network across the country 
increasing it by a third expanding the branch network has helped to 
grow overall sales by 69 with the established branches and mail 
order operations seeing lfl growth of 27
exceptional value for money combined with very high levels of avail
ability and customer service have enabled toolstation to increase its 
market share in difficult trading conditions 
the toolstation catalogue contains approximately 10000 products 
which are stocked and available in all of the branches during the   
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33 c h i e f o p e r a t i n g o f f i c e r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
year it introduced to its range a selection of wickes doors these are 
shipped through the wickes delivery network on a next day service 
directly to toolstation customers
supply chain
supply chain management is now a well established new function in 
our group and yet has significant development potential our invest
ment over the last three years in skills and physical resources is 
generating significant returns through customer focused sales based 
projects such as product availability improvements and cost based 
innovation like delivery vehicle utilisation tracking the most tangible 
example of how timely an investment this has been was our ability 
in the challenging 2009 market to not only maintain availability of 
product for customers but improve it while reducing our stock holding 
by £34m before inflation
we supported over 30 initiatives across the group last year 
including
●
  the launch of a new door warehouse operation that has transformed 
our availability for this product group by giving customers access to 
over 700 products within a 48 hour order to delivery time customers 
have responded and our sales have improved significantly as a 
result
●
  the implementation of an improved fleet management process 
for our 2000 strong fleet which supported a reduction of over 
100 vehicles and ensured that where vehicles were removed our 
service levels were maintained this creates a platform for customer 
service initiatives that will further improve our “on time in full” otif 
performance for years to come 
●
  the improved efficiency through direct engagement of 683 
colleagues by removing a 3rd party distribution operation from 
our four wickes’ warehouses this removed management fees 
and creates an environment where we can develop our own more 
efficient distribution culture and identity with colleagues
●
  stronger relationships with suppliers through supplier engagement 
programme a programme of shared resources sees supplier 
colleagues work as an integral part of our supply chain team to 
improve availability and cost management within their respective 
product sets
●
  reduced lost sales and improved availability for customers through 
initiatives to centralise more of our product set in the merchant 
business 1800 products in 2009 and reduce our minimum order 
constraints from our internal timber milling operations and external 
suppliers 
over the last three years we have focused our efforts on integrating 
supply chain measures with our day to day business operations each 
supply chain initiative uses a ‘language of profit’ rather than supply 
chain terminology to engage our teams and drive improved perfor
mance we measure our availability of products through ‘lost sales’ 
and our vehicle performance through ‘lost profit’ rather than ‘sku 
percentages’ and ‘average cube per load’ we have also invested in 
physical infrastructure and solutions that now put us at the forefront 
of supply chain thinking in our sector the foundations are now well 
rooted within our business and supply chain will continue to be an 
area of increased investment and focus to ensure that we remain first 
choice for our customers with the most reliable service led offer within 
our respective markets 
quality assurance “qa” and corporate social  
responsibility “csr”
the prime responsibility of the group quality assurance department 
continues to be to protect all of the group’s brands with two key objec
tives to ensure that travis perkins companies only
●
  use suppliers who have acceptable control of their manufacturing 
environmental ethical and health  safety processes
●
  stock product that conforms to national and international regulations 
is safe fitforpurpose and conforms to required specifications
during 2009 we have continued to invest in the qa department with 
additional resource to meet the demands of our growth in direct sourcing 
particularly relating to product quality and our packaging reduction 
programme in addition a major it project was initiated to introduce an 
online qa management system due for launch early 2010
by the end of 2009 we used just over 400 primary suppliers 
supplying in excess of 130000 product lines within the supplier base 
there are 1470 known manufacturing sites of own brand or own label 
products of which 622 are based in asia – an increase of 10 and 
14 respectively against 2008 this was slightly lower than the growth 
we saw in 2008 the increase in the number of factories in asia was 
almost entirely due to our increased global sourcing activities
we rank all our manufacturing sites through site audits and our 
policy is to terminate relationships if they do not meet our exacting 
criteria we consider all asia operations to be ‘high risk’ and will not 
commit to supply until our team have audited a site we continue to 
maintain a group qa asia office based in shenzhen southern china 
to fully support the asia supplier base in addition to the group qa uk 
offices in the merchanting and retail divisions 2009 saw an exten
sion of our activities directly relating to our growth in direct sourcing 
increasing factory assessments in asia and product compliance audits 
in both the uk and asia
we also increased our activity in customer product returns and 
product quality improvement as a result of this work carried out during 
2009 we now have greater visibility of product quality levels and the 
framework for continuous product improvement
objectives for 2010 include continuing focus on product failure and 
customer returns and continuing development of the qa strategy for 
direct sourcing
global sourcing
direct sourced products doubled in 2009 from 15m to 31m and are 
forecast to grow to 55m in 2010 the number of direct sourced prod
ucts increased from 250 in 2008 to 1100 in 2009 and will increase   
17334   proof 3  1410
34 c h i e f o p e r a t i n g o f f i c e r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
to 3000 by the end of 2010 the main focus on product is within 
plumbing and heating with great success in brassware and sanitary
ware but direct sourcing has also expanded considerably in hardware 
and decorative accessories
merchanting suppliers
during the year we have continued to focus on building relation
ships with our key branded suppliers whilst we have a large number 
of suppliers to support the local needs of our business these are 
managed into 3 supplier categories100 suppliers represent 70 of 
our merchanting spend we have worked closely with them and our 
internal supply chain to improve availability within our branch network 
2 key initiatives were undertaken in 2009
●
  lowering the minimum order quantity that our branches needed to 
reorder
●
  centralising more of our stock into central distribution this has the 
dual benefit of improving availability to our customers and reducing 
nontrading traffic in our branch network
in these difficult times for the industry we challenged ourselves and 
suppliers on 3 specific areas of risk
●
  product availability – we have reviewed the production capacity of 
our suppliers to meet our needs and considered alternative sources 
in the event of a supplier ceasing to trade for any reason
●
  financial stability – twice per year each strategic supplier is reviewed 
with a 3rd party credit provider to confirm their ability to trade 
●
  csr requirement – with our quality assurance team the suppliers’ 
ability to conform to our stringent requirements were reaffirmed 
resulting in 2 suppliers being temporarily delisted
retail suppliers
despite lower volume in the sector as a whole we experienced fewer 
supplier business failures than we feared might happen and expect 
2010 to be similarly stable we have continued to develop strategic 
relationships with key suppliers the successful development of our 
kb business in 2009 partly depended on this approach
we will further develop our purchasing strategy in 2010 by sourcing 
more product directly from manufacturers and expanding our supplier 
relationships this will result in a significant increase year on year in 
the number of products we buy direct 
we will continue to focus on our drive for full availability in store and 
at the same time develop innovative ways to drive out costs within the 
supply chain utilising different methods of distribution to get the product 
to our customers one such development of this is the use of our hub 
and spoke network of stores in this instance we are able to optimise 
the cost of distributing product to customers using our store network 
more effectively and ultimately continue to maximise availability
total merchanting business 2009	 2008
number of product suppliers 7372	 7050
total purchases represented by the top 50  59		 59
wickes
number of product suppliers 181		 179
total purchases represented by the top 50 86		 86
includes tile giant
and finally
2009 has been a tough year but our smaller operating teams have 
risen to the challenge and improved service standards as perceived 
by our customers this is a tremendous achievement and i express my 
continued thanks to all our colleagues for their excellent performance 
in such an unprecedented year
john carter
chief operating officer
23 february 2010
a antony beldham driver and sales assistant
b narinder singh assistant manager
c dave gurling branch manager
d paul hinchey warehouse supervisor
e andrew parsons designer
a
b
d
e
c 35
 
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17334   proof 3  1410
36 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
finance director’s review of the year
for the year ended 31 december 2009
paul hampden smith finance director
introduction 
the actions we implemented in 2008 to prepare the group for the sharp 
downturn in construction activity worked well with all main financial 
targets achieved or bettered in 2009 we have realised substantial cost 
savings improved our productivity ratios and significantly boosted cash 
flows in may we restructured our interest rate derivative portfolio to 
improve our interest cover ratio and in june the oversubscribed rights 
issue yielded net proceeds of £3003m which significantly strength
ened our balance sheet whilst giving us greater flexibility as a result of 
these actions we enter 2010 in a strong financial position 
during the year we have taken steps to reduce the group’s final 
salary pension scheme deficit in april employee contribution rates were 
increased by 1 in december future pensionable salary increases were 
capped at 3 and before the yearend we agreed a revised schedule 
of payments with the scheme trustee that is expected to eliminate the 
ongoing funding deficit over 8 years from 2009 additional payments 
in excess of ongoing funding commitments of £204m pa are being 
made to the scheme 2008 £115m 
as a result of introducing the pensionable salary cap the pension 
scheme gross deficit at 31 december 2009 has been reduced by a 
oneoff £327m curtailment gain this gain has been credited to the 
income statement but due to its magnitude it is disclosed as an excep
tional item
financial objectives
despite the difficult trading conditions during late 2008 and throughout 
2009 the directors of the group remain committed to the longterm 
creation of shareholder value which they believe is achieved through
●
  increasing the group’s market share via a combination of like
forlike sales growth and targeted expansion through acquisitions 
brownfield openings and instore development
●
  improving profitability with a medium term target for profit growth in 
percentage terms exceeding that for sales
●
  investing in projects and acquisitions where the posttax return on 
capital employed exceeds the weighted average cost of capital of 
the group by a minimum of 4
●
  generating sufficient free cash flow to enable the group to expand 
its operations whilst funding attractive returns to shareholders 
reducing its debt and pension deficit
●
  operating an efficient balance sheet by structuring sources of 
capital to minimise the group’s weighted average cost of capital 
consistent with maintaining an investment grade financial profile 
with the ratio of net debt to ebitda being between one and two and 
a half times 
●
  maintaining longterm dividend cover at between two and a half and 
three and a half times earnings
whilst the above are appropriate longterm objectives our shortterm 
objectives continue to give priority to maximising cash generation
 to ensure the business is focused on the achievement of appropriate 
targets a series of key financial performance indicators are monitored 
“in 2009 we have 
realised substantial 
cost savings 
improved our 
productivity ratios 
and significantly 
boosted cash flows”  
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37 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
throughout the business a selection are shown in the table above 
where indicated for 2009 these measures are stated on an adjusted 
basis stripping out the effects of an exceptional pension curtailment 
gain and for 2008 the exceptional reorganisation costs
adjusted earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisa
tion “ebitda” note 37 were £2808m 2008 £3303m a decrease 
of 150
in may 2009 as part of our efforts to increase interest cover we spent 
£287m exiting 7 interest rate swaps and a cap and collar arrangement 
with a combined average fixed rate of 48 at that point and replaced 
them with 8 new fixed interest rate swaps with an average interest 
rate of 15 at inception the £287m payment is being amortised 
against profits over the original remaining lives of the cancelled swaps   
overall lower interest rates combined with significantly lower borrow
ings have reduced our net finance charges excluding other finance 
income and charges associated with the pension scheme by £318m 
431 the average interest rate during the year was 37 2008 
49 whilst adjusted interest cover note 10 was approximately 107 
times 2008 43 times
adjusted group profit before tax note 5b was £225m or 111 
lower than last year at £1800m 2008 £2025m
the tax charge was £553m an effective rate of 260 compared 
with £444m 303 in 2008 the effective rate is lower than the 
standard uk corporation tax rate principally due to property profits 
which are not chargeable to tax
profit after tax was £1574m an increase of 545 adjusted 
profit after tax note 5b was £1339m a decrease of £100m 69 
compared to 2008
after allowing for the effect of the rights issue basic earnings per 
share were 884 pence 2008 686 pence adjusted earnings per 
share note 12b were 752 pence 2008 969 pence a reduction of 
224 there is no significant difference between basic and diluted 
earnings per share the weighted average number of shares in issue 
was 1780m 2008 1485m
cash flow 
despite the difficult trading conditions which have resulted in adjusted 
operating profits falling 173 strong cash control has enabled the 
group to generate £3198m of cash from operations 2008 £3376m 
a decrease of only 53 
free cash flow calculated before expansionary capital expendi
ture additional pension contributions exceptional reorganisation costs 
and dividends was £2944m note 35 589 higher than for 2008   
most of the free cash generated has been retained by the group as 
part of its debt reduction programme as a result expansion capital 
expenditure in existing businesses was significantly curtailed at £111m 
2008 £535m and whilst there were no branch acquisitions during 
the year 2008 £225m further small investments totalling £139m 
were made particularly in the group’s associate company toolstation 
2008 £210m
pensions
during the year the triennial actuarial valuation of the pension 
scheme determined that the deficit on an ongoing funding basis at 30 
september 2008 was £1320m negotiations with the scheme trustee 
about the level of future funding rates were concluded in december 
with the result that the group has agreed to eliminate the funding 
deficit over 8 years through increasing contributions by £103m pa 
to £204m 
at 31 december 2009 the gross accounting deficit of the pension 
scheme was £430m 31 december 2008 gross accounting deficit 
£699m the net deficit after allowing for deferred tax was £310m 
2008 net deficit £504m
the deficit has fallen as a result of a £327m curtailment of pension 
liabilities following the introduction of an annual 3 cap on the increase 
in pensionable salaries for active scheme members the combination 
of lower yields on corporate bonds and a higher projected inflation 
rate resulted in scheme liabilities increasing by £121m but these were 
largely offset by returns on investments which increased in value by 
financial review 
results 2009 2008 2007 2006
revenue decline  growth 78 03 119 79
likeforlike revenue decline  growth 86 45 81 14
adjusted operating profit to sales ratio 77 85 100 98
profit before tax growth  decline  454 440 127 122
adjusted profit before tax decline  growth  113 225 187 66
net debt to adjusted editda  15x 28x 25x 24x
adjusted interest cover note 10 107x 43x 54x 49x
adjusted return on capital note 36 109 129 159 146
adjusted free cash flow note 35 £2944m £1853m £1578m £2166m
adjusted dividend cover note 13  85x 33x 34x  
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38 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
£901m and £251m of company contributions in excess of current 
service costs 
the scheme is now 92 funded 2008 86 with the net deficit 
representing approximately 2 2008 12 of the company’s market 
capitalisation at 31 december 2009
equity
the rights issue which was completed in june 2009 resulted in the 
issue of 86m new shares at £365 each raising £3003m of new 
equity net of costs of £132m 
total equity at 31 december 2009 was £14604m after allowing for 
the rights issue the £1419m increase in equity arose from £1574m 
of retained profits partially offset by a net £204m of actuarial loses 
arising in respect of the pension scheme and changes in the value of 
cash flow hedges
the group’s adjusted return on capital in 2009 note 36 was 109 
2008 129 which remains higher than the group’s weighted average 
cost of capital 
during the year the daily closing share price restated for the rights 
issue ranged between 880 pence and 228 pence at the yearend the 
share price was 852 pence 2008 268 pence restated for the rights 
issue and the market capitalisation £18bn 2008 £04bn repre
senting 12 times 2008 04 times shareholders’ funds
properties 
at 31 december 2009 the carrying value of the group’s 336 freehold 
and 57 long leasehold property portfolio which was last revalued in 
1999 on an existing use basis was £2472m 2008 £2573m 
 
goodwill and other intangibles
at the yearend a series of tests were undertaken to determine whether 
there had been any impairment to the balance sheet carrying values of 
goodwill and other intangible assets the key assumptions behind the 
calculations are as follows
●
  cash flow forecasts were derived from the most recent financial 
budgets and plans for the four years ending 2013 which were 
approved by the directors cash flows for 2014 were extrapolated 
from cash flows for 2013 using similar assumptions to those used 
in determining the 2013 projections
●
   the weighted average cost of capital “wacc” of the group of 86
●
   longterm forecast growth rates of 25 in line with the average 
longterm gdp growth trend applied from 2015 onwards
in summary the tests indicated that despite the economic conditions 
the value of discounted future cash flows exceeded the carrying values 
of goodwill and intangible assets which meant there was no write off 
for impairment required
approximately 58 of the carrying value of the group’s goodwill and 
intangible assets is allocated to the wickes cashgenerating unit on 
the basis of the assumptions stated above the calculations show that 
for there to be no impairment the minimum profit for wickes in 2014 
would need to be £58m the same as was achieved in 2009
whilst the directors consider that their assumptions are realistic it 
is possible an impairment might occur if any of the above key assump
tions were changed significantly
the net book value of goodwill and other intangibles in the balance 
sheet is £15153m 2008 £15139m 
principal risks and uncertainties
going concern
a review of the group’s business activities together with the factors 
likely to affect its future development performance and position are 
set out on pages 10 to 24 of the chief executive’s review of the year 
the financial position of the group its cash flows liquidity position and 
borrowing facilities are shown in the balance sheet cash flow state
ment and accompanying notes in the financial statements further 
information concerning the group’s objectives policies and processes 
for managing its capital its financial risk management objectives 
details of its financial instruments and hedging activities and its expo
sures to credit risk and liquidity risk can be found below 
the board of directors is currently of the opinion that having reviewed 
the group’s cash forecasts and revenue projections and after taking 
account of reasonably possible changes in trading performance the 
group should be able to operate within its current facilities and comply 
with its banking covenants for the foreseeable future in arriving at its 
conclusion the board was mindful of the
●
  group’s robust policy towards liquidity and cash flow management
●
  group’s abilities to manage its business risks successfully during 
periods of uncertain economic outlook and challenging macro 
economic conditions
●
  the committed facilities available to the group to early 2013
●
  £3003m of equity raised during the year which has significantly 
reduced the group’s indebtedness
after reviewing the group’s forecasts and making other enquiries the 
directors have formed a judgement at the time of approving the financial 
statements that there is a reasonable expectation that the company 
and the group have adequate resources to continue in operational exis
tence for the foreseeable future for this reason they continue to adopt 
the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements
financial risk management 
financial risk management is an integral part of the way the group is 
managed in the course of its business the group is exposed primarily 
to liquidity risk interest rate risk foreign exchange risk credit risk 
capital risk and tax risk the overall aim of the group’s financial risk 
management policies is to minimise potential adverse effects on finan
cial performance and net assets the group manages the principal 
financial risks within policies and operating parameters approved by the 
board of directors and does not enter into speculative transactions
treasury activities which fall under the daytoday responsibility of 
me as finance director are managed centrally under a framework of  39
 
17334   proof 1410
f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
a andrew burns branch manager
b stephen reynolds senior administrator
c david dowell boiler spares supervisor
a
b
c  
17334   proof 3  1410
40 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
policies and procedures approved by and monitored by the board the 
policies in respect of interest and currency hedging the investment of 
surplus funds and the quality and acceptability of financial counterpar
ties were reviewed and reapproved by the board during the year
the treasury department is not a profit centre its objectives are 
to protect the assets of the group and to identify and then manage 
financial risk in applying these policies the group will utilise derivative 
instruments but only for risk management purposes 
the board receives monthly reports on cash flows debt levels and 
covenant compliance with comparisons to budgets and forecasts 
in addition all derivative related activity is reported to the board at 
the immediate next board meeting as described in the corporate 
governance report on page 48 the board receives regular reports 
on specific areas of risk as part of these risk reviews papers are 
presented on areas such as budgeting and planning debt strategy 
including derivative policy and banking relations and working 
capital control 
liquidity and net debt note 24
liquidity risk
the group’s policy on liquidity risk is to ensure that sufficient cash is 
available to fund ongoing operations the board manages exposure to 
liquidity risk by maintaining adequate facilities to meet the future needs 
of the business those needs are determined by continuously moni
toring forecast and actual cash flows taking into account the maturity 
of financial assets and liabilities included in the balance sheet 
the group’s principal borrowing facilities are provided by a group of 
core relationship banks in the form of a term loan and a revolving credit 
facility and by us institutions in the form of us denominated notes 
the quantum of committed borrowing facilities available to the group 
is reviewed regularly and is designed to comfortably exceed forecast 
peak gross debt levels
liquidity management
the group’s treasury team are responsible for monitoring the group’s 
short and medium term liquidity requirements using a combination 
of annual budgets which have been analysed on a daily basis using 
historic trends quarterly trading and cash flow reforecasts and short 
term forecasts adjusted for actual events as they occur they are then 
charged with drawing down sufficient funds to meet those needs whilst 
minimising borrowing costs and reducing the incidences of investing 
surplus funds 
medium term borrowing and hedging requirements up to 5 years 
are determined from the group’s annual budget and threeyear plan 
which are prepared to show monthly trading cash flows and debt 
requirements for the entire period and are updated and approved by 
the board each year
to ensure the board takes preemptive action where necessary the 
group reforecasts profits and cash flows on a quarterly basis 
facilities
the group has a £1bn syndicated credit facility provided by 15 banks 
£525m of the facility is in the form of a fully drawn amortising term 
loan the remainder being a revolving credit facility which can be drawn 
down as required in addition the group had access to a £40m uncom
mitted overdraft facility at 31 december 2009 
liquidity headroom was increased during the year by the rights 
issue after careful consideration the board decided that it was in 
the group’s best interests to maximise the group’s spending flexibility  
by retaining as much cash in the business as possible as a result the 
group’s revolving credit facility was repaid in full the £525m term 
loan was retained and at the yearend the group had £3472m of  
cash invested 
liquidity headroom is expected to remain high with the term loan 
due to be repaid in six £35m tranches each half year commencing 
april 2010 with the balance falling due in april 2013 the revolving 
credit facility is available to the group until april 2013 
tranches of the syndicated facility can be drawn down for weekly 
monthly three monthly and six monthly terms with the actual dura
tion of draw downs being dependent upon management’s interest rate 
expectations for all of 2009 due to the high differential between 6 
month libor and weekly and monthly libor the group has drawn 
funds on a weekly and monthly basis
in early 2006 the group issued 400m fixed rate guaranteed 
unsecured notes the ‘notes’ with a broad range of us financial 
institutions the debt comprises 200m of notes repayable in 2013 
and the remainder in 2016 at inception the fixed interest rate net 
proceeds were swapped into sterling 6month libor determined 
variable rate debt
debt 
as at 31 december 2009 the group had net debt of £4672m 2008 
£10174m note 33 however if the currency retranslation effect 
caused by the changes to the sterling us dollar exchange rates is 
eliminated debt at 31 december would have been £4267m a reduc
tion of £5105m over the year the notes are fully hedged and so by 
the dates they are redeemable in 2013 or 2016 the exchange effects 
will have fully reversed
the peak and minimum levels of daily borrowings on a cleared 
basis during the year ended 31 december 2009 were £1083m and 
£438m respectively 2008 £1112m and £945m the maximum 
month end cleared borrowings were £1035m 2008 £1043m 
at 31 december 2009 the group had undrawn facilities of £515m 
2008 £353m
operating leases
note 30 gives details about the group’s operating lease commit
ments most of which relate to properties occupied by the group for 
trading purposes  
17334   proof 3  1410
41 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
covenant compliance
the group’s borrowings are subject to covenants set by the lenders 
covenant compliance is measured semiannually using financial results 
prepared under ifrs extant at 31 december 2007 
the key financial covenants are the ratio of net debt to earnings 
before interest tax depreciation and amortisation “ebitda” which must 
be less than 35 times and the ratio of earnings before interest tax and 
amortisation “ebita” to net interest which must be above 35 times at 
31 december 2009 the group achieved a net debt to ebitda ratio of 
15x note 37 and interest cover of 107x note 10
in addition to these financial covenants the group’s borrowing 
agreements include general covenants and potential events of default 
at the date of this report there had been no breaches of the financial 
covenants and the group had complied in all other respects with the 
terms of its borrowing agreements
interest rate and currency derivatives note 25
interest rate risk
one of the principal risks facing the group is an exposure to interest 
rate fluctuations the group has borrowed in sterling at floating rates 
whilst its us denominated notes have fixed rates of interest
the group’s hedging policy is to generate its preferred interest rate 
profile and so manage its exposure to interest rate fluctuations through 
the use of interest rate derivatives currently the policy is to maintain 
between 33 and 75 of drawn borrowings at fixed interest rates
the group has entered into a number of interest rate derivatives 
designed to protect it from fluctuating interest and exchange rates on 
its borrowings at the yearend the group had nine interest rate deriva
tives fixing interest rates on approximately 66 of the group’s cleared 
debt the maturity of the group’s derivatives is as follows
   notional  
derivative term maturity value
vanilla interest rate swaps amortising may 2011 £430m
vanilla interest rate swaps bullet may 2011 £100m
cancellable swap bullet october 2013 £50m
  
currency risk 
having taken out 4 cross currency swaps to protect it from exchange 
rate fluctuations in respect of its 400m fixed rate guaranteed  
unsecured notes the group is not exposed to significant foreign 
exchange risk
whilst the majority of purchases of goods and services are invoiced 
in sterling goods acquired from overseas either directly from manufac
turers or through uk based distributors continue to increase overseas 
originated purchases currently approximate to 40 of group purchases 
and so adverse movements in sterling could to the extent they cannot 
be passed on to customers affect profitability
the group settles its currency related trading obligations using a 
combination of currency purchased at spot rates and currency bought 
in advance on forward contracts its policy is to purchase forward 
contracts for between 30 and 70 of its anticipated requirements 
twelve months forward at 31 december 2009 the nominal value of 
currency contracts most of which were us denominated was 40m 
and €2m at 31 december 2009 based upon forecast currency 
requirements for 2009 a us10c change in the exchange rate would 
impact costs before any corresponding selling price amendment by 
approximately £1m 
 
credit risk
financing
credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its 
contracted obligations resulting in a loss to the group it arises on 
financial instruments such as trade receivables shortterm bank 
deposits banking facilities interest rate derivatives and foreign 
currency hedging transactions to reduce the risk of loss arising from 
counterparty default the group has a policy of dealing with credit
worthy counterparties the group has policies and procedures to 
ensure that customers have an appropriate credit history and that 
account customers are given credit limits appropriate to their circum
stances which are regularly monitored
the group does not have any significant credit risk exposure to any 
single counterparty or any group of counterparties having similar char
acteristics other than banks providing banking facilities interest rate 
derivatives and cross currency swaps the group defines counterpar
ties as having similar characteristics if they are connected entities the 
credit risk in liquid funds and derivative financial instruments is limited 
because the counterparties used are banks with high creditratings 
assigned by international creditrating agencies
at the yearend the group had open currency hedging contracts 
with four banks open interest rate derivative contracts with 8 banks 
and had 15 banks within its banking syndicate there were 19 compa
nies holding the group’s us denominated notes of which the largest 
held 21 by value all currency hedging contracts with the exception 
of one with a member of a previous syndicate group and swaps are 
held with members of the banking syndicate on 23rd february 2010 
the group’s banking counterparties had ratings of
   amount of notional value notional value
 number uk bank of interest rate of cross
rating of banks facilities derivatives currency swaps 
 no £m £m m
aa to aa 8 707 365 290
a to a 6 224 130 110
below a 1 64 85 
not rated 1 5    
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42 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
customer credit 
within the group’s merchanting division one of the key aspects of 
service is the provision of credit to customers with the group carrying 
the associated credit risk
trade receivables consist of a large number of customers none 
of which represents more than 05 of sales spread across diverse 
industries and geographical areas however the nature of the industry 
is such that there is a risk that some of these customers will be unable 
to pay outstanding balances
ongoing evaluation of the financial condition of accounts receivable 
and reviews of the total credit exposure to all customers is performed 
monthly using external credit risk services where necessary increased 
credit levels are approved by both operational and financial manage
ment with personal guarantees being obtained where appropriate 
before credit is advanced whilst daytoday credit control is the 
responsibility of the centrally based teams the group also operates 
an inhouse debt recovery team headed by a qualified solicitor that is 
responsible for recovering debt that remains unpaid the group does 
not have credit insurance
during the recession of 199091 the group experienced bad debt 
levels of up to 135 of credit sales over the past 10 years the bad 
debt charge has averaged below 05 however during the latter part 
of 2008 and the first half of 2009 the group experienced an increasing 
level of bad debts however the situation improved in the second half of 
2009 with the bad debt charge for the year averaging 08 of credit 
sales 2008 09 
debtor days at 31 december 2009 were 54 days 2008 57 days
an increase in one debtor day at 31 december would have reduced 
cash flow by approximately £5m
capital risk
the group manages its capital risk by ensuring it has a capital struc
ture appropriate to the ongoing needs of the business that ensures it 
remains within the covenant limits that apply to its banking arrange
ments the capital structure of the group consists of debt which 
includes the borrowings disclosed in note 24 cash and cash equiva
lents and equity attributable to equity holders of the parent comprising 
issued capital reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in notes 
21 to 23 
the capital structure is formally reviewed by the board as part of its 
annual strategy review but it is kept under review by me throughout 
the year as necessary the company will rebalance its capital structure 
through raising or repaying debt issuing equity or paying dividends
tax risk
the group seeks to efficiently manage its tax affairs whilst at the 
same time complying with the relevant laws and disclosure obligations 
placed upon it however the complexity of tax legislation means that 
there will always be an element of uncertainty when determining its 
tax liabilities
to minimise compliance risk the group utilises qualified inhouse 
expertise and takes external advice when making judgements about 
the amount of tax to be paid and the level of provisions required
future tax charges and payments could be affected by changes in 
legislation and accounting standards beyond the control of the group
market conditions and competitive pressures
the group’s products are sold to tradesmen and retail customers 
for a broad range of end uses in the built environment the perfor
mance of the market is affected by general economic conditions and 
a number of specific drivers of construction and diy activity including 
housing transactions net disposable income house price inflation 
consumer confidence interest rates and unemployment the board 
conducts an annual review of strategy which includes an assess
ment of likely competitor activity market forecasts and possible future 
trends in products channels of distribution and customer behaviour 
significant events including those in the supply chain that may affect 
the group are monitored by the executive committee and reported to 
the board monthly by the group ceo market trends and competitor 
performance are also tracked on an ongoing basis and reported to 
the board each month
product availability and product prices
security of supply of products and product quality are monitored by 
product category directors in the trade and retail businesses supplier 
financial strength product quality and service levels are monitored on 
a continuous basis an annual risk assessment with recovery plans is 
prepared for the major suppliers across the group the group is not 
significantly exposed to one supplier or product type with no supplier 
accounting for more than 7 of total goods purchased in 2009 an 
established qa process is in place throughout the business
however the ability to pass on price increases to customers is 
affected by competitor activity and the economic climate an inability to 
raise selling prices could reduce margins
the market price of products distributed by the group particularly 
commodity products can vary significantly and affect operating results 
the group’s businesses actively take steps to protect themselves from 
anticipated price rises
any restrictions on third party credit insurance available to suppliers 
could result in them reducing their own credit exposure to the group 
if this were to occur it could adversely impact the group’s working 
capital and therefore it’s debt levels
acquisitions and other expansion
growth by acquisition continues to be an important part of the long
term strategy of the group significant risk can arise from acquisitions 
in terms of the initial valuation the integration programme and the 
ongoing management of the acquisition detailed internal analysis of 
the market position of major acquisition targets is undertaken and 
valuations are completed using discounted cash flow financial models   
17334   proof 3  1410
43 f i n a n c e d i r e c t o r ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
independent advisors are used to comment on the strategic implica
tions and the assumptions in valuation models for larger acquisitions a 
rolling programme of post acquisition audits is completed and reviewed 
by the board each year
human resources
the ability to recruit and retain staff at all levels of the group is an 
important driver of our overall performance salaries and other 
benefits are benchmarked annually to ensure that the group remains 
competitive a recruitment toolkit is available for both merchanting 
and retail outlets a widerange of training programmes are in place 
to encourage staff development and management development 
programmes are used to assist those identified for more senior posi
tions the group human resources director monitors staff turnover 
by job type and reports to the board annually succession plans are 
established for the most senior positions within the group and these 
are reviewed annually 
information technology and business continuity
the operations of the group depend on a wide range of it systems to 
operate efficiently an it strategy committee reviews performance levels 
of the key systems and prioritises development work maintenance 
is undertaken on an ongoing basis to ensure the resilience of group 
systems and escalation procedures are in place to resolve any perfor
mance issues at an early stage our two data centres mirror each other 
with data processing switched from one to the other on a regular basis 
an it disaster recovery plan exists and is tested regularly together with 
the business continuity plan with arrangements in place for alterna
tive data sites for both trade and retail businesses offsite backup 
routines are in place
the group distributes products from seven major warehouses in 
great britain the loss of any single warehouse through fire or other 
major incident could have a material effect on the availability of product 
in the trade and retail outlets each warehouse has fire detection and 
alarm systems and a business continuity plan
legislation
the group is affected both positively and negatively by the legislative 
environment within which it operates planning and building legisla
tion impacts its customers and consequently the group whilst health 
and safety employment environmental and competition laws together 
with the rules of the financial services authority and the listing rules 
influence its day to day operations
the group has an inhouse legal team headed by the group 
company secretary together with health  safety and environmental 
experts who monitor changes in legislation that affect the group and 
enable it to take timely action to ensure any impacts are reduced
environmental
failure to operate within the highest environmental standards may 
reduce the group’s profitability if such action causes it to come into 
conflict with legislative requirements furthermore with heightened 
environmental awareness companies that fail to meet environmental 
standards may find their ability to trade or gain access to capital 
markets reduced
the group has accreditation for its environmental management 
system to the iso 14001 standard further details of the group’s envi
ronmental policies and performance are given in the chief executive’s 
review of the year however to mitigate the potential environmental 
risks the group undertakes comprehensive reviews across all its 
businesses involving independent external advisers external verifica
tion of environmental performance is undertaken and repeated on an 
annual basis
pensions
the risks in this area relate to the potential for contributions required 
to meet the benefits promised in the final salary scheme rising to a 
level that restricts other corporate activity the scheme trustee and the 
group obtain independent actuarial advice and formal valuations are 
carried out at least every three years the trustee receives reports on 
the investment performance quarterly the travis perkins’ final salary 
scheme was closed to all new members in april 2006 and in 2009 
pensionable salary inflation was capped at 3 per annum
the accounting deficit at 31 december 2009 is £43m the group 
currently has arrangements in place to eliminate the deficit over a 
period of 8 years any deterioration in the scheme’s funding position 
could impact the group’s liquidity
paul hampden smith 
finance director
23 february 2010  
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44 d i r e c t o r s a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l a d v i s e r s
chairman
tim stevenson obe aged 61 joined the board in september 2001 
and became chairman on 1 november 2001 he is a barrister and held 
a number of senior positions in burmah castrol plc between 1975 and 
2000 including chief executive from 1998 he is also nonexecutive 
chairman of morgan crucible plc and lord lieutenant of oxfordshire 
he is chairman of the nominations committee and a member of the 
remuneration and health and safety committees he will be retiring 
from the board after the agm on 17 may 2010
finance director
paul hampden smith aged 49 is a chartered accountant and joined 
sandell perkins in 1988 following the merger with travis  arnold he 
was appointed regional finance director in 1992 he became finance 
director of travis perkins trading company limited and was appointed 
finance director of travis perkins plc in 1996 he is a nonexecutive 
director of redrow plc
chief executive
geoff cooper aged 55 joined the company in february 2005 and 
was appointed chief executive on 1 march 2005 he is a chartered 
management accountant and worked in management consultancy 
before joining gateway now somerfield plc as finance director in 
1990 in 1994 he became finance director of unichem plc subse
quently alliance unichem plc which later became part of alliance 
boots plc where he was appointed deputy chief executive in 2001 
he is nonexecutive chairman of dunelm group plc
chief operating officer
john carter aged 48 joined sandell perkins as a management 
trainee in 1978 he held a number of regional management posi
tions before being appointed managing director operations in 1996 
and a director of travis perkins plc in july 2001 he became chief 
operating officer in february 2005 and is a member of the health 
and safety committee
committees and professional advisers
secretary a s pike
audit committee c j bunker chairman j coleman p  jansen
remuneration committee a h simon chairman c j bunker j coleman 
t e p  stevenson
nominations committee t e p  stevenson chairman c j bunker 
j coleman
health and safety committee a h simon chairman j p  carter 
t e p  stevenson
executive committee g i cooper chief executive and committee 
chairman j p  carter chief operating officer p  n hampden smith finance 
director n bell category management director 
j bird managing director wickes a j davidson chairman specialist 
merchanting c kavanagh group hr director m r meech group property 
director j mescall chairman general merchanting a s pike company 
secretary  lawyer r d proctor supply chain director 
investment bankersadvisors hsbc bank plc nomura international plc
corporate broker citibank
bankers the royal bank of scotland plc barclays bank plc
solicitors linklaters llp  london clifford chance llp  london 
hewitsons northampton
auditors deloitte llp  birmingham
registrars capita registrars huddersfield
directors and professional advisers
tim stevenson obe paul hampden smith geoff cooper john carter  
17334   proof 3  1410
45 d i r e c t o r s a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l a d v i s e r s
nonexecutive directors
chris bunker	 aged 63 was appointed as a nonexecutive director 
in 2004 he is a chartered management accountant and was finance 
director of thames water plc from 2000 until march 2004 he was 
previously finance director of tarmac plc and westland group plc 
he is a nonexecutive director of d s smith plc and formerly was 
a nonexecutive director of mowlem plc baltimore technologies plc 
and xansa plc he is the senior independent director and chairman 
of the audit committee and a member of the nominations and 
remuneration committees
john	 coleman aged 57 was appointed as a nonexecutive director 
in 2005 he is a chartered management accountant and chairman 
of aga rangemaster group plc he was chief executive of house 
of fraser plc from 1996 to 2006 and previously chief executive of 
texas homecare and of a number of businesses within burton group 
plc he is a member of the remuneration audit and nominations 
committees
philip jansen aged 43 was appointed as a nonexecutive director 
in april 2009 he is group chief operating officer and chief executive 
of europe for sodexo having joined that company in 2004 as chief 
executive uk and ireland he was previously chief operating officer of 
my travel plc and managing director consumer division of telewest 
communications plc and also held senior positions with proctor 
 gamble and dunlop slazenger group he has also been a non
executive director of the professional cricketers’ association he is a 
member of the audit committee
andrew simon obe aged 64 was appointed as a nonexecutive 
director in 2006 he is a nonexecutive director of finning international 
inc management consulting group plc and sgl carbon ag and also 
served as nonexecutive chairman of dalkia plc until the end of 2009 
he was previously chairman and  or chief executive of evode group 
plc from 1980 to 1993 and has also held nonexecutive directorships 
with severn trent plc ibstock plc laporte plc associated british 
ports holdings plc and brake bros holdings ltd he is chairman of 
the remuneration and the health and safety committees 
robert walker aged 65 was appointed as a nonexecutive director 
in september 2009 it is intended that he will succeed tim stevenson 
as chairman after the agm on 17 may 2010 he is chairman of w h 
smith plc and americana international holdings ltd and a nonexec
utive director of tate  lyle plc he has previously been chairman of 
williams lea group ltd and bca europe ltd chief executive of severn 
trent plc and held a number of senior posts with pepsi co inc he 
has also been a nonexecutive director of baa plc signet group plc 
thomson travel group plc and wolseley plc 
chris bunker
philip jansen
robert walker
john coleman
andrew simon obe  
17334   proof 3  1410
46 c o r p o r a t e r e s p o n s i b i l i t y s t a t e m e n t
the company has not produced a separate corporate responsibility 
statement in the report and accounts since it believes these matters 
are sufficiently important to receive the personal attention of indi
vidual directors rather than risking less focus through the exercise 
of collective responsibility instead full details of those areas normally 
covered by such a report are contained either in the reports of the 
directors responsible for such matters or in a separate report as 
explained below
environment chief executive’s review of the year
health  safety  health  safety report on pages 51 and 52
supply chain  chief operating officer’s review of the year
employees  chief operating officer’s review of the year
community relations  chief executive’s review of the year
the board takes into account environmental social and governance 
matters in its conduct of the company’s business the board believes 
that it has adequate information to identify and assess the major environ
mental social and governance risks and as part of the system of internal 
control receives reports on the risks associated with these matters the 
board has received briefings on such matters during 2009
corporate responsibility statement
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
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47 c o r p o r a t e g o v e r n a n c e
combined code
the london stock exchange first issued the combined code on 
corporate governance “the code” in 1998 and it was revised most 
recently in june 2008 section 1 of the code is applicable to compa
nies a statement explaining how the company has applied the prin
ciples and the extent to which it has complied with the provisions of 
the code appears below the code contains fourteen main principles of 
governance which are divided into the following four areas
1 directors
the company is controlled through a board of directors which presently 
comprises the chairman three executive and five nonexecutive direc
tors tim stevenson is chairman and geoff cooper is chief executive 
chris bunker is the senior independent director john coleman philip 
jansen who was appointed on 9 april 2009 andrew simon and robert 
walker who was appointed on 30 september 2009 are also independent 
nonexecutive directors it is intended that tim stevenson will retire from 
the board after the agm on 17 may and that robert walker will succeed 
him as chairman appointments of new directors are made by the board 
on the recommendation of the nominations committee all directors will 
submit themselves for reelection at least every three years 
the board has a formal schedule of matters reserved to it and meets 
at least ten times a year it is responsible for overall group strategy 
policy on corporate governance matters acquisition policy approval 
of major capital expenditure and consideration of significant financial 
and operational matters it monitors the exposure to key business 
risks and reviews the strategy of the trading subsidiaries their annual 
budgets and progress towards the achievement of those budgets and 
their capital expenditure programmes it also considers legislative 
environmental health and safety and employment issues the board 
has approved a written statement of the division of key responsibilities 
between the chairman and the chief executive
the chairman leads the board ensuring that each director is able 
to make an effective contribution he also monitors the information 
provided to the board to ensure it is sufficient timely and clear and 
from time to time the board reviews the adequacy of this information
the board held eleven meetings during 2009 one of which was by 
conference telephone call one meeting dealt with consideration of the 
company’s longterm strategy and 5 meetings either included visits to 
parts of the company’s operations or included presentations by senior 
executives on their areas of responsibility individual visits to opera
tional sites by nonexecutive directors also occurred in addition to the 
regular board meetings key financial information is circulated to direc
tors outside of meetings the chairman has regular direct contact with 
the executive directors and keeps the nonexecutive directors informed 
of material developments between board meetings the chairman 
held two meetings during the year with all the nonexecutive directors 
without the executive directors being present
all directors have direct access to the company secretary and may 
take independent professional advice in the furtherance of their duties 
if necessary the company maintains directors  officers’ insurance in 
respect of the risk of claims against directors
the board has an induction process for new directors which is 
facilitated by the company secretary the chairman ensures that 
all directors receive appropriate training on appointment and then 
subsequently as required taking into account the need to update their 
skills and their knowledge of the company’s business they are also 
regularly provided with information on forthcoming legal and regula
tory changes and corporate governance developments and briefings 
on the key risks facing the company including those identified in the 
corporate responsibility statement on page 46
the board has established five committees the audit committee the 
remuneration committee the nominations committee the health and 
safety committee and the executive committee which operate within 
defined terms of reference which are available on the company’s 
website or may be obtained from the company secretary the minutes 
of committee meetings are available to all the directors the reports 
of the audit committee health  safety committee remuneration 
committee and nominations committee are on pages 49 and 50 51 
and 52 53 to 63 and 64 respectively 
the executive committee members are listed on page 44 other 
executives are invited to attend from time to time in relation to specific 
matters the principal purpose of the committee is to assist the execu
tive directors in the performance of their duties in relation in particular to
●
  strategy operational plans policies procedures and budgets
●
  the monitoring of operational and financial performance
●
  the assessment and control of risk
●
  the prioritisation and allocation of resources
the number of board and committee meetings attended by each 
director in whole or in part during the year was as follows
corporate governance 
for the year ended 31 december 2009
no of meetings 11 5 9  2 11
attendances
c j bunker 10 5 8   
j p  carter 10 2   2 11
j coleman 11 5 9   
g i cooper 11  6   11
p  n hampden smith 11 4 1   11
p  jansen
1
 6 1    
a h simon
2
 11  8  2 
t e p  stevenson 11 5 9  2 
r walker
3
 2  2   
plc board 
audit 
remuneration 
nomination 
health  safety 
executive
1 appointed to the board april 2009 and to the audit committee june 2009
2 stood down from audit committee in june 2009 3 appointed to the board september 2009   
17334   proof 3  1410
48 c o r p o r a t e g o v e r n a n c e
if a director was unable to attend a meeting of the board or a 
committee of which he is a member the chairman discussed the 
meeting papers with him to obtain his views prior to the meeting
during the year the board undertook an evaluation of its performance 
and the performance of its committees and the individual directors 
this consisted of interviews by the chairman with each other director 
and the company secretary separately focussing on the operation of 
the board and its committees and in particular on those matters identi
fied in 2008 where measures were taken to enhance performance 
these interviews formed the basis of a report by the chairman that was 
the subject of a discussion by the board which was satisfied that the 
process showed that the board and its committees worked effectively 
however it agreed a number of measures in particular relating to the 
presentation of board business the format of its meetings and the 
process for its consideration of risks faced by the group aimed at 
further enhancing its performance a board evaluation process will be 
carried out in 2010 
2 directors’ remuneration 
the remuneration committee consists of the chairman and three inde
pendent nonexecutive directors and meets at least four times a year 
its responsibilities include remuneration policy a review of the perfor
mance of executive directors prior to determining their remuneration 
and the approval of incentive arrangements including performance 
criteria the remuneration of the nonexecutive directors is determined 
by the board as a whole except that the remuneration committee 
makes a recommendation in respect of the chairman’s salary no 
director plays a part in the discussion about his own remuneration 
the remuneration report is set out on pages 53 to 63
3 accountability and audit 
a review of the performance of the group’s trading subsidiaries and 
the financial position of the group is included in the chief executive’s 
review of the year in the chief operating officer’s review of the year 
and in the finance director’s review of the year set out on pages 10 to 
43 the board uses them together with the chairman’s statement on 
pages 8 and 9 to present a full assessment of the company’s position 
and prospects the directors’ responsibilities for the financial state
ments are described on page 70
internal control
the board is responsible for the group’s system of internal control 
and for reviewing its effectiveness in designing the system of internal 
control consideration is given to the significant risks to the business 
the probability of these risks manifesting themselves and the most cost 
effective means of controlling them the system is designed to manage 
rather than eliminate risk and therefore can only provide reasonable 
and not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss
the daytoday operation of the system of internal control has been 
delegated to executive directors and senior management but the 
effectiveness of the system is regularly reviewed by the board in a 
process that accords with the turnbull guidance the board and the 
executive committee receive regular reports on specific areas of risk if 
appropriate these reports include recommendations for improvement 
in controls or for the management of those risks measures to integrate 
risk management processes into the group’s operations to extend 
awareness of the importance of risk management and to ensure that 
recommended improvements are implemented are regularly reviewed 
and refreshed senior executives are asked twice a year to confirm the 
adequacy of internal controls in their areas of responsibility identify any 
control weaknesses and to confirm the accuracy and completeness of 
information given to the directors and to the external auditors
in conjunction with the audit committee the board has carried out 
an annual review of the overall effectiveness of the system of internal 
control and risk management procedures during the year and up until 
the date of approval of this annual report 
audit committee and auditors 
the report of the audit committee is set out on pages 49 and 50
4 relations with shareholders
the company encourages twoway communication with both its 
institutional and private investors and responds promptly to all enqui
ries received during the year the chairman the senior independent 
director and the executive directors either separately or together 
attended a number of meetings with analysts and with shareholders 
representing circa 60 of the issued share capital the chairman and 
executive directors report to the board on any meetings with share
holders or analysts in addition written reports about the company by 
analysts or brokers are circulated to all directors
as well as sending the annual report to shareholders during the year 
the company published its interim results on its website issued two 
interim management statements and sent a circular to shareholders in 
may 2009 concerning its rights issue all shareholders receive at least 
twenty working days notice of the annual general meeting at which all 
directors are available for questions and a short business presentation 
takes place each substantive issue is the subject of a separate resolu
tion the numbers of proxy votes for and against each resolution are 
announced at the meeting after the voting has taken place and are 
subsequently published on the company’s website
going concern
this matter is dealt with on page 38 of the finance director’s review 
of the year
corporate governance compliance 
statement
the company is pleased to report that it has complied throughout the 
year ended 31 december 2009 with the provisions set out in section 
1 of the code  
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49 a u d i t c o m m i t t e e r e p o r t 
audit committee report 
for the year ended 31 december 2009
role of the audit committee
the audit committee is responsible for
●
  the integrity of the financial statements of the company and 
any formal announcements relating to the company’s financial 
performance and reviewing significant financial reporting judgments 
contained therein
●
  reviewing the company’s internal financial controls and unless 
expressly addressed by the board itself the company’s internal 
control and risk management systems
●
  monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the company’s internal 
audit function
●
  reviewing the audit plans of the external auditors and for monitoring 
the conduct of the audit
●
  reviewing the external auditors’ independence and objectivity and 
the effectiveness of the audit process taking into consideration 
relevant uk professional and regulatory requirements
●
  reviewing the company’s policy on the engagement of the external 
auditors to supply nonaudit services taking into account relevant 
guidance regarding the provision of nonaudit services by an 
external audit firm
●
  making a recommendation to the board for a resolution to be put 
to the shareholders for their approval in general meeting in relation 
to the appointment and remuneration of the external auditor
the audit committee is required to report its findings to the board 
identifying any matters in respect of which it considers that action or 
improvement is needed and make recommendations as to the steps 
to be taken
the committee’s full terms of reference are available on the 
company’s website or on request to the company secretary
composition of the audit committee
chris bunker was chairman and john coleman was a member of 
the committee throughout 2009 andrew simon was a member until 
29 june 2009 when he was replaced by philip jansen all members 
of the committee are considered to be independent the company 
secretary andrew pike is secretary to the committee the board 
considers that chris bunker has the recent and relevant financial 
experience required by the combined code see also the board 
profiles on pages 44 and 45
meetings and attendance
the committee met five times during 2009 to consider inter alia the 
annual and interim results attendance at the meetings is shown on page 
47 the chairman of the committee also invited the group chairman 
the finance director the chief operating officer the group financial 
controller the group head of business risk and assurance and the 
external auditors to attend four of the meetings when present the 
external auditors and the group head of business risk and assurance 
were given the opportunity to talk with the committee without the 
presence of management in addition during the year the committee 
chairman held a number of meetings with the group head of business 
risk and assurance and with the external auditors all without manage
ment being present
main activities of the committee  
during the year
at its meeting in february the committee reviewed the annual finan
cial statements of the company and received reports from the internal 
auditors on internal control matters and from the external auditors on 
the conduct of their audit their review of accounting policies areas of 
judgment and the financial statements and their comments on state
ments concerning risk and internal control a similar review was under
taken at its july meeting when the interim statements were considered 
at these and its other meetings the committee also reviewed
●
  an evaluation of its work carried out as part of the board evaluation 
process referred to on page 48 and reported to the board on this 
evaluation
●
  the committee’s terms of reference no changes were recommended 
to the board
●
  any comments received on its 2008 report from institutional investor 
bodies
●
  the effectiveness of the system of internal financial control and the 
system for monitoring and reporting on risks faced by the group
●
  the strategy staffing processes and effectiveness of the internal 
audit department and recommended to the board minor changes to 
the terms of reference of that department
●
  the work carried out by the internal audit department and its 
external advisor grant thornton to monitor risks specifically related 
to information technology
●
  the status of actions taken in response to recommendations arising 
from internal and external audit work
●
 the operation of the group’s “whistleblowing” policy
●
  the policy on engagement of the external auditor for nonaudit work 
as referred to below and its policy on the employment of anyone 
previously employed by the external auditor
●
  the plans presented by the external auditor for conduct of the 
yearend audit including terms of engagement fees and letters of 
representation
●
  the effectiveness independence and objectivity of the external 
auditors taking into account written assurances provided by deloitte 
llp with regard to its quality and independence controls and its 
ethical standards
●
  the group’s accounting policies forthcoming changes to international 
financial reporting standards and other regulatory changes and 
various guidance notes issued by the financial reporting council
●
  the group’s policies and processes for fraud prevention
●
  the group’s tax planning
external auditors
the company places great importance on the effectiveness and   
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50 a u d i t c o m m i t t e e r e p o r t 
independence of its external auditors and together with them is careful 
to ensure their objectivity is not compromised at its november meeting 
the auditors presented to the committee their plans for the forthcoming 
audit together with details of their proposed fees and how they ensure 
that their objectivity and independence are not compromised 
deloitte llp or its predecessor firms a leading international audit 
partnership was first appointed as auditor to group companies more 
than 30 years ago there are no contractual restrictions on the group 
with regard to their appointment in accordance with professional stan
dards the partner responsible for the audit is changed every 5 years 
and will change in 2010 
following its february 2010 meeting the committee recommended 
to the board that a resolution be put to shareholders at the annual 
general meeting for the reappointment of the external auditors and to 
authorise the directors to fix their remuneration 
it is the role of the committee to ensure compliance with the board’s 
policy in respect of services provided by and fees paid to the auditors 
audit fees which are regularly compared with peer companies by the 
committee are negotiated by the finance director and approved by 
the audit committee the policy in relation to other services that could 
be provided by the external auditors was revised during the year the 
revised policy which was subsequently approved by the board can be 
summarised as follows
general principles
there is a presumption against the external auditors providing non
audit services and they should only be selected for such work where 
its nature makes it more timely and cost effective to select advi
sors who have a good understanding of the group or the work is of 
a particularly confidential or specialist nature the external auditors 
should not provide nonaudit services where either the nature of the 
work or the extent of such services might impair their independence or 
objectivity any assignment to the external auditors of nonaudit work 
with a fee over £25000 requires the approval of the chairman of the 
committee
areas of work 
the policy lists certain nonaudit services where it would be usual 
to engage the auditors such as regulatory reviews and certain tax 
services and those where their engagement is not permitted such 
as work that would conflict with ethical guidance to auditors or work 
relating to the design of financial information systems the committee 
chairman is consulted in relation to any proposed work not covered 
by the list
value of work
non audit services require approval as follows
●
   up to £5000 – no formal approval required provided the work is 
permitted under the list referred to above
●
    £5000 to £25000 – group finance director
●
   £25000 to £50000 – group finance director and committee 
chairman
●
    £50000 and above – group finance director and committee 
chairman following a competitive tender
formal committee approval is also required if the aggregated level 
of forecast fees for nonaudit services exceeds 50 of the statutory 
audit fee
reporting
the group finance director reports twice yearly to the committee on 
fees for nonaudit services payable to the auditors
during the year the auditors were paid £414311 for work they were 
required by the listing rules to undertake in respect of the group’s 
rights issue other nonaudit related fees paid to the auditor totalled 
£107834 2008 £487300
internal audit
as well as its reviews of the internal audit department’s strategy and 
processes as described above during its meetings in 2009 the 
committee received presentations from the group head of business 
risk and assurance about the results of work undertaken by the 
department and approved its plans for work in 2010 the committee 
was satisfied with the overall effectiveness of the department
overview
as a result of its work during the year and taking into account the result 
of the board and committee evaluation process described on page 48 
the committee has concluded that it has acted in accordance with its 
terms of reference and has ensured the independence objectivity and 
effectiveness of the external and internal auditors 
the chairman of the committee will be available at the annual general 
meeting to answer any questions about the work of the committee
chris bunker
chairman audit committee
23 february 2010  
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51 h e a l t h  s a f e t y r e p o r t
health  safety “hs” is a group priority integrated into everything 
we do from the group board to every colleague in every branch store 
warehouse or office our underlying philosophy is that all injuries 
are avoidable however we do not underestimate the challenge of 
achieving this in a group with 1300 branches making in excess of 
6 million deliveries per annum we aim to be industry leaders in our 
sector for the reduction and elimination of injuries
during 2009 we have continued improving our standards with the 
leaders in each of our businesses owning and driving our stay safe 
culture change programme stay safe requires effective leadership a 
focus on the eight key risks in our business and the desire to have 
everyone return home safely at the end of each working day we recog
nise that we are still in the early stages of our stay safe programme 
but we have already made considerable progress in achieving our 
vision of making injuries a rare occurrence
the involvement of every colleague customer and supplier is 
essential since working together is the only way to truly make inju
ries rare our electronic accident reporting system has proved useful 
in recording a much more accurate representation of our true hs 
performance but we continue to encourage reporting of all minor 
incidents and near misses
health  safety performance  
and initiatives
the 2009 hs performance was considerably improved when compared 
to 2008 with significant reductions in both the frequency and severity 
of lost time injuries measured according to industry standards 
the group frequency rate of 106 lost time injuries per million hours 
worked is a 12 improvement on 2008 whilst the group severity rate 
of 017 days lost per thousand hours worked shows a 30 improve
ment on the 2008 level despite these significant improvements we 
recognise that this is very much the start of a long journey to make 
injuries rare and we intend to reduce further both frequency and 
severity rates over the next five years
external inspections of branches by enforcement officers continued 
to show a favourable improvement in performance and standards 
eho notices  2009  2008  2007  2006
  no no no no
prohibition  	   8  7 
improvement  4 8  9  29 
the reductions were achieved as a result of numerous initiatives 
under the stay safe development programme these included
●
    analysis of injury data from 2008 and 2009 which has enabled us 
to make accurate measured decisions based on risk and historical 
data to prevent further injuries stressing the personal impact of 
injuries to individuals and predicting future injuries across the 
business if we continue at the current level have proven extremely 
effective at increasing personal commitment and buyin at all 
levels across the business
●
    collection of colleague feedback on the personal protective 
equipment “ppe” provided across the group including gloves 
footwear and hard hats this resulted in the launch of improved cut 
resistant gloves and a new design of hardhat providing side impact 
protection and an improved fastening mechanism that negates the 
need for a chinstrap in addition to improving personal protection 
50 reduction in cuts to the hand both items provided a clear 
demonstration to all colleagues of our increased commitment to 
their safety the launch of the new ppe during 2009 was supported 
by a poster campaign following a competition across the group the 
winning entry from mercedes gully aged 7 whose father is the 
branch manager of the keyline branch in cowbridge was a simple 
request that struck a chord with everyone in the business
●
    improved training programmes including two elearning packages 
for fire safety online quizzes to test learning following internal 
briefings implementation of the setting foundations induction 
programme in the specialist merchant businesses updating of the 
master programme training scheme in wickes establishment of a 
driver cpc ongoing training programme bespoke training for yard 
colleagues and drivers on safe handling of products during loading 
and unloading and banksman training on the public highway
●
    regular briefings for senior managers and directors on topics such 
as visible felt leadership and legislative updates
●
    incorporating the quarterly newsletter ‘your safety matters’ into 
the centre pages of the group internal magazine ‘the bridge’ has 
increased its circulation to 15000 and subsequent interest in the 
stay safe messages and competitions 
continuous improvement to travis perkins group vehicle 
standards
in 2009 we introduced to new vehicles further changes to provide 
safer access for the driver these designs featured in a health  safety 
executive case study on working at height to showcase the innova
tive solutions businesses were adopting to reduce the possibility of the 
driver falling from height 
health  safety report
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
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improved driver  working practices
we recognise the need to ensure our drivers can stay safe at all times 
and this has resulted in a change in our approach to staying safe 
during deliveries ‘keep your feet on the ground’ is our new stay safe 
initiative for 200910 and is centred on vehicle loading and unloading 
techniques designed to minimise or remove the need for the driver to 
access the vehicle bed the simple principles behind ‘keep your feet 
on the ground’ like many of the best ideas are suggestions from our 
own drivers
this project will allow the majority of our deliveries to be made with 
the driver’s feet on the ground and will remove one of our most signifi
cant hazards – working at height on the vehicle bed 
quarterly hs committee meetings held in each branch with the 
agenda set by the hs team supplemented by local issues this forum 
to drive the stay safe message in the branch has proved to be increas
ingly effective during 2009 with regional directors attending many of 
the meetings to lead from the front this forum was also utilised in 
2009 to brief colleagues on updates to several risk assessments in the 
hs manual along with a revised fire risk assessment procedure
h e a l t h  s a f e t y r e p o r t
lost time injury frequency rate
lost time injuries per million man hours
merchanting
2007
85
2008
125
2009
116
retail
2007
65
2008
11
2009
73
group
2007
65
2008
12
2009
106
lost time injury severity rate
days lost per thousand man hours
merchanting
2007
023
2008
024
2009
019
01
2007
02
2008
012
2009
retail
group
2007
02
2008
024
2009
017
feedback from branch colleagues on the hs messages  
and notices
this has resulted in the development of a stay safe communication 
board in 2009 to be launched to all businesses in early 2010 rather 
than simply having a board to display notices the communication 
board is designed to be an interactive means of communication in 
the branches the primary purpose of these boards is to provide a 
focal point for communicating local issues and hazards based on the 
8 key risks behind stay safe during trials the board has received a 
really positive response to support the branches that are living health 
 safety every day
plc board health  safety committee
the board’s hs committee was established in november 2007 and 
continues to encourage and assist the group’s executive management 
in its drive towards achieving and maintaining industryleading stan
dards in health  safety the committee is responsible for reviewing 
hs policies practices and group performance to ensure they meet 
or exceed legal obligations and contribute to the achievement of the 
group’s hs objectives 
chaired by me with tim stevenson and chief operating officer john 
carter as permanent members the committee also invited the group 
hr director and group head of hs to attend both its meetings during 
the year
the committee is authorised by the board to investigate using 
the resources of the group head of hs any activity relating to its 
purpose and role the full terms of reference of the hs committee are 
available on the company’s website or on request from the company 
secretary
trading board health  safety 
committee
the terms of reference and membership of the trading board hs 
committee were revised in march 2008 so as to reflect the increasing 
commitment to achieving industry leading performance membership 
throughout 2009 comprised the chief operating officer john carter 
as chairman together with the group hr director business unit 
managing directors divisional chairmen and the group head of hs 
the committee met 4 times during 2009 to review performance 
and to continue the development of the stay safe programme this 
committee is leading the drive to fully engage with the hearts and 
minds of all colleagues
andrew simon 
chairman plc board health  safety committee
23 february 2010  
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53 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
directors’ remuneration report 
for the year ended 31 december 2009
introduction
this report sets out the group’s remuneration policies for its directors and senior executives and describes how those policies are applied in prac
tice the style of this report is designed to be more informal than previous years to take account of shareholders’ feedback
unaudited information
highlights of 2009
●
   stretching annual performance targets achieved resulting in bonus payments being made to our strong management team
●
    25 of annual bonus deferred for three years held in the form of shares and executive directors have voluntarily invested another 25 of annual 
bonus in shares
●
   no payments made under maturing long term incentive plans reflecting the downturn in returns resulting from the recession
●
  same base salary percentage increases applied to all levels including executive directors for the third year in succession
●
   all employees are now able to share in the group’s success through participation in short term incentive plans and longer term share plans
●
   two programmes of consultations with principal shareholders
●
   additional share award with stretching performance conditions made to our coo john carter
remuneration committee chairman’s statement
shareholders will not be surprised to learn that 2009 was one of the most challenging years for the remuneration committee and necessitated the 
committee convening more times than in any previous year
the major challenge facing us at the beginning of 2009 was around how to maintain a balance of incentives based on an appropriate set of 
performance measures in a volatile economic environment which was unprecedented it is sometimes hard to imagine that at the time of writing last 
year’s report in early 2009 the share price was hovering at around 250p compared to the 7505p today we also needed to consider how we could 
recognise the unique contribution of our coo john carter to our future business growth and in turn the creation of increased shareholder value
in striving to ensure the alignment of both shareholders’ and employees’ interests while addressing these challenges our principal shareholders 
were consulted twice during the course of the year we believe that the changes we have already communicated to those shareholders and which 
are confirmed below were more appropriate as a result of the consultation process
our remuneration principles for all employees remain the same 
●
   remuneration should be competitive and contribute to the delivery of short and longterm shareholder value
●
  remuneration should contain performance related incentive elements whose proportion increases with seniority
●
   all employees should share in the success of the group through participation in both annual bonus schemes and longer term share plans 
 
remuneration policy for executive directors
our incentive structure is designed to support the group goal of consistently outperforming in our markets 
in order to attract motivate and retain high quality executives to achieve this goal we continue to focus our efforts on ensuring that we have the 
right mix of fixed and variable pay more than 50 of potential remuneration excluding pensions and benefits is performance related 
in addition we encourage our most senior executives to build up a shareholding in the company over a fiveyear period via formal shareholding 
guidelines which were described in detail in last year’s annual report the target shareholding for the executive directors is 100 of salary senior 
executives are aware that the remuneration committee may scale back future longterm incentive awards for individuals who have not consistently 
met the target level share options which have vested but not been exercised count towards this target whilst the rights issue affected the absolute 
level of individual shareholdings as at 31 december 2009 all three executive directors had a shareholding valued in excess of 100 of their 
salary 
base salaries and benefits
base salaries are reviewed annually for each director and are normally set with reference to individual performance experience and contribution 
together with developments in the relevant employment market internal relativities and reference to the general economic environment it should 
be no surprise to shareholders that it is this last point which has outweighed all others in determining pay awards for 2009 and 2010 
whilst the majority of employees were awarded an rpi linked 25 base pay increase in january 2009 the salaries for the executive directors 
were frozen for 11 months due to the level of uncertainty facing both the business and the wider economy at that time on 1 december 2009 
following the group’s successful handling of the rapid turn down into recession the same 25 award was applied for the executive directors but 
not backdated for 2010 a 1 base salary increase has been made with effect from 1 january the normal review date for all employees including 
executive directors this means that for the third successive year the same salary increase percentage has been applied to all employee levels in   
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54 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
addition to their basic salary directors receive a benefits package which includes a car or car allowance private medical insurance life assurance 
an incapacity benefits scheme and membership of a company pension scheme or a cash allowance in lieu
from 1 january 2010 the executive directors’ salaries are 
john carter  £375025 
geoff cooper  £535755 
paul hampden smith  £375025
in regard to pension arrangements geoff cooper elected in 2006 to receive a cash allowance in lieu of being a member of the final salary 
scheme this is calculated with regard to the cost the company would have incurred in providing continuing pension accrual paul hampden smith 
and john carter are both members of the group’s defined benefits pension scheme 
as a result of a major review of the costs of the company’s final salary pension scheme in 2009 increases in members’ pensionable salaries 
after 1 december 2009 will be capped at 3 per annum irrespective of any future salary increases which may at some time exceed 3 the 
cumulative result of this cap and the decisions made in relation to base pay increases over the course of 2009 mean that all employees across 
the group have been treated in exactly the same way irrespective of their position there have been no changes in the basis of directors’ pension 
entitlements during the year other than the introduction of the cap on increases to pensionable salaries
where an executive receives a cash allowance in lieu of pension benefits this is not taken into account for the purposes of bonuses or other 
benefits there are no unfunded pension commitments or similar arrangements for directors 
annual bonus
executive directors are eligible for an annual bonus the remuneration committee sets targets linked to board approved annual budgets maximum 
bonus payments are only awarded when performance for the year in question significantly exceeds the agreed annual budget targets the maximum 
bonus levels remain unchanged for 2009 and 2010 at 120 of salary for the chief executive and 100 of salary for the finance director and the 
chief operating officer 
2009 annual bonus
whilst no bonus was earned in 2008 as the relevant targets were not met as a result of strong cost debt and margin control the excellent performance 
of the wickes retail business the relatively strong performance of our other businesses compared with their competitors and the successful timing of 
our rights issue all described in the ceo’s report all group financial and individual business related targets have been exceeded as outlined in the 
table below consequently and as a reflection of this sector leading annual performance bonus payments at maximum levels have been approved 
for 2009 furthermore as part of our executive directors’ commitment to the longer term success of the business and in addition to the mandatory 
25 bonus deferment into shares each director has voluntarily committed to invest a further 25 of their bonus award into the 20102013 share 
matching scheme award this means that as a minimum 50 of each director’s 2009 bonus will be invested in shares for a further 3 years 
the targets and achievement in relation to the 2009 bonus scheme are below
   performance  maximum bonus achieved 
element purpose measure proportion target rights restated actual
  
rewards achievement of annual
 eps  50 708p 752p
annual bonus financial and personal  interest cover 30 51x 107x
  
performance targets
 personal objectives 20 20 20
the eps and interest cover targets were restated to take account of the rights issue in line with the advice of our external advisors 
 the main personal objectives which were achieved covered the following areas
●
   company’s financial stability and security 
●
   investors’ confidence 
●
   senior management capability engagement and stability 
●
   health  safety
●
   operating margin
●
   outperforming our major competitors
●
   global sourcing initiatives
the remuneration committee assessed the specific achievements against these objectives by reviewing the detailed measures attached to each one  
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55 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
2010 annual bonus
for 2010 reflecting the different challenges facing the business when compared with 2009 return on capital employed replaces the interest cover 
bonus element relative weightings and the potential bonus maxima as a percentage of salary remain unchanged 
   ceo plan  coo  fd plans
measure weighting maximum on target maximum on target
eps 50 60 30 50 25
roce 30 36 18 30 15
individual objectives 20 24 024 20 020
total 100 120 4872 100 4060
long term incentive plans 
in contrast to the annual bonus targets for 2009 the performance measures attached to the long term incentives made in 2006 were not achieved 
resulting in no awards vesting under these schemes in 2009 looking ahead it is anticipated that the 2007 awards will also not vest these disap
pointing outcomes reflect the unprecedented economic conditions in which the group was operating
performance share plan “psp”
following consultation with our principal shareholders the performance conditions for the 2009 awards and those that are proposed for the 2010 
awards were amended as outlined below these changes were designed to take account of the prevailing business environment and ensure that 
the vesting of the psp awards would be based on a more rounded view of performance 
psp element rationale weighting
aggregate cashflow  key measure to take account of the importance of cash generation in the current climate 40
relative total shareholder return “tsr”  external measure of shareholder value creation  40
eps growth  profits generated for shareholders  20
the targets set for the 2009 and proposed for the 2010 psp awards are as follows
eps
no change to the current eps growth targets as set out below 
eps growth  of eps element that vests
rpi  10 pa  100
rpi  3 pa 30
these targets will prove exceptionally stretching in the current climate
relative total shareholder return
the company’s tsr will be measured against the tsr of the constituent companies of the ftse 250 index 
travis perkins plc tsr relative to ftse 250 index  of tsr element that vests
upper quartile top 25 100
median top 50 30
straightline vesting between these points
a three month averaging period at the start and end of the performance period will be used to calculate tsr
the committee carefully considered the merits and potential weaknesses of using a specific comparator group rather than a broad index on 
balance the committee considered that it would be difficult to construct an appropriate comparator group based on the company’s peers as the 
group operates in both the retail and industrial supplies sectors and therefore the constituents of a broad market index will be used as a benchmark 
for performance  
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56 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
aggregate cashflow – to reflect the importance of effective working capital management and of generating cash from assets threeyear aggre
gate cash flow targets will apply based on the company’s threeyear plan the committee will if appropriate adjust for the impact of items such as 
major capital investments or disposals the target range for this psp element in the 2009 award is £350m – £470m with 0 vesting at less that 
£350m and 100 of this element vesting at £470m on a straight line basis the equivalent thresholds for the 2010 award are £470m – £520m 
these proposed measures and targets apply to awards made in 2009 and those proposed for 2010 for future awards the committee will review 
annually whether the performance targets and their percentage weightings described above remain appropriate and challenging or whether they 
should be recalibrated taking into account economic expectations the industry’s outlook and shareholder interests
the maximum psp award level for all executive directors is 150 of basic salary however for awards made in 2009 and those proposed for 
2010 the maximum award is restricted to 120 for the ceo and 100 of salary for the other executive directors 
share matching scheme
the maximum personal investment in the share matching scheme in 2009 and 2010 is 50 of post tax salary the performance targets for the 
matching share awards are based on cash return on capital employed “croce” the targets for awards made in 2009 and planned for 2010 are 
set by the remuneration committee and determined by the company’s threeyear business plan 30 of the matching award 06 for 1 vests if 
the target set is met with a straight line increase required above target for a 2 for 1 match the target range for the 2009 award is 643 – 882 
where none of the matching award will vest over the 3 year period unless the average croce is at least 643 and the whole of the matching 
award will vest if the average croce is 882 or more the target range planned for the 2010 award is 75 – 90 the proposed targets for 
2010 are considered to be appropriately stretching in the current environment with the target range for matching awards being significantly higher 
than that attached to the 2009 awards 
overall remuneration
the following chart shows the percentage split of total remuneration of the executive directors excluding pensions and benefits based on the 
achievement of 50 of all performance measures and the remuneration structure proposed for 2010 
 
share award for john carter
as discussed with our principal shareholders in 2009 the committee considers that the chief operating officer will make a significant contribution 
to the longterm success of the business following careful consideration an additional long term award was made to him in 2009 which was 
directly focussed on value creation for shareholders over the longer term 
the award was structured as a nil cost share option over 47612 shares representing 100 of salary vesting in equal tranches after completion 
of years four five and six the first year of measurement being 2009
earliest vest  exercise proportion vesting
year 4 13
year 5 13
year 6 13
key                                                performance criteria
 
 psp                                         eps  tsr  aggregate cashflow
  sms                                        croce
  deferred bonus                        eps  roce  personal objectives
  cash bonus                             eps  roce  personal objectives
  basic annual salary
2010 potential earnings based on ‘on target’
bonus and long term incentives
ceo
24
12
6
18
40
coofd
22
13
5
17
43  
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57 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
the award is linked directly to procurement improvement initiatives agreed annually and measured at the end of each financial year performance 
will be measured against an agreed aggregate target of a reduction in the cost of goods equivalent to a 25 basis points improvement each year 
the committee will monitor the cumulative monetary benefit that this improvement is set to deliver in assessing the extent to which the target has 
been met at the end of years 4 5 and 6 
to qualify for any part of the award john carter must also have delivered his objectives as part of travis perkins’ strategic plan approved by 
the committee in terms of
●
   agreed strategic initiatives for example establishing category management supply chain initiatives
●
   development of new business channels
the remuneration committee must also be satisfied at each stage about the underlying performance of the business and they will retain the right 
of veto 
allemployee share plans
the company also operates two all employee share schemes the sharesave scheme and a share incentive plan called the travis perkins buy as 
you earn plan 
nonexecutive directors
the policy of the board is to recruit nonexecutive directors of the highest calibre with a breadth of skills and experience appropriate for the 
company’s business nonexecutive directors are appointed for a period of three years at the end of which the appointment may be renewed by 
mutual agreement it is the board’s policy that nonexecutive directors should generally serve for six years two three year terms and that any term 
beyond this should be subject to a rigorous review this review would take into account both the need for progressive refreshing of the board and 
the particular requirements of the company at the time of the possible extension nonexecutive directors do not have a service contract but each 
has received a letter of appointment expiring on the following dates
chris bunker  january 2012 andrew simon  february 2012 
john coleman  february 2011 tim stevenson  september 2010
philip jansen  april 2012 robert walker   september 2012
the letters of appointment will be available for inspection at the annual general meeting
the remuneration of the nonexecutive directors is determined by the board in the case of the chairman on the recommendation of the 
remuneration committee each nonexecutive director receives an annual fee in addition chris bunker and andrew simon receive an additional 
fee for in the case of the former the role of senior independent director and for chairing the audit committee and in the case of the latter for 
chairing the remuneration committee fees were reviewed at the end of 2009 and it was decided that with the exception of chris bunker who was 
awarded an increase of £8000 per annum backdated to 1st april 2009 to reflect his additional responsibilities as senior independent director to 
make no other increases in 2010 this means that apart from the fees relating to chris bunker nonexecutive directors’ fees have not increased 
since january 2007 the increase applied in january 2007 has been the only standard increase to nonexecutive directors’ fees for five years and 
the board intends to review fees for nonexecutive directors during the course of 2010 nonexecutive directors do not receive any other benefits 
and are not eligible to join a company pension scheme no compensation is payable on termination of their employment which may be without 
notice from the company they cannot participate in any of the company’s share schemes
committee details
the committee comprises andrew simon chairman tim stevenson chris bunker and john coleman all of whom are independent nonexecutive 
directors it met nine times in 2009 the committee is responsible for the broad policy on directors’ and senior executives’ remuneration it deter
mines all aspects of the remuneration packages of the executive directors and reviews with the chief executive the remuneration packages of 
other senior executives it also oversees the administration of the share schemes the committee’s terms of reference which are available on our 
website or from the company secretary require it to give due regard to the best practice contained in the code 
the committee keeps itself fully informed of relevant developments and best practice in remuneration matters and seeks advice where appro
priate from external advisors hewitt new bridge street and deloitte llp have provided advice to the committee on the structure of executive 
remuneration and share schemes in the past year they were appointed by the committee deloitte also provide audit and taxation services to 
the company in addition geoff cooper chief executive paul hampden smith finance director andrew pike group company secretary carol 
kavanagh group human resources director and stella girvin group pensions  share scheme manager have assisted the committee in its work 
but never in respect of their own remuneration  
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58 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
total shareholder return
as required by the companies act the graph below shows total shareholder return for travis perkins’ shares over the last five years relative to the ftse 
250 index total shareholder return is defined as a combination of growth in the company’s share price and dividends paid to shareholders the ftse 
250 index has been chosen as a comparable broad equity market index because the company has been a member of it for the five year period 
 
 
audited information
contracts of executive directors
each of the executive directors has a service contract the date of which is shown below which will be available for inspection at the annual general 
meeting these contracts provide for six month’s notice from the directors and 12 month’s notice from the company they do not specify any 
particular level of compensation in the event of termination or change of control
john carter  6 august 2001
geoff cooper  1 february 2005
paul hampden smith  8 october 1996
it is the company’s policy to allow each executive director to hold one nonexecutive directorship in another company and to retain the fee 
payable
amount of directors’ emoluments
part of each executive director’s remuneration may consist of benefits in kind not payable in cash such as the provision of a company car a fuel 
card and private healthcare insurance no director receives an expense allowance which is chargeable to tax details of directors’ remuneration 
are set out in the table below
  basic salary annual bonus benefits in kind total remuneration
  2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
  £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
executive        
geoff cooper
1
 750 748 636  26 29 1412 777
paul hampden smith
2
 377 376 371  1 1 749 377
john carter 363 362 371  29 30 763 392
nonexecutive        
tim stevenson 180 180     180 180
chris bunker 52 46     52 46
john coleman 38 38     38 38
philip jansen
3
 28      28 
andrew simon 46 46     46 46
robert walker
4
 25      25 
  1859 1796 1378  56 60 3293 1856
200
150
100
50
0
2004 2005 2006 2007
 
travis perkins plc 
 
ftse 250
2008 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
59 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
notes
1  highest paid director – basic salary includes a salary supplement of £231167 2008 £230000 which replaced continuing pension accrual 
from april 2006 this does not count when calculating annual bonus and granting share incentives geoff cooper also received and retained 
in 2009 £84840 2008 £82000 in respect of his nonexecutive chairmanship of dunelm group plc
2  basic salary includes a £12000 “cash for car” allowance and a £1500 fuel allowance which do not count when calculating annual bonus 
and granting share incentives paul hampden smith also received and retained in 2009 £16558 2008 £nil in respect of his nonexecutive 
directorship of redrow plc
3  appointed 9 april 2009
4 appointed 30 september 2009
 
directors’ pension entitlements
pension entitlements of the executive directors during the year were as follows
  john carter paul hampden smith geoff cooper
age at 31 december 2009 48 49 55
  £’000 £’000 £’000
accrued pension at 31 december 2008 253 61 5
accrued pension at 31 december 2009 260 72 5
increase in accrued pension in 2009 7 11 0
real increase in accrued pension in 2009 11 12 0
transfer value of the real increase in accrued pension net of member’s contributions 126 144 7
value of increase in accrued benefit 158 176 7
member’s contributions towards pension 32 32 0
increase in transfer value net of member’s contributions 456 242 19
transfer value of benefits accrued at 31 december 2008 3586 830 89
transfer value of benefits accrued at 31 december 2009 4074 1104 108
notes
1  only base salary is pensionable for service from 1 december 2004
2  geoff cooper ceased future accrual on 5 april 2006 but benefits up to that date retain a link to current salary subject to the earnings cap 
which applied up to april 2006 this was cost neutral for the company
3  salary sacrifice was introduced for member contributions in april 2006 the figures above include the sacrificed amounts
4 any pensions paid on early retirement are subject to abatement
travis perkins’ share price information
  2009 2008
midmarket price at the year end 852p 340p
highest midmarket price during the year 880p 1191p
average midmarket price during the year 592p 721p
lowest midmarket price during the year 229p 223p
the 2008 share price information has not been restated for the impact of the 2009 rights issue   
17334   proof 3  1410
60 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
directors’ shareholdings
the directors’ holdings of ordinary 10p shares of travis perkins plc at 31 december 2009 and 2008 were as follows
   2009 2008
director interest no no
chris bunker beneficial owner 11900 7000
john carter beneficial owner 45510 42618
john coleman beneficial owner 2465 1450
geoff cooper beneficial owner 135904 57996
paul hampden smith beneficial owner 186593 87878
philip jansen beneficial owner  
andrew simon beneficial owner 3400 2000
tim stevenson beneficial owner 21080 12400
robert walker beneficial owner 25000 
between 31 december 2009 and the date of this report the only change to the above directors’ shareholdings is to paul hampden smith’s whose 
shareholding had increased to 186625 because of his monthly contribution to the travis perkins’ buy as you earn plan
share matching scheme
participation by directors is as follows  
   outstanding granted lapsed rights issue outstanding
   1 jan 2009  during year during year adjustment 31	dec	2009
   no no no no no
geoff cooper    
2 april 2007 deferred shares 6017   1617 7634
  deferred matching shares 6017   1617 7634
  investment matching shares 12636   3395 16031
1 april 2008 investment matching shares 48216   55772
1
 103988
19 may 2009 investment matching shares  73160  84625
1
 157785
paul hampden smith     
2 april 2007 deferred shares 4109   1104 5213
  deferred matching shares 4109   1104 5213
  investment matching shares 10319   2772 13091
1 april 2008 investment matching shares 33750   39037
1
 72787
19 may 2009 investment matching shares  51213  59237
1
 110450
john carter     
2 april 2007 deferred shares 4109   1104 5213
  deferred matching shares 4109   1104 5213
  investment matching shares 8424   2263 10687
1 april 2008 investment matching shares 15526  15526
2
  
19 may 2009 investment matching shares  29663  34311
1
 63974  
17334   proof 3  1410
61 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
notes
1 includes matching award on rights taken up on investment shares
2 exchanged for 2009 award
3 vesting is on the third anniversary of the grant date
4 award  purchase prices restated for the rights issue are 2 april 2007 1586p 1 april 2008 840p 19 may 2009 553p
5  performance criteria apply for share matching shares granted in 2007 vesting is at 33 13 if eps exceeds inflation by 4 a year pro 
rata between 100  33 13 if eps exceeds inflation by between 8 and 4 and 100 if eps exceeds inflation by 8 for investment 
matching shares granted in 2008 and 2009 a condition based on a three year average of cash return on capital employed “croce” applies 
as described on page 56 for 2008 the target range was 115 – 125
performance share plan
participation by directors is as follows 
  outstanding rights issue granted during outstanding
  1 jan 2009 adjustment  year 31	dec	2009
  no no no no
geoff cooper    
5 march 2008 57553 15462  73015
23 june 2009   131289 131289
paul hampden smith    
5 march 2008 33572 9019  42591
23 june 2009   76585 76585
john carter    
5 march 2008 33572 9019  42591
23 june 2009   76585 76585
notes
1 vesting is on the third anniversary of the grant date
2 award prices restated for the rights issue are 5 march 2008 850p 23 june 2009 473p 
3  performance criteria apply for performance shares granted in 2008 vesting is at 33 13 if eps exceeds inflation by 3 a year pro rata 
between 100  33 13 if eps exceeds inflation by between 3 and 10 and 100 if eps exceeds inflation by 10 performance  
conditions for the 2009 award are described on page 55
deferred share bonus plan
participation by directors is as follows
   outstanding rights issue outstanding
   1 jan 2009 adjustment  31	dec	2009
   no no no
geoff cooper   
5 march 2008 10692 2872 13564
paul hampden smith   
5 march 2008 6104 1639 7743
john carter   
5 march 2008 6104 1639 7743
notes
1 vesting is on the third anniversary of the grant date
2 the award price restated for the rights issue for 5 march 2008 was 998p  
17334   proof 3  1410
62 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
share award for john carter
   outstanding granted outstanding
   1 jan 2009 during year  31	dec	2009
  no no no
10 november 2009  47612 47612
notes
1 vesting and performance conditions are described on pages 56 and 57
executive share options 
participation by directors in the 2001 executive share option scheme is as follows
   
 outstanding  rights issue lapsed outstanding exercise price
 1 jan 2009 adjustment  during year  31	dec	2009 rights restated exercise period
 no  no  no  no
geoff cooper 14173 3807  17980 13200p anytime until 31315
 57262  57262  16110p 
 50761 13638  64399 15530p from 22310 until 21317
paul 39351 10572  49923 5960p anytime until 3711
hampden smith 31031 8337  39368 8450p anytime until 9412
 40983 11011  51994 8410p anytime until 10413
 18750 5037  23787 10330p anytime until 15314
 8268 2221  10489 13200p anytime until 31315
 34217  34217  16110p 
 31091 8353  39444 15530p from 22310 until 21317
john carter 29398 7898  37296 8450p anytime until 9412
 32786 8808  41594 8410p anytime until 10413
 17387 4671  22058 10330p anytime until 15314
 8267 2220  10487 13200p anytime until 31315
 34217  34217  16110p 
 31091 8353  39444 15530p from 22310 until 21317
notes
1  performance conditions apply for the grant still to vest 25 of the options vest at eps growth of rpi plus 9 and full vesting requires eps 
growth plus 15 
2 exercise prices have been restated in respect of the rights issue  
17334   proof 3  1410
63 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e m u n e r a t i o n r e p o r t 
sharesave options
participation by directors in the 2002 travis perkins’ sharesave scheme is as follows
   outstanding rights issue outstanding
   1 january 2009 adjustment  31	dec	2009
   no no no
geoff cooper  2895 775 3670
paul hampden smith  2895 775 3670
john carter  2895 775 3670
notes
1 no performance conditions apply
2 all options are exercisable from 1 december 2013 to 31 may 2014 at a price of 442p rights restated
share dilution
at 31 december 2009 shares under grant for executive share schemes over a 10 year period represented 182 of issued share capital and 
shares under grant for all employee share schemes over the previous 10 years represented 522 there were 6711548 32 of issued share 
capital unallocated shares and 289142 allocated shares 014 held in the employee trust 
 
shareholders’ approval
the directors confirm that this report has been drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the companies act 2006 and the combined code 
on corporate governance 
the shareholders will be invited to approve the remuneration policy set out in this report at the annual general meeting at which the chairman 
of the committee will be available to answer any questions
approved by the board and signed on its behalf by
andrew simon 
chairman remuneration committee
23 february 2010  
17334   proof 3  1410
64 n o m i n a t i o n s c o m m i t t e e r e p o r t 
nominations committee report 
for the year ended 31 december 2009
the principal role of the nominations committee is to identify and 
nominate for board approval candidates to fill board vacancies as and 
when they arise it is required to prepare a description of the role and 
capabilities required for any appointment and to maintain contact with 
major shareholders about appointments to the board it also keeps 
the structure size and composition of the board under review and 
considers succession planning for both executive and nonexecutive 
directors and for other senior executive posts the terms of reference 
of the committee are available on the company’s website or from the 
company secretary
during the year the committee members were tim stevenson 
chairman together with chris bunker and john coleman both of 
whom are independent nonexecutive directors 
although the committee did not meet formally during 2009 a large 
number of discussions were held between committee members in 
relation to two appointments
●
  in the early part of the year the committee completed its search for 
a new nonexecutive director to replace mike dearden who retired 
in november 2008 and this resulted in the appointment of philip 
jansen in april
●
  in january the committee began a process to find a new chairman
designate to succeed tim stevenson who planned to step down 
during 2010 this process was chaired by chris bunker as senior 
independent director and following consultation with major 
shareholders robert walker was appointed in september 
for both of these appointments the committee members and other 
directors had the opportunity to contribute to the specification for the 
post and to meet with candidates during the process all directors 
were kept fully informed about the progress of the recruitment in both 
cases the committee was assisted in its search by executive recruit
ment consultants russell reynolds associates 
the chairman of the nominations committee will be available at 
the annual general meeting to answer any questions about the work 
of the committee
tim stevenson 
chairman nominations committee
23 february 2010  
17334   proof 3  1410
65 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 
the directors present their annual report and audited accounts for the 
year ended 31 december 2009
principal activities
travis perkins is one of the largest builders merchants and home 
improvement retailers in the uk the principal activities of the group 
are the sale of timber building materials and plumbing and heating 
products and the hiring of tools to the building trade industry gener
ally and the general public within the united kingdom the directors 
are not aware at the date of this report of any likely major changes in 
the group’s activities in the next year
enhanced business review
a review of the group’s position developments and future prospects 
is contained in the chairman’s statement on pages 8 and 9 the chief 
executive’s review of the year on pages 10 to 24 the chief operating 
officer’s review of the year on pages 25 to 34 and the finance 
director’s review of the year on pages 36 to 43  a review of the group’s  
environmental performance is contained in the chief executive’s review 
of the year on pages 10 to 24
results and dividends 
the group results for the year ended 31 december 2009 are set out 
on page 72 the board is not recommending the payment of a dividend 
for 2009
balance sheet and post balance  
sheet events
the balance sheet on pages 74 and 75 shows the group’s finan
cial position no significant events have occurred since the balance  
sheet date
principal risks and uncertainties
a review of the group’s principal risks and uncertainties are contained 
in the finance director’s review of the year on pages 38 to 43
directors and their interests 
the names of the directors at 31 december 2009 together with their 
biographical details are set out on pages 44 and 45 all of those 
directors held office throughout the year except robert walker and 
philip jansen who were appointed nonexecutive directors on 30th 
september 2009 and 9 april 2009 respectively in accordance with 
the company’s articles of association robert walker chris bunker 
john coleman and geoff cooper will retire and being eligible will offer 
themselves for reelection at the forthcoming annual general meeting 
geoff cooper has a rolling 12 month notice period in his contract 
as nonexecutive directors robert walker chris bunker and john 
coleman do not have service contracts in the light of the evaluation 
of their performances as a result of the process described on page 48 
tim stevenson chairman confirms on behalf of the board that robert 
walker chris bunker and john coleman continue to be effective in and 
committed to their roles as nonexecutive directors and in particular 
that robert walker is suitably qualified to succeed him as chairman
directors and officers of the company are entitled to be indem
nified out of the assets of the company in respect of any liability 
incurred in relation to the affairs of the company or any associate 
company to the extent the law allows in this regard the company is 
required to disclose that under article 146 of the company’s articles 
of association the directors have the benefit of an indemnity to the 
extent permitted by the companies act 1985 and the companies act 
2006 against liabilities incurred by them in the execution of their duties 
and exercise of their powers this indemnity is currently in force in 
addition if proceedings against directors are instituted subsequent 
to any person acquiring control of the company the company has 
agreed with each of the directors that pursuant to article 146d of 
the company’s articles of association the company shall provide a 
director with funds subject to certain restrictions to meet expenditure 
incurred by that director in defending any criminal or civil proceedings
a copy of the company’s articles of association which contains this 
indemnity is available for inspection at the company’s registered office 
during normal business hours and will be available for inspection at 
and during the period of 30 minutes prior to the company’s forth
coming annual general meeting 
none of the directors had an interest in any contract to which the 
company or any of its subsidiaries was a party during the year
the company has undertaken to comply with the best practice 
on approval of directors’ conflicts of interests in accordance with the 
company’s articles of association under the companies act 2006 a 
director must avoid a situation where he has or can have a direct 
or indirect interest that conflicts or possibly may conflict with the 
company’s interests 
the disclosable interests of directors at 31 december 2009 including 
holdings if any of wives and of children aged under 18 were as detailed 
in the directors’ remuneration report on pages 60 to 63
substantial shareholdings 
as at 23 february 2010 the company had received notification under 
the disclosure transparency rules that the holdings and voting rights 
exceeding the 3 notification threshold were as follows
  number 
axa 14816798 710
sprucegrove investment management 9768326  468 
legal and general investment management 8293429 398 
investec asset management 7967886 382
eratravis  7757047  372 
the travis perkins employee
share ownership trust 7000690  336
cm travis 6993138  335 
ignis asset management 6783735 325
directors’ report 
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
66 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 
c m travis and e r a travis have each disclosed their voting rights 
over the same 3735446 ordinary shares in aggregate by virtue of 
each of them being a trustee of the same travis family trusts which 
held ordinary shares
close company status 
the close company provisions of the income and corporation taxes act 
1988 do not apply to the company
employees and charitable donations
statements on these matters are contained in the chief operating 
officer’s review of the year on pages 25 to 29 and in the chief 
executive’s review of the year on page 22 respectively 
details of the number of employees and related costs can be found 
in note 7 to the financial statements 
the company is committed to equality of opportunity and recognises 
the benefit of diversity within its workforce it has an equal opportuni
ties policy aimed at ensuring that employment decisions are based on 
ability and potential regardless of gender race colour ethnic origin 
or sexual orientation age or disability in particular applications for 
employment by disabled persons are always fully considered bearing 
in mind the aptitudes of the person concerned in the event of a 
member of staff becoming disabled every effort is made to ensure 
that their employment with the group continues and that appropriate 
training is arranged it is the policy of the company that the training 
career development and promotion of disabled persons should as far 
as possible be identical to that of other employees
the group’s policies and practices have been designed to keep 
employees informed on matters relevant to them as employees through 
regular meetings and newsletters employee representatives are 
consulted regularly on a wide range of matters affecting their interests 
all employees with more than three months’ service are eligible to 
participate in the company’s sharesave and buy as you earn plans 
political donations
the group did not give any money for political purposes in the uk nor 
did it make any donations to eu political organisations or incur any eu 
political expenditure during the year 
supplier payment policy 
the group’s policy is to pay all of its suppliers in accordance with 
established terms group trade creditors at 31 december 2009 repre
sented 52 days 31 december 2008 47 days of average purchases 
of goods and services the company’s trade creditors at 31 december 
2009 represented 30 days 2008 30 days
auditors
a resolution to reappoint deloitte llp as the company’s auditors 
and to authorise the directors to fix the auditors’ remuneration will be 
proposed at the annual general meeting
statement on disclosure of 
information to auditors
each of the persons who is a director at the date of approval of this 
report confirms that
●
  so far as the director is aware there is no relevant audit information 
of which the company’s auditors are unaware and
●
  the director has taken all reasonable steps that he ought to have 
taken as a director in order to make himself aware of any relevant 
audit information and to establish that the company’s auditors are 
aware of that information 
this confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with 
the provisions of s418 of the companies act 2006 
share capital and change of control
as at 31 december 2009 the company had an authorised share capital 
of 400000000 ordinary shares of 10 pence each with an aggregate 
nominal value of £40000000 and an allotted and fully paid share 
capital of 208631466 ordinary shares of 10 pence each with an 
aggregate nominal value of £20863147 including shares owned by 
the employee share ownership trust the ordinary shares are listed on 
the london stock exchange all the shares rank pari passu the rights 
and obligations attaching to the shares are set out in the company’s 
articles of association fully paid shares in the company are freely 
transferable there are no persons that hold securities carrying special 
rights with regard to the control of the company details of the structure 
of the company’s share capital and changes in the share capital during 
the year are also included in note 21 to the financial statements
the travis perkins employee share ownership trust owns 7000690 
shares in the company 336 for use in connection with the company’s 
share schemes any voting or other similar decisions relating to those 
shares would be taken by the trustees who may take account of any 
recommendation of the company
there are no restrictions on voting rights attaching to the company’s 
ordinary shares the company is not aware of any agreements between 
holders of securities that may result in restrictions on the transfer of 
securities or on voting rights
the rules governing the appointment and replacement of board 
members and changes to the articles of association accord with 
usual english company law provisions the powers of the company’s 
directors are set out in the company’s articles of association in 
particular the board has the power to purchase its own shares and 
is seeking renewal of that power at the forthcoming annual general 
meeting within the limits set out in the notice of that meeting
there are a number of agreements to which the company is a 
party that may take effect alter or terminate upon a change of control 
following a takeover bid none of these agreements is considered to be 
significant in the context of the company as a whole 
there are no agreements providing for compensation for directors 
or employees on a change of control of the company as set out in 
the directors’ remuneration report on page 58 service contracts for   
17334   proof 3  1410
67 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 
executive directors do not specify any particular level of compensation 
in the event of termination following change of control of the company 
as noted above the company has agreed with each of the directors 
that it shall provide a director with funds subject to certain restric
tions to meet expenditure incurred in defending any criminal or civil 
proceedings if such proceedings are instituted subsequent to any 
person acquiring control of the company
annual general meeting special 
business
the annual general meeting of the company will be held at northampton 
rugby football club franklin’s gardens weedon road northampton 
nn5 5bg on monday 17 may 2010 at 1145 am a buffet lunch will 
be available the following items are to be proposed at the forthcoming 
annual general meeting as items of special business and the board 
recommends that shareholders vote in favour of all resolutions put 
before the annual general meeting
resolution 7 directors’ remuneration report
in accordance with the directors’ remuneration report regulations 
2002 this resolution seeks shareholders’ approval of the directors’ 
remuneration report as set out on pages 53 to 63
resolution 8 renewal of authority to allot shares
paragraph a of this resolution would give the directors the authority 
to allot ordinary shares up to an aggregate nominal amount equal to 
£6954585 representing 69545850 ordinary shares of 10 pence 
each this amount represents approximately onethird of the issued 
ordinary share capital of the company as at 23 february 2010 the 
latest practicable date prior to publication of this notice
in line with guidance issued by the association of british insurers 
the “abi” paragraph b of this resolution would give the directors 
authority to allot ordinary shares in connection with a rights issue in 
favour of ordinary shareholders up to an aggregate nominal amount 
equal to £13909170 representing 139091700 ordinary shares of 
10p each as reduced by the nominal amount of any shares issued 
under paragraph a of this resolution this amount before any reduc
tion represents approximately twothirds of the issued ordinary share 
capital of the company as at 23 february 2010 the latest practicable 
date prior to publication of this notice if this authority is exercised 
the directors intend to follow abi guidance issued from time to time 
including as to the reelection of directors
the authorities sought under paragraphs a and b of this resolu
tion will expire at the earlier of 30 june 2011 the last date by which 
the company must hold an annual general meeting in 2011 and 
the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the company held  
in 2011
the directors have no present intention to exercise either of the 
authorities sought under this resolution except under paragraph a to 
satisfy options under the company’s employee share option schemes
resolution 9 limited authority to allot shares for cash
this resolution would give the directors the authority to allot ordinary 
shares or sell any ordinary shares which the company elects to hold in 
treasury for cash without first offering them to existing shareholders in 
proportion to their existing shareholdings
except as provided in the next paragraph this authority would be 
limited to allotments or sales in connection with preemptive offers 
and offers to holders of other equity securities if required by the rights 
of those shares or as the board otherwise considers necessary or 
otherwise up to an aggregate nominal amount of £1043188 repre
senting 10431878 ordinary shares this aggregate nominal amount 
represents approximately 5 of the issued ordinary share capital of 
the company as at 23 february 2010 the latest practicable date 
prior to publication of this notice in respect of this aggregate nominal 
amount the directors confirm their intention to follow the provisions of 
the preemption group’s statement of principles regarding cumulative 
usage of authorities within a rolling 3year period where the principles 
provide that usage in excess of 75 should not take place without 
prior consultation with shareholders
allotments made under the authorisation in paragraph b of resolu
tion 8 would be limited to allotments by way of a rights issue only 
subject to the right of the board to impose necessary or appropriate 
limitations to deal with for example fractional entitlements and regula
tory matters
the authority will expire at the earlier of 30 june 2011 the last date 
by which the company must hold an annual general meeting in 2011 
and the conclusion of the annual general meeting of the company held 
in 2011 any issue of shares for cash will however still be subject to 
the requirements of the uk listing authority
resolution 10 notice of meetings
under the shareholders’ rights regulations 2009 the “shareholders’ 
rights regulations” the notice period for general meetings of a 
company has been extended to 21 days unless certain requirements 
are satisfied the company has met the requirements and accordingly 
this resolution is proposed to allow the company to continue to call 
general meetings on 14 clear days’ notice the directors believe it is 
in the best interests of the shareholders of the company to preserve 
the shorter notice period and accordingly are putting this resolution 
to the meeting the shorter notice period would not be used as a 
matter of routine for general meetings but only where the flexibility 
is merited by the business of the meeting and is thought to be to the 
advantage of shareholders as a whole the approval will be effec
tive until the company’s annual general meeting in 2011 when it 
is expected that a similar resolution will be proposed it should also 
be noted that the changes to the companies act 2006 mean that in 
order to be able to call a general meeting on less than 21 clear days’ 
notice the company must make a means of electronic voting avail
able to all shareholders  
17334   proof 3  1410
68 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 
resolution 11 authority to purchase own shares
the authority for the company to purchase its own shares of 10 pence 
each granted at last year’s annual general meeting will expire on the 
date of the forthcoming annual general meeting the directors wish 
to renew this authority and a special resolution will be proposed to 
give the company the authority to purchase its own ordinary shares 
in the market as permitted by the companies act 2006 the authority 
limits the number of shares that could be purchased to a maximum of 
20863756 representing 10 of the issued ordinary share capital 
of the company as at 23 february 2010 and sets minimum and 
maximum prices this authority will expire no later than 30 june 2011
the directors consider that it is in the best interests of the company 
to have available this authorisation in case of circumstances when it 
would be appropriate to use it they would only use it after consider
ation of the effect on earnings per share and the longer term benefit for 
the company and shareholders generally the fact that such authorisa
tion is being sought should not be taken to imply that shares would be 
purchased at any particular price or indeed at all any ordinary shares 
purchased pursuant to this authority may either be held as treasury 
shares or cancelled by the company depending on which course of 
action is considered by the directors to be in the best interests of 
shareholders at the time
as at 23 february 2010 there were options over 12619902 ordi
nary shares in the capital of the company including 30664 deferred 
shares 30664 deferred matching shares 1168844 investment 
matching shares 88183 deferred bonus share plan shares and 
1344324 performance share plan shares – these are described in 
the remuneration report on pages 54 to 56 which represent 605 
of the company’s issued ordinary share capital excluding any treasury 
shares if the authority to purchase the company’s ordinary shares 
were exercised in full these options would represent 672 of the 
company’s issued ordinary share capital excluding any treasury 
shares as at 23 february 2010 the company did not hold any trea
sury shares in the company and no warrants over ordinary shares in 
the capital of the company existed
resolution 12 amendment of articles of association
resolution 12 proposes certain amendments to the company’s 
current articles of association the “current articles” the articles 
of association as amended the “new articles” contain revi
sions primarily to take account of changes in english law brought 
about by the full implementation of the companies act 2006 the 
“act” the shareholder rights regulations and amendments to the 
uncertificated securities regulations 2009 the principle changes 
are summarised below other changes which are of a minor or 
technical nature have not been noted below as noted at the end of 
this section the new articles showing all the changes to the current 
articles are available for inspection
i the company’s objects
the provisions regulating the operations of the company are 
currently set out in the company’s memorandum of association the 
“memorandum” and the current articles the memorandum contains 
among other things the objects clause which sets out the scope of the 
activities the company is authorised to undertake this is drafted to 
give a wide scope
the act significantly reduces the constitutional significance of 
a company’s memorandum of association the act provides that a 
memorandum will record only the names of the subscribers and the 
number of shares each subscriber has agreed to take in the company 
under the act the objects clause and all other provisions which are 
contained in a company’s memorandum of association for existing 
companies at 1 october 2009 are deemed to be contained in the 
company’s articles of association but the company can remove these 
provisions by special resolution
further the act states that unless a company’s articles provide 
otherwise a company’s objects are unrestricted this abolishes the 
need for companies to have objects clauses for this reason the 
company is proposing to remove its objects clause together with all 
other provisions of its memorandum which by virtue of the act are to 
be treated as forming part of a company’s articles of association as 
of 1 october 2009 as the effect of the proposed resolution will be to 
remove the statement currently in the memorandum regarding limited 
liability the new articles also contain an express statement regarding 
the limited liability of shareholders
ii authorised share capital and unissued shares
the act abolishes the requirement for a company to have an authorised 
share capital and the new articles reflect this directors will still be 
limited as to the number of shares they can at any time allot because 
allotment authority continues to be required under the act save in 
respect of employee share schemes
iii redeemable shares
under the companies act 1985 if a company wished to issue redeem
able shares it had to include in its articles of association the terms and 
manner of redemption the act enables directors to determine such 
matters instead provided they are so authorised by the articles the 
new articles contain such an authorisation the company has no plans 
to issue redeemable shares but if it did so the directors would need 
shareholders’ authority to issue new shares in the usual way
iv suspension of registration of share transfers
the current articles permit the directors to suspend the registration of 
transfers under the act share transfers must be registered as soon as 
practicable the power in the current articles to suspend the registra
tion of transfers is inconsistent with this requirement accordingly this 
power has been removed in the new articles  
17334   proof 3  1410
69 d i r e c t o r s ’ r e p o r t 
v authority to purchase own shares consolidate and 
subdivide shares and reduce share capital
under the companies act 1985 a company required specific enabling 
provisions in its articles to purchase its own shares to consolidate or 
subdivide its shares and to reduce its share capital or other undis
tributable reserves as well as shareholder authority to undertake the 
relevant action the current articles include these enabling provisions 
under the act a company will only require shareholder authority to do 
any of these things and it will no longer be necessary for articles to 
contain enabling provisions accordingly the relevant enabling provi
sions have been removed in the new articles
vi  special business
under the act as amended by the shareholders’ rights regulations 
a company is required to state the general nature of all business to be 
dealt with at a meeting the new articles remove provisions relating to 
special business in order to reflect this 
vii voting record date
under the act as amended by the shareholders’ rights regulations 
the company must determine the right of members to vote at a general 
meeting by reference to the register not more than 48 hours before 
the time for the holding of the meeting not taking account of days 
which are not working days the new articles reflect this requirement 
excluding nonworking days
viii voting by proxies on a show of hands
the shareholders’ rights regulations have amended the act so that 
it now provides that each proxy appointed by a member has one vote 
on a show of hands unless the proxy is appointed by more than one 
member in which case the proxy has one vote for and one vote against 
if the proxy has been instructed by one or more members to vote for the 
resolution and by one or more members to vote against the resolution 
the new articles reflect these changes
ix proxies to vote in accordance with instructions
under the act as amended by the shareholders’ rights regulations 
proxies are required to vote in accordance with instructions given by 
the shareholder by whom the proxy is appointed the new articles state 
that the company is not required to confirm that a proxy has followed 
instructions and a failure to vote as instructed does not invalidate the 
proceedings on the resolution 
x chairman’s casting vote
the new articles remove the provision giving the chairman a casting 
vote in the event of an equality of votes as this is no longer permitted 
under the act
xi  directors’ interests
saving provisions included in the current articles prior to the coming 
into force of certain parts of the act have been removed in the new 
articles now that the act is in full force 
xii use of seals
under the companies act 1985 a company required authority in its 
articles of association to have an official seal for use abroad under the 
act such authority will no longer be required accordingly the relevant 
authorisation has been removed in the new articles
xiii articles which duplicate statutory provisions
provisions in the current articles which replicate provisions contained in 
the act are in the main removed in the new articles this is in line with 
the company’s approach to the implementation of the act to date
xiv directors’ indemnity
the act allows a company to indemnify a director of a company that is 
a trustee of an occupational pension scheme against liability incurred 
in connection with the company’s activities as trustees of the scheme 
the new articles include such an indemnity
xv  general
generally the opportunity has been taken to update references 
crossreferences and language to bring the new articles in line with 
the implementation of the last parts of the act the coming into force 
of the shareholders’ rights regulations and amendments to the 
uncertificated securities regulations 2001 
a copy of the current articles a copy marked to show the differences 
between the current articles and the new articles as proposed to be 
amended pursuant to resolution 12 and a copy of the new articles 
incorporating such amendments will be available for inspection from 
the date of this notice up to the time of the annual general meeting 
at the registered office of the company during usual business hours 
and at the place of the annual general meeting for at least 15 minutes 
before and during the meeting representatives of the company’s 
solicitors clifford chance llp  will be available at the annual general 
meeting to answer any questions
by order of the board
andrew pike 
company secretary
23 february 2010  
17334   proof 3  1410
70 s t a t e m e n t o f d i r e c t o r s ’ r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s 
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report and 
the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and 
regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements 
for each financial year under that law the directors are required to 
prepare the group financial statements in accordance with international 
financial reporting standards “ifrss” as adopted by the european 
union and article 4 of the ias regulation and have also chosen to 
prepare the parent company financial statements under ifrss as 
adopted by the eu under company law the directors must not approve 
the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair 
view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of 
the company for that period in preparing these financial statements 
international accounting standard 1 requires that directors
●
 properly select and apply accounting policies
●
  present information including accounting policies in a manner 
that provides relevant reliable comparable and understandable 
information 
●
  provide additional disclosures when compliance with the specific 
requirements in ifrss are insufficient to enable users to understand 
the impact of particular transactions other events and conditions on 
the entity’s financial position and financial performance and
●
  make an assessment of the company’s ability to continue as a going 
concern
the directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records 
that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and 
disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position 
of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial state
ments comply with the companies act 2006 they are also responsible 
for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking 
reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other 
irregularities
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of 
the corporate and financial information included on the company’s 
website legislation in the united kingdom governing the preparation 
and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in 
other jurisdictions
responsibility statement 
we confirm that to the best of our knowledge
●
  the financial statements prepared in accordance with international 
financial reporting standards give a true and fair view of the assets 
liabilities financial position and profit or loss of the company and the 
undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole and
●
  the management report which is incorporated into the directors’ 
report includes a fair review of the development and performance of 
the business and the position of the company and the undertakings 
included in the consolidation taken as a whole together with a 
description of the principal risks and uncertainties that they face
by order of the board 
 
 
g i cooper p  n hampden smith
chief executive finance director
23 february 2010 23 february 2010
statement of directors’ responsibilities 
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
71 i n d e p e n d e n t a u d i t o r s ’ r e p o r t
we have audited the financial statements of travis perkins plc for the 
year ended 31 december 2009 which comprise the group and parent 
company income statements the group and parent company balance 
sheets the group and parent company cash flow statements the 
group and parent company statement of comprehensive income the 
group and parent company statements of changes in equity and the 
related notes 1 to 37 the financial reporting framework that has been 
applied in their preparation is applicable law and international financial 
reporting standards “ifrss” as adopted by the european union
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a body 
in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the companies act 2006 
our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the 
company’s members those matters we are required to state to them 
in an auditors’ report and for no other purpose to the fullest extent 
permitted by law we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone 
other than the company and the company’s members as a body for 
our audit work for this report or for the opinions we have formed
respective responsibilities of  
directors and auditors
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement the 
directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements 
and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view our responsi
bility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with applicable 
law and international standards on auditing uk and ireland those 
standards require us to comply with the auditing practices board’s 
“apb’s” ethical standards for auditors
scope of the audit of the financial 
statements
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclo
sures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assur
ance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement 
whether caused by fraud or error this includes an assessment of 
whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the group’s and the 
parent company’s circumstances and have been consistently applied 
and adequately disclosed the reasonableness of significant accounting 
estimates made by the directors and the overall presentation of the 
financial statements
opinion on financial statements
in our opinion
●
  the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the 
group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at 31 december 
2009 and of the group’s and the parent company’s profit for the 
year then ended
●
  the financial statements have been properly prepared in accordance 
with ifrss as adopted by the european union
●
  the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the 
requirements of the companies act 2006 and as regards the group 
financial statements article 4 of the ias regulation
separate opinion in relation to ifrss as 
issued by the iasb
as explained in note 1 to the group financial statements the group 
in addition to complying with its legal obligation to apply ifrss as 
adopted by the european union has also applied ifrss as issued by 
the international accounting standards board “iasb”
in our opinion the group financial statements comply with ifrss as 
issued by the iasb
opinion on other matters prescribed  
by the companies act 2006
in our opinion
●
  the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited has 
been properly prepared in accordance with the companies act 
2006 and
●
  the information given in the directors’ report for the financial year 
for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with 
the financial statements
matters on which we are req uired  
to report by exception
we have nothing to report in respect of the following
under the companies act 2006 we are required to report to you if in 
our opinion
●
  adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent 
company or returns adequate for our audit have not been received 
from branches not visited by us or
●
  the parent company financial statements and the part of the 
directors’ remuneration report to be audited are not in agreement 
with the accounting records and returns or
●
  certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are 
not made or
●
  we have not received all the information and explanations we require 
for our audit
under the listing rules we are required to review
●
  the directors’ statement contained within finance director’s review 
of the year in relation to going concern and
●
  the part of the corporate governance statement relating to the 
company’s compliance with the nine provisions of the june 2008 
combined code specified for our review
stephen griggs senior statutory auditor
for and on behalf of deloitte llp
chartered accountants and statutory auditors 
birmingham united kingdom
23 february 2010
independent auditors’ report to the  
members of travis perkins plc 
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 72
	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
 2009	 2009	 2009 2008 2008 2008
 £m	 £m	 £m £m £m £m
	 preexceptional	 exceptional  preexceptional exceptional
 items	 items	 total items items total
 notes  note	5   note 5
revenue 4 29309  29309 31786  31786
operating profit  loss 5 2246 327 2573 2715 562 2153
finance income  10 56  56 77  77
finance costs  10 502  502 767  767
profit  loss before tax  1800 327 2127 2025 562 1463
tax 11 461 92 553 586 142 444
profit  loss for the year  1339 235 1574 1439 420 1019
earnings per ordinary share  12      
basic    884p   686p
diluted    862p   678p
total dividend declared  
per ordinary share  13      145p
	 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 	 ————————————
 2009 2008 
 notes  £m £m
  
revenue 4 1293 550
operating profit 5 1126 360
finance income  10 49 28
finance costs  10 439 718
profit  loss before tax  736 330
tax 11 151 204
profit  loss for the year  887 126
all results relate to continuing operations
income statements
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 73
statements of comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2009
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m 
profit  loss for the year 1574 1019 887 126
cash flow hedges
gains  losses arising during the year 147 171 147 171
transferred to income statement 04 36 04 36
 151 207 151 207 
actuarial losses on defined benefit pension scheme 283 703  
 132 910 151 207
unamortised cash flow hedge cancellation payment 140  140 
tax relating to components of other comprehensive income 125 196 46  
other comprehensive loss  income for the year 147 714 57 207
total comprehensive income  loss for the year 1427 305 944 333  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 74
balance sheets
as at 31 december 2009
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
  2009 2008 2009 2008
 notes £m £m £m £m 
assets
noncurrent assets    
property plant and equipment 16 4990 5345 01 02
goodwill 14 13528 13514  
other intangible assets 15 1625 1625  
derivative financial instruments 25 447 803 447 803
investment property 17 33 34  
interest in associates 18 317 196 363 210
availableforsale investments 18 15 20  
investment in subsidiaries 18   18951 18014
deferred tax asset 27 120 195 90 07
total noncurrent assets  21075 21732 19852 19036
      
current assets      
inventories  3127 3219  
trade and other receivables 19 3754 3862 508 568
derivative financial instruments 25  24  24
cash and cash equivalents 20 3472 77 3170 
total current assets  10353 7182 3678 592
total assets  31428 28914 23530 19628  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 75
balance sheets continued as at 31 december 2009
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
  2009 2008 2009 2008
 notes £m £m £m £m 
equity	and	liabilities     
capital and reserves     
issued capital 21 209 123 209 123
share premium account 23 4712 1795 4701 1784
other reserve 23 213 238  
hedging reserve 23 121 178 121 178
own shares 23 837 837 837 837
accumulated profits 23 10428 9041 1787 872
total equity  14604 10182 5739 1764
noncurrent liabilities     
interest bearing loans and borrowings 24 7391 10073 7171 9839
derivative financial instruments 25 61 258 61 259
retirement benefit obligation 8 430 699  
longterm provisions 26 437 478  
amounts due to subsidiaries    9585 6536
deferred tax liabilities 27 628 747  
total noncurrent liabilities  8947 12255 16817	 16634
current liabilities     
interest bearing loans and borrowings 24 715 139 740 1038
unsecured loan notes 24 38 39 38 39
trade and other payables 28 6387 5822 196 153
tax liabilities  281 91 	 
shortterm provisions 26 456 386  
total current liabilities  7877 6477 974 1230
total liabilities  16824 18732 17791 17864
total equity and liabilities  31428 28914 23530 19628
the financial statements of travis perkins plc registered number 824821 were approved by the board of directors on  
23 february 2010 and signed on its behalf by
g i cooper p  n hampden smith
chief executive finance director
23 february 2010 23 february 2010  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 76
statements of changes in eq uity
 t h e 	 g r o u p 	
	 ———————————————————————————————————————————————
  issued share      
  share premium revaluation hedging own retained total 
  capital account reserve reserve shares earnings equity
  £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
at 1 january 2008 123 1789 242 29 839 9025 10369
profit for the year      1019 1019
cash flow hedge losses    207   207
actuarial losses on defined  
 benefit pension scheme      703 703
tax relating to comprehensive income      196 196
total comprehensive income for the year    207  512 305 
dividends paid      525 525
issue of share capital  06     06
difference between depreciation of assets on a  
 historical basis and on a revaluation basis   04   04 
own shares     02 02 
credit to equity for equitysettled share  
 based payments      27 27
at 31 december 2008 123 1795 238 178 837 9041 10182
profit for the year      1574 1574
cash flow hedge gains    151   151
actuarial losses on defined benefit  
 pension scheme      283 283
unamortised cash flow hedge  
 cancellation payment    140   140
tax relating to comprehensive income    46  79 125
total comprehensive income for the year    57  1370 1427
issue of share capital 86 3049     3135
cost of issuing shares  132     132
realisation of revaluation reserve in  
 respect of property disposals   21   21 
difference between depreciation of assets on a  
 historical basis and on a revaluation basis   04   04 
debit to equity for equitysettled share  
 based payments      08 08
at 31 december 2009 209	 4712	 213	 121	 837	 10428	 14604  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 77
statements of changes in eq uity continued t h e 	 c o m p a n y 	
	 ————————————————————————————————————————
      issued share    
  share premium hedging own retained total 
  capital account reserve shares earnings equity
  £m £m £m £m £m £m
at 1 january 2008  123 1778 29 839 1526 2617
profit for the year      126 126
cash flow hedges    207   207
total comprehensive income for the year    207  126 333
dividends paid      525 525
issue of share capital   06    06
own shares     02 02 
credit to equity for equitysettled share based payments      01 01
at 31 december 2008  123 1784 178 837 872 1764
profit for the year      887 887
cash flow hedges    151   151
tax relating to comprehensive income    46   46
unamortised cash flow hedge cancellation payment    140   140
total comprehensive income for the year    57  887 944
issue of share capital  86 3049    3135
cost of issuing shares   132    132
credit to equity for equitysettled share based payments      28 28
at 31 december 2009	 	 209	 4701	 121	 837	 1787	 5739  
17334   proof 3  1410
f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s 78
cash flow statements
for the year ended 31 december 2009
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m 
operating profit before exceptional items 2246 2715 1126 360
adjustments for    
depreciation and impairment of property plant and equipment 587 630 01 01
other non cash movements 15 46 21 05
impairment of investment 05   
losses of associate 32 14  
write down of value of investments   41 83
gain on disposal of property plant and equipment  120 60  
operating cash flows before movements in working capital 2735 3345 1189 449
decrease in inventories 92 133  
decrease in receivables 124 323 197 791
increase  decrease in payables 523 225 3088 605
payments on 2008 exceptional items 25 85  
payments to the pension scheme in excess of the charge to profits 251 115  
cash generated from operations 3198 3376 4474 1845
interest paid 305 630 289 610
swap cancellation payment 287  287 
income taxes paid 273 660  
net cash from operating activities 2333 2086 3898 1235
cash flows from investing activities     
interest received 15 03 10 02
acquisition of shares in unit trust and subsidiaries  03 1013 1413
proceeds on disposal of property plant and equipment 208 149  
purchases of property plant and equipment 286 973  
interest in associate 129 207 129 207
acquisition of businesses net of cash acquired note 29  10 225  
net cash used in investing activities 202 1256 1132 1618
financing activities   
net proceeds from the issue of share capital 3003 06 3003 06
bank facility finance charges  147  147
payment of finance lease liabilities 15 21  
repayment of unsecured loan notes 01 115 01 115
decrease in bank loans 1600 337 1600 337
dividends paid  525  525
net cash from financing activities 1387 1139 1402 1118
net increase  decrease in cash and cash equivalents 3518 309 4168 1501
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 46 263 1038 463
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 3472 46 3130 1038  
17334   proof 3  1410
79 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
1 general information
overview
travis perkins plc is a company incorporated in the united kingdom under the companies act 2006 the address of the registered office is given on page 
125 the nature of the group’s operations and its principal activities are set out in the chief executive’s review of the year the chief operating officer’s 
review of the year and the finance director’s review of the year on pages 10 to 43
these financial statements are presented in pounds sterling the currency of the primary economic environment in which the group operates
basis of accounting
the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with international financial reporting standards “ifrs” issued by the international accounting 
standards board the financial statements have also been prepared in accordance with ifrs adopted by the european union and therefore the group 
financial statements comply with article 4 of the eu ias regulations
basis of preparation
the financial statements have been prepared on the historic cost basis except that derivative financial instruments are stated at their fair value the 
consolidated financial statements include the accounts of the company and all entities controlled by the company its subsidiaries together referred to 
as “the group” from the date control commences until the date that control ceases control is achieved where the company has the power to govern the 
financial and operating policies of an investee entity so as to obtain benefits from its activities as such the results of subsidiaries acquired during the year 
are included in the consolidated income statement from the effective date of acquisition
in the current financial year the group has adopted ifrs 8 “operating segments” ias 1 “presentation of financial statements revised 2007” ifrs 7 
“improving disclosures about financial instruments” ifric 13 “customer loyalty programmes” and ifric 14 ias 19 “the limit on a defined benefit asset” 
the adoption of ifric 13 and ifric 14 has not led to any changes in the group’s accounting policies
ifrs 8 requires operating segments to be identified on the basis of internal reports about components of the group that are regularly reviewed by 
the chief executive to allocate resources to the segments and to assess their performance as a result the segmental information included in note 6 is 
presented in accordance with ifrs 8
ias 1 revised requires the presentation of a statement of changes in equity as a primary statement separate from the income statement and the 
statement of comprehensive income as a result a consolidated statement of changes in equity has been included in the primary statements showing the 
changes in each component of equity for each period presented 
ifrs 7 now requires that an entity should classify its financial instruments using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs used in 
measuring the fair value of those instruments the additional disclosures are included in note 25
at the date of authorisation of these financial statements the following standards and interpretations which have not yet been applied in these financial 
statements were in issue but not yet effective 
●
  amendments to various standards arising from annual improvements issued in april 2009
●
  ifrs 2 issued june 2009 – share based payments cash settled transactions 
●
  ias 24 issued november 2009 – related party disclosures
●
  ias 27 revised 2008 – amendments arising from amendments to ifrs 3
●
  ias 31 revised 2008 – amendments arising from amendments to ifrs 3
●
  ias 32 revised 2009 – amendments relating to classification of rights issues
●
  ifrs 9 issued november 2009 – financial instruments
the directors anticipate that adoption of these standards and interpretations in future periods will have no material impact on the financial statements of 
the group
the directors are currently of the opinion that the group’s forecasts and projections show that the group should be able to operate within its current 
facilities and comply with its banking covenants the group is however exposed to a number of significant risks and uncertainties which could impact on 
the group’s ability to meet the directors’ forecast and projections and hence its ability to meet its banking covenants 
the directors believe that the group has the flexibility to react to changing market conditions and is adequately placed to manage its business risks 
successfully despite the current uncertain economic outlook and challenging macro economic conditions a detailed consideration of going concern risks 
and uncertainties is provided on page 38 of the finance director’s review of the year
after making enquiries the directors have formed a judgement at the time of approving the financial statements that there is a reasonable expectation 
that the company and the group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future for this reason they continue to 
adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements
notes to the financial statements
for the year ended 31 december 2009  
17334   proof 3  1410
80 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
2 significant accounting policies
the principal accounting policies adopted in preparing the financial statements are set out below
revenue recognition
revenue is recognised when goods or services are received by the customer and the risks and rewards of ownership have passed to them revenue is 
measured at the fair value of consideration received or receivable and represents amounts receivable for goods and services provided in the normal course 
of business net of discounts and value added tax 
exceptional items
exceptional items are those items of income and expenditure that by reference to the group are material in size and unusual in nature or incidence that in the 
judgement of the directors should be disclosed separately on the face of the financial statements or in the notes in the case of a segment to ensure both 
that the reader has a proper understanding of the group’s financial performance and that there is comparability of financial performance between periods
items of income or expense that are considered by the directors for designation as exceptional items include but are not limited to such items as 
significant restructurings onerous contracts writedowns or impairments of current and noncurrent assets the costs of integrating acquired businesses 
gains or losses on disposals of businesses investments or individual assets remeasurement gains or losses arising from changes in the fair value of 
derivative financial instruments to the extent that hedge accounting is not achieved or is not effective and pension scheme curtailment gains
business combinations and goodwill
all business combinations are accounted for using the purchase method the cost of an acquisition represents the cash value of the consideration andor 
the fair value of the shares issued on the date the offer became unconditional plus expenses the acquiree’s identifiable assets liabilities and contingent 
liabilities that meet the conditions for recognition under ifrs 3 are recognised at their fair value at the acquisition date it is this fair value which is incor
porated into the consolidated accounts
goodwill arising on acquisition represents the excess of the cost of acquisition over the share of the aggregate fair value of identifiable net assets 
including intangible assets of a business or a subsidiary at the date of acquisition all material intangible fixed assets obtained on acquisition have been 
recognised separately in the financial statements goodwill is initially recognised as an asset and allocated to cash generating units then at least annually 
is reviewed for impairment any impairment is recognised immediately in the income statement and is not subsequently reversed as such goodwill is 
stated in the balance sheet at cost less any provisions for impairment in value
goodwill arising on acquisitions before the date of transition to ifrs 1 january 2004 has been retained at the previous uk gaap amounts subject 
to being tested for impairment at that date goodwill written off to reserves under uk gaap prior to 1998 has not been reinstated and is not included in 
determining any subsequent profit or loss on disposal
investments in associates
an associate is an entity over which the group is in a position to exercise significant influence but not control or joint control through participation in the 
financial and operating policy decisions of the investee the results and assets and liabilities of associates are incorporated in these financial statements 
using the equity method of accounting investments in associates are carried in the balance sheet at cost as adjusted by post acquisition changes in the 
group’s share of the net assets of the associate less any impairment in the value of individual investments
intangible assets
intangible assets identified as part of the assets of an acquired business are capitalised separately from goodwill if the fair value can be measured reliably 
on initial recognition intangible assets are amortised to the income statement on a straightline basis over a maximum of 20 years except where they are 
considered to have an indefinite useful life in the latter instance they are reviewed annually for impairment
investment properties
investment properties which are held to earn rental income or for capital appreciation or for both are stated at deemed cost less depreciation properties 
are depreciated to their estimated residual value on a straightline basis over their estimated useful lives up to a maximum of 50 years 
rental income from investment property is recognised in the income statement on a straightline basis over the term of the lease
noncurrent assets held for sale
noncurrent assets held for sale are measured at the lower of carrying amount and fair value less costs to sell
 
property plant and equipment
property plant and equipment is stated at cost or deemed cost less accumulated depreciation and any impairment in value assets are depreciated to their 
estimated residual value on a straightline basis over their estimated useful lives as follows
●
  buildings – 50 years or if lower the estimated useful life of the building or the life of the lease
●
  plant and equipment – 4 to 10 years
●
  freehold land is not depreciated  
17334   proof 3  1410
81 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
assets held under finance leases are depreciated over their expected useful lives on the same basis as owned assets or where shorter the term of the 
relevant lease 
the gain or loss arising on the disposal or retirement of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds net of expenses and the 
carrying amount of the asset in the balance sheet and is recognised in the income statement where appropriate the attributable revaluation reserve 
remaining in respect of properties revalued prior to the adoption of ifrs is transferred directly to accumulated profits
leases
finance leases which transfer to the group substantially all the risks and benefits incidental to ownership of the leased item are capitalised at the inception 
of the lease at the fair value of the leased asset or if lower at the present value of the minimum lease payments lease payments are apportioned between 
the finance charges and reduction of the lease liability so as to achieve a constant rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability finance charges 
are charged directly against income capitalised leased assets are depreciated over the shorter of the estimated useful life of the asset or the lease term 
leases where the lessor retains substantially all the risks and benefits of ownership of the asset are classified as operating leases 
operating lease rental payments are recognised as an expense in the income statement on a straightline basis over the lease term 
reverse lease premia and other incentives receivable for entering into a lease agreement are recognised in the income statement over the life of 
the lease
impairment of tangible and intangible assets excluding goodwill
the carrying amounts of the group’s tangible and intangible assets other than investment properties deferred tax assets and inventories are reviewed at 
each balance sheet date to determine whether there is any indication of impairment if such an indication exists the asset’s recoverable amount is esti
mated and compared to its carrying value where the asset does not generate cash flows that are independent from other assets the group estimates the 
recoverable amount of the cashgenerating unit “cgu” to which the asset belongs where the carrying value exceeds the recoverable amount a provision 
for the impairment loss is established with a charge being made to the income statement
for intangible assets that have an indefinite useful life the recoverable amount is estimated at each annual balance sheet date
impairment losses recognised in respect of a cgu are allocated first to reduce the carrying amount of any goodwill allocated to the cgu and then to 
reduce the carrying amount of the other assets in the unit on a prorata basis
inventories
inventories which consist of goods for resale are stated at the lower of average weighted cost and net realisable value cost comprises direct materials 
and where applicable direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the inventories to their present location and condition 
net realisable value is the estimated selling price less the estimated costs of disposal
financial instruments
financial assets and liabilities are recognised in the balance sheet when the group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument
trade receivables
trade receivables are measured at amortised cost which is carrying amount less provision for irrecoverable amounts allowances for the estimated irrecov
erable amounts are made in the income statement when the receivable is considered to be uncollectible
impairment of financial assets
financial assets are treated as impaired when in the opinion of the directors the likelihood of full recovery is diminished either by events or change of 
circumstance
cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash balances and call deposits with an original maturity of three months or less 
bank and other borrowings
interest bearing bank loans and overdrafts loan notes and other loans are recognised in the balance sheet at amortised cost finance charges associated 
with arranging a bank facility are recognised in the income statement over the life of the facility all other borrowing costs are recognised in the income 
statement in the period in which they are incurred
trade payables
trade payables are measured at amortised cost
foreign currencies
transactions denominated in foreign currencies are recorded at the rates ruling on the date of the transaction
at the consolidated balance sheet date unhedged monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of 
exchange ruling at that date foreign exchange differences arising on translation are recognised in the income statement  
17334   proof 3  1410
82 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting
the group uses derivative financial instruments to hedge its exposure to interest rate and foreign exchange risks arising from financing activities the 
group does not enter into speculative financial instruments in accordance with its treasury policy the group does not hold or issue derivative financial 
instruments for trading purposes 
derivative financial instruments are stated at fair value the fair value of derivative financial instruments is the estimated amount the group would receive 
or pay to terminate the derivative at the balance sheet date taking into account current interest and exchange rates and the current creditworthiness of 
the counterparties 
changes in the fair value of derivative financial instruments that are designated and effective as hedges of the future variability of cash flows are 
recognised directly in equity and the ineffective portion is recognised immediately in the income statement
for an effective hedge of an exposure to changes in the fair value of a hedged item the hedged item is adjusted for changes in fair value attributable to 
the risk being hedged with the corresponding entry in the income statement 
for derivatives that do not qualify for hedge accounting any gains or losses arising from changes in fair value are taken to the income statement as 
they arise
derivatives embedded in commercial contracts are treated as separate derivatives when their risks and characteristics are not closely related to those 
of the underlying contracts with unrealised gains or losses being reported in the income statement 
the fair value of hedged derivatives is classified as a noncurrent asset or noncurrent liability if the remaining maturity of the hedge relationship is more 
than 12 months otherwise they are classified as current
foreign currency forward contracts are not designated effective hedges and so are marked to market at the balance sheet date with any gains or losses 
being taken through the income statement
financial assets and financial liabilities
financial assets are classified into the following specified categories financial assets at “fair value through profit or loss” “fvtpl” “availableforsale” “afs” 
financial assets and “loans and receivables” the classification depends on the nature and purpose of the financial assets and is determined at the time of ini
tial recognition the group has defined the classes of financial assets to be other financial assets cash and borrowings and derivative financial instruments
financial liabilities are classified as either financial liabilities “at fvtpl” or “other financial liabilities”
financial assets and financial liabilities are classified as at fvtpl where the financial asset or the financial liability is either held for trading or it is 
designated as fvtpl a financial asset or financial liability is classified as held for trading if
●
  it has been acquired principally for the purpose of selling or of disposal in the near future or
●
   it is a part of an identified portfolio of financial instruments that the group manages together and has a recent actual pattern of shortterm profittaking 
or
●
  it is a derivative that is not designated and effective as a hedging instrument
financial assets and financial liabilities at fvtpl are stated at fair value with any resultant gain or loss recognised in the income statement unless it is an 
effective cash flow relationship the net gain or loss recognised in the income statement incorporates any interest earned or paid on the financial asset 
and financial liability respectively
loans and receivables
trade receivables and other receivables that have fixed or determinable payments that are not quoted in an active market are classified as loans and 
receivables loans and receivables are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method less any impairment interest income is recognised 
by applying the effective interest rate except for shortterm receivables which applies to all amounts owed to the group when the recognition of interest 
would be immaterial 
other financial liabilities
other financial liabilities including borrowings are initially measured at fair value net of transaction costs other financial liabilities are subsequently 
measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method with interest expense recognised on an effective yield basis the effective interest method 
is a method of calculating the amortised cost of a financial liability and of allocating interest expense over the relevant period the effective interest is the 
rate that exactly discounts estimated future cash payments through the expected life of the financial liability or where appropriate a shorter period
derecognition of financial assets and financial liabilities
the group derecognises a financial asset only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or it transfers the financial asset and 
substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the asset to another entity if the group neither transfers nor retains substantially all the risks and 
rewards of ownership and continues to control the transferred asset the group recognises its retained interest in the asset and an associated liability for 
amounts it may have to pay if the group retains substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of a transferred financial asset the group continues 
to recognise the financial asset and also recognises a collateralised borrowing for the proceeds received
the group derecognises financial liabilities when and only when the group’s obligations are discharged cancelled or they expire
taxation
the tax expense represents the sum of the tax currently payable and the deferred tax
the tax currently payable is based on taxable profit for the year taxable profit differs from net profit as reported in the income statement because it 
excludes items of income and expense that are taxable or deductible in other years and it further excludes items which are never taxable or deductible the   
17334   proof 3  1410
83 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
group’s liability for current tax is calculated using tax rates that have been enacted or substantially enacted by the balance sheet date
deferred tax is the tax expected to be payable or recoverable on differences between the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities in the financial 
statements and the corresponding tax bases used in the computation of taxable profit this is accounted for using the balance sheet liability method 
deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are recognised to the extent that it is probable 
that taxable profits will be available against which deductible temporary differences can be utilised such assets and liabilities are not recognised if the 
temporary difference arises from goodwill or from the initial recognition other than in a business combination of other assets and liabilities in a transaction 
that affects neither the tax profit nor the accounting profit
deferred tax is calculated at the tax rates that are expected to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset realised deferred tax is 
charged or credited in the income statement except when it relates to items charged or credited directly to equity in which case the deferred tax is also 
dealt with in equity
pensions and other postemployment benefits
for defined benefit schemes operating profit is charged with the cost of providing pension benefits earned by employees in the period the expected return 
on pension scheme assets less the interest on pension scheme liabilities is shown as a finance cost within the income statement
actuarial gains and losses arising in the period from the difference between actual and expected returns on pension scheme assets experience gains 
and losses on pension scheme liabilities and the effects of changes in demographics and financial assumptions are included in the statement of compre
hensive income
recoverable pension scheme surpluses and pension scheme deficits and the associated deferred tax balances are recognised in full in the period in 
which they occur and are included in the balance sheet
obligations for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the income statement as incurred
employee share incentive plans
the group issues equitysettled sharebased payments to certain employees long term incentives executive share options and save as you earn which 
do not include market related conditions these payments are measured at fair value at the date of grant by the use of the black scholes optionpricing 
model taking into account the terms and conditions upon which the options were granted the cost of equitysettled awards is recognised on a straightline 
basis over the vesting period based on the group’s estimate of the number of shares that will eventually vest no cost is recognised for awards that do 
not ultimately vest
provisions
a provision is recognised in the balance sheet when the group has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event and it is probable 
that an outflow of economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation provisions are measured at the directors’ best estimate of the expenditure 
required to settle the obligation at the balance sheet date and are discounted to present value where the effect is material
equity instruments and own shares 
the group has applied the requirements of ifrs 2 – share based payments in accordance with the transitional provisions ifrs 2 has been applied to all 
grants of equity instruments after 7 november 2002 that were unvested at 1 january 2005
equity instruments represent the ordinary share capital of the group and are recorded at the proceeds received net of directly attributable incremental 
issue costs
consideration paid by the group for its own shares is deducted from total shareholder equity where such shares vest to employees under the terms of 
the group’s share options or the group’s share save schemes or are sold any consideration received is included in shareholders’ equity
dividends
dividends proposed by the board of directors and unpaid at the period end are not recognised in the financial statements until they have been approved 
by shareholders at the annual general meeting
3 critical judgements and key sources of estimation and uncertainty
these consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with ifrs as issued by the iasb the preparation of financial statements 
requires the directors to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of 
contingent assets and liabilities future events and their effects cannot be determined with absolute certainty therefore the determination of estimates 
requires the exercise of judgement based on various assumptions and other factors such as historical experience current and expected economic condi
tions the directors constantly reevaluate these significant factors and makes adjustments where facts and circumstances dictate the directors believe 
that the following accounting policies are critical due to the degree of estimation required and  or the potential material impact they may have on the 
group’s financial position and performance
inventory valuation 
inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value provisions for excess or obsolete inventory are recorded based upon assumptions about 
future demand and market conditions   
17334   proof 3  1410
84 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
the level of inventory provisioning required is sensitive to changes in the forecast sales of particular products which is dependent on changes in conditions 
in the group’s markets if changes in actual market conditions are less favourable than those projected additional inventory provisions may be required 
similarly if changes in actual market conditions are more favourable than predicted it may be possible to release a proportion of the inventory provision 
debtor recoverability
the group provides credit to a significant number of its customers at each period end an assessment is made of the extent to which those customers may 
not pay amounts due to the group and a doubtful debt provision is established accordingly determining the likelihood of the group incurring bad debts 
requires the directors to exercise judgement to the extent this judgement ultimately proves to be inaccurate it would change the profit for the period 
provisions for returns and warranty claims
the products sold by the group are covered by warranties given to it by the suppliers from whom the goods are bought should any of those suppliers cease 
to trade then any liabilities for product warranties would rest with the group in such circumstances the directors would have to estimate the value of any 
provision required to meet the obligations of the group at the balance sheet date the directors have estimated that there is no need for any material war
ranty and product guarantee provisions to be made while the directors believe that the group’s warranty provisions are adequate and that the judgements 
applied are appropriate the ultimate cost of product warranty could differ materially from the estimates 
income taxes
the group is subject to the income tax laws of the united kingdom these laws are complex and subject to different interpretations by taxpayers and tax 
authorities when establishing income tax provisions the directors make a number of judgements and interpretations about the application and interaction of 
these laws changes in these tax laws or in their interpretation could impact the group’s effective tax rate and the results of operations in a given period 
the process of estimating the group’s tax position requires an assessment of temporary differences resulting from differing treatment of items for tax 
and accounting purposes these differences result in the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities deferred tax assets are included within the 
consolidated balance sheet to the extent that we believe they are recoverable in recognising deferred tax assets the group considers profit forecasts 
including the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on sales and external market conditions 
the directors’ judgement is required in determining the provision for income taxes deferred tax assets and liabilities deferred tax assets have been 
recognised where the directors believe there are sufficient taxable temporary differences or convincing other evidence that sufficient taxable profit will be 
available in future to realise deferred tax assets although the deferred tax assets which have been recognised are considered realisable actual amounts 
could be reduced if future taxable income is lower than expected this can materially affect the group’s reported net income and financial position 
goodwill
in testing for impairment the directors have made certain assumptions concerning the future development of the business that are consistent with its 
annual budget and threeyear plan whilst the directors consider these assumptions are realistic should these assumptions regarding the growth in profit
ability be unfounded then it is possible that goodwill included in the balance sheet could be impaired further details concerning the impairment of goodwill 
and intangibles are given in note 14 
pension liabilities
the group has chosen to adopt assumptions that directors believe are in line with the median if the future return on equities is lower than anticipated or 
if the difference between actual inflation and the actual increase in pensionable salaries is greater than that assumed or if the average life expectancy of 
pensioners increases then the pension deficit would be greater than currently stated in the balance sheet
 
property leases
the group is party to a number of leases on properties that are no longer required for trading whilst every effort is made to profitably sublet these properties 
it is not always possible where a lease is onerous to the group a provision is established for the difference between amounts contractually payable to the 
landlord and amounts contractually receivable from the tenant if any for the period up until the point it is judged that the lease will no longer be onerous
the directors believe that their estimates which are based upon the current state of the uk property market are appropriate however it is possible 
that it may take longer to dispose of leases than they anticipate as a result the provisions may be understated but in the opinion of the directors this is 
unlikely to be material
insurance provisions
the group has been substantially selfinsured since 2001 the nature of insurance claims is that they frequently take many years to fully crystalise 
therefore the directors have to estimate the value of provisions to hold in the balance sheet in respect of historic claims under the guidance of the group’s 
insurance advisors the value of incurred claims is estimated using the generalised cape cod method the provision is determined by deducting the value of 
claims settled to date from the estimated level of claims incurred whilst the generalised cape cod method is an insurance industry standard methodology 
it relies on historic trends to determine the level of expected claims to the extent that the estimates are inaccurate the group may be underprovided but 
in the opinion of the directors any underprovision is unlikely to be material  
17334   proof 3  1410
85 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
4 revenue
 
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
   2009  2008  2009  2008 
   £m £m £m £m
sale of goods   29309 31786  
management charges     69 73
dividends from subsidiaries     1224 477
   29309 31786 1293	 550
other operating income   488 112  
finance income   56 77 49 28
   29853 31975 1342 578
included in other operating income is an exceptional gain of £327m arising from the cap on future pensionable salary increases
5 profit
a operating profit
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009  2008  2009  2008 
 £m £m £m £m
revenue 29309 31786 1293 550
cost of sales 19444 20803  
gross profit 9865 10983 1293 550
selling and distribution costs 6498 7281  
administration expenses 1250 1647 167 190
other operating income 488 112  
share of results of associate 32 14  
operating profit 2573 2153 1126 360
exceptional items 327 562  
adjusted operating profit  2246 2715 1126 360
with effect from the 1 december 2009 the company and the trustee of the pension scheme agreed to amend the terms of the travis perkins defined 
benefits scheme to include a cap on future pensionable salary increases of 3 per annum this has been treated as a curtailment event and the resulting 
exceptional reduction of £327m in the benefit obligation has been included in other operating income
in 2008 the group incurred an exceptional charge of £562m associated with the severe downturn in the construction market the total charge of 
£562m includes a cost of redundancy and reorganisation £105m onerous property lease provisions £395m and asset write offs £62m £404m 
and £158m were included in selling and distribution costs and administration expenses respectively
to enable readers of the financial statements to obtain a clear understanding of underlying trading the directors have shown separately the exceptional 
items in the group income statement 
operating profit has been arrived at after charging  crediting
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009  2008  2009  2008 
provisions against inventories 04 60  
cost of inventories recognised as an expense 19448 20743  
depreciation of property plant and equipment 587 630 01 
staff costs excluding pension costs 3603 3645 89 45
pension costs in administration expenses 28 42 02 04
pension costs in selling and distribution costs 62 77  
gain on disposal of property plant and equipment 120 60  
rental income 49 58  
hire of vehicles plant and machinery 136 147  
other leasing charges – property 1324 1257  
auditors’ remuneration for audit services 03 04 01 01  
17334   proof 3  1410
86 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
5 profit continued during the year the group incurred the following costs for services provided by the company’s auditors 
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
 2009  2008 
 £000 £000
fees payable to the company’s auditors for the audit of the company’s annual accounts 104 139 
fees paid the company’s auditors for other services  
the audit of the company’s subsidiaries pursuant to legislation 234 245
other services pursuant to legislation 18 12
other services relating to taxation – compliance  5
 – advisory 85 386
corporate finance transactions – rights issue 414 
corporate finance transactions  – other  153
other services   5 10
 860 950
other services pursuant to legislation includes £9000 2008 £9000 which was paid to the auditors by the travis perkins pension and dependents 
benefit scheme 
a description of the work of the audit committee is set out in the audit committee report on pages 49 to 50 and includes an explanation of how auditor 
objectivity and independence is safeguarded when nonaudit services are provided by the auditors
b adjusted profit before and after tax
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
 2009  2008 
 £m £m
profit before tax 2127 1463
exceptional items    327 562
adjusted profit before tax   1800 2025
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
 2009 2008 
 £m £m
profit after tax 1574 1019
exceptional items 327 562
tax effect of exceptional items   92 142
adjusted profit after tax  1339 1439
c adjusted operating margin
	
	 merchanting	 retail	 unallocated	 group
	 ———————————	 ———————————	 ———————————	 ———————————
 2009  2008 2009  2008  2009  2008 2009  2008 
 £m £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
revenue 19502 22379 9807 9407   29309 31786
operating profit 2035 2065 570 102   2605 2167
share of associate losses     32 14 32 14
exceptional items 327 183  379   327 562
adjusted segment result 1708 2248 570 481 32 14 2246 2715
adjusted operating margin 876 1005 581 511   766 854
the segmental results for merchanting and retail are shown in note 6   
17334   proof 3  1410
87 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
6 business and geographical segments
the group has adopted ifrs 8 “operating segments” with effect from 1 january 2009 ifrs 8 requires operating segments to be identified on the basis 
of internal reports about components of the group that are regularly reviewed by the chief executive to allocate resources to the segments and to assess 
their performance in contrast the predecessor standard ias 14 “segment reporting” required the group to identify two sets of segments business and 
geographical using a risk and returns approach for management purposes the group is currently organised into two operating divisions – merchanting 
and retail both of which operate entirely in the united kingdom these divisions are the basis on which the group reported its primary segment information 
under ias 14 and following a review are the segments that are most appropriate to be reported under ifrs 8 segment profit represents the profit earned 
by each segment without allocation of share of losses of associates finance income and costs and income tax expense
there are no significant intersegment sales
during 2009 and 2008 there were no impairment losses or reversals of impairment losses recognised in profit or loss or in equity in either of the reportable 
segments
 2009
	
	 ————————————————————————————————————————————————
  merchanting retail unallocated  eliminations group
 £m £m £m £m £m
revenue 19502 9807   29309
result     
segment result 2035 570   2605
share of associate losses   32  32
finance income   56  56
finance costs   502  502
profit before taxation 2035 570 478  2127
taxation   553  553
profit for the year 2035 570 1031  1574
segment assets 22345 14388 5245 10550 31428
segment liabilities 7257 2375 17742 10550 16824
consolidated net assets 15088 12013 12497  14604
capital expenditure 160 161   321
depreciation 441 146   587
   
17334   proof 3  1410
88 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
6 business and geographical segments continued 
 2008
	
	 ————————————————————————————————————————————————
  merchanting retail unallocated  eliminations group
 £m £m £m £m £m
revenue 22379 9407   31786
result     
segment result 2065 102   2167
share of associate losses   14  14
finance income   77  77
finance costs   767  767
profit before taxation 2065 102 704  1463
taxation   444  444
profit for the year 2065 102 1148  1019
segment assets 20816 13456 3276 8634 28914
segment liabilities 7566 1859 17941 8634 18732
consolidated net assets 13250 11597 14665  10182
capital expenditure 826 159   985
depreciation 474 156   630
7 staff costs 
a the average monthly number of persons employed including executive directors
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 no no no no 
sales 11196 12264  
distribution 1885 1561  
administration 1447 1589 37 41
 14528 15414 37 41
b aggregate remuneration
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m 
wages and salaries 3296 3298 60 36
share based payment 15 46 21 05
social security costs 322 301 08 04
other pension costs note 8 90 119 02 04
 3693 3764 91 49
during the year 683 employees were transferred from an outsourced distribution operation raising staff costs by £132m   
17334   proof 3  1410
89 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
8 pension arrangements
defined	benefit	scheme
during the year the group operated a final salary scheme the travis perkins pensions and dependants benefit scheme “the scheme” which is a 160th 
scheme the scheme is funded by contributions from group companies and employees contributions are paid to the trustees on the basis of advice from 
an independent professionally qualified actuary who carries out a valuation of the scheme every three years 
employees are entitled to start drawing a pension based on their membership of the scheme on their normal retirement date if employees choose to 
retire early and draw their pension then the amount they receive is scaled down accordingly
a full actuarial valuation of the scheme was carried out on 30 september 2008 the ias 19 valuation has been based upon the results of the 30 
september 2008 valuation then updated to 31 december 2009 by a qualified actuary the present values of the defined obligations the related current 
service costs and the past service costs for the scheme were measured using the projected unit method
a major assumptions used by the actuary at the balance sheet date in nominal terms
 at at
 31	december 31 december 
 2009 2008
rate of increase in pensionable salaries 25 40
rate of increase of pensions in payment 24 23
discount rate 57 62
inflation assumption   35 30
in respect of longevity the valuation adopts the pmapfa92 tables with improvements in life expectancy to continue in the medium term with base year 
appropriate to the member’s date of birth this results in the following life expectancies at illustrative ages
weighted average life expectancy for mortality tables used to determine pension liability at 31 december 2009
   
 male years female years
member age 65 current life expectancy 216 248
member age 45 life expectancy on reaching age 65   234 267
b amounts recognised in income in respect of the defined benefit scheme
 2009 2008
 £m	 £m
current and past service costs charged to operating profit in the income statement 58 89
interest cost 304 318
effect of curtailment 327 
expected return on scheme assets   278 366
total pension income  costs   243 41
the total charge to the profit and loss account disclosed in note 7 of £90m 2008 £119m comprises defined benefit scheme current and past service 
costs of £58m 2008 £89m and £32m 2008 £30m of contributions made to the defined contribution schemes note 8j
the company and trustee agreed to amend the benefits of the tp scheme with effect from 1 december 2009 to include a cap on future pensionable 
salary increases of 3 per annum this has been treated as a curtailment event and the resulting reduction in the benefit obligation has been included as 
a curtailment gain in 2009 note 5
the directors have agreed with the scheme actuary and the trustee to pay contributions of £204m in excess of the forecast charge to the income 
statement 
note 5 shows where pension costs have been charged in the income statement actuarial gains and losses have been included in the statement of 
comprehensive income  
17334   proof 3  1410
90 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
8 pension arrangements continued c assets and liabilities in the scheme and the expected rate of return net of allowance for administration 
expenses
	 at	31	december	2009 	 at 31 december 2008
	 ———————————–––––––––––––	 ———————————–––––––––––––
 expected fair	value expected fair value 
 return £m return £m
equities 805	 3282 740 2436
bonds gilts and cash  430		630	 1523 365  600 1326
property 630	 476 565 445
total fair value of assets  5281  4207
actuarial value of liability  5711  4906
deficit in the scheme  430  699
related deferred tax asset  120  195
net pension liability  310  504
	 2009	 2008
	 ———————————––––	 ———————––––––––––––
 £m  £m 
actual returns on scheme assets 901	 214 1206 226
   
d the amount included in the balance sheet arising from the group’s obligations in respect of its defined 
benefit schemes and the movement during the year
 2009 2008
 £m £m
at 1 january 699 160
income  expense recognised in the income statement 243 41
contributions received by the scheme 309 205
actuarial losses recognised in the statement of recognised income and expenditure   283 703
at 31 december   430 699
e movements in the present value of defined benefit obligations in the current period 
 2009 2008
 £m £m
at 1 january   4906 5499
service cost   58 87
past service cost    02
interest cost   304 318
contributions from scheme members   54 53
curtailment gain   327 
actuarial losses  gains   906 869
benefits paid   190 184
at 31 december    5711 4906  
17334   proof 3  1410
91 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
8 pension arrangements continued f movements in the present value of fair value of scheme assets in the current period
 2009 2008
 £m £m
at 1 january    4207 5339
expected return on scheme assets   278 366
actuarial gains  losses   623 1572
contributions from sponsoring companies   309 205
contributions from scheme members   54 53
benefits paid   190 184
at 31 december    5281 4207
g cumulative actuarial gains and losses recognised in equity 
 2009 2008
 £m £m
at 1 january   1697 994
net actuarial losses recognised in the year   283 703
at 31 december   1980 1697
h history of experience gains and losses
 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
fair value of scheme assets £m 5281 4207 5339 5005 4316
present value of scheme obligations £m 5711 4906 5499 5813 5744
deficit in the scheme £m	 430	 699 160 808 1428
    
experience adjustments on scheme liabilities	 	 	  
amounts £m  134   90
percentage of scheme liabilities   27   16
     
experience adjustments on scheme assets	 	 	 	 	
amounts £m 623 1572 135 147 422
percentage of scheme assets  118 374 25 29 98
i sensitivities
we have estimated the effects of changing the key assumptions discount rate inflation and life expectancy on the ias19 balance sheet position as at 31 
december 2009 and on projected amounts to be recognised in the income statement for 2010
 effect	on	2009	 effect	on	2010	
assumption	 	balance	sheet	deficit	 income	statement
discount rate increase of 10  1037  41
 decrease of 10  1357  45
inflation increase of 10  869  51
 decrease of 10  696  42
longevity increase of 1 year  128  09
 decrease of 1 year  130  09  
17334   proof 3  1410
92 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
8 pension arrangements continued j defined contribution scheme
there are two defined contribution schemes in the group the pension cost which represents contributions payable by the group amounted to £32m 
2008 £30m
9 sharebased payments 
the following disclosures relate to share option and saye grants made after 7 november 2002
the blackscholes optionpricing model is used to calculate the fair value of the options and the amount to be expensed no performance conditions 
were included in the fair value calculations the inputs into the model expressed as weighted averages are as follows 
 
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————	 ———————————————————	
 		 executive	 nil	price executive  nil price
	 		 options saye options options saye options
share price at grant date pence  group 653 794 619 586 702 790
option exercise price pence  group 663 636  589 562 
share price at grant date pence  company 653 794 619 589 702  790
option exercise price pence  company 663 636  589 562 
volatility   group and company 610 507 601 213 214 213
option life years  group and company 30 35 30 40 38 30
riskfree interest rate   group and company 22 21 24 36 42 39
expected dividends as a dividend yield   group and company 16 20 16 24 21 24
volatility was based on historic share prices over a period of time equal to the vesting period option life used in the model has been based on options being 
exercised in accordance with historical patterns for executive share options the vesting period is 3 years if options remain unexercised after a period of 
10 years from the date of grant these options expire options are forfeited if the employee leaves the group before options vest saye options vest after 
3 or 5 years and expire 3½ or 5½ years after the date of grant the riskfree interest rate of return is the yield on zerocoupon uk government bonds on 
a term consistent with the vesting period dividends are based on actual dividends where data is known and future dividends estimated using a dividend 
cover of 3 times 
the expected life used in the model has been adjusted based upon the directors’ best estimate for the effect of nontransferability exercise restrictions 
and behavioural considerations
the number and weighted average exercise price of share options is as follows
the	group
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————	 ———————————————————	
 weighted		 number weighted  number
 average number of	nil average number of nil
 exercise of price exercise of price
 price		 options	 options price options options
in thousands of options p	 no	 no p no no
outstanding at the beginning of the year 935	 8190 790 1494 4823 168
rights issue adjustment 187 1885 467   
forfeited during the year 1001	 2073 246 1300 1990 59
exercised during the year 583	 8  943 36 15
granted during the year 645	 1621 1948 570 5393 696
outstanding at the end of the year 680	 9615 2959 935 8190 790
exercisable at the end of the year 1056	 763  1345  716 
share options were exercised on a regular basis throughout the year the weighted average share price for options exercised during the year was 796 
pence 2008 603 pence rights restated
   
17334   proof 3  1410
93 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
9 sharebased payments continued details of the options outstanding at 31 december 2009 were as follows
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————–––––	 –––––––———————————————————	
 executive  nil	price	 executive   nil price
 options saye	 options options saye options
range of exercise prices pence 201	–	 1611	 442 	–	 1114  255 – 1970 562 – 1414 
weighted average exercise price pence 875	 518  1246 664 
number of shares thousands 4371	 5244 2959 3817 4373 790
weighted average expected remaining life years 19	 27 22 24 34 23
weighted average contractual remaining life years 76	 32 92 84 39 93
the	company
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————–––––	 –––––––———————————————————	
 weighted		  weighted 
 average number	of nil	price average number of nil price
 exercise	price		 options options exercise price options options
in thousands of options p	 no no p no no
outstanding at the beginning of the year 1341	 693 442 1625 662 96
rights issue adjustment 271 148 283   
forfeited during the year 1550	 168 133 1628 130 19 
exercised during the year 	 	 	 1156 1 7
granted during the year 653	 29 879 419 163 372 
transferred to other group companies 442	 1	 	 1202 1 
outstanding at the end of the year 980	 701 1471 1341 693 442
exercisable at the end of the year 1018 239	 	 1446 101 
there were no share options exercised during the year details of the options outstanding at 31 december 2009 were as follows
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————–––––	 –––––––———————————————————	
 executive		 nil	price executive   nil price
 options saye options options saye options
range of exercise prices pence 201	–	 1611	 442 	–	 1114	  255 – 1970  562 – 1414 
weighted average exercise price pence 1021	 970	  1390 598 
number of shares thousands 649	 52	 1471 651 42 442
weighted average expected remaining life years 12	 35	 21 24 34 23
weighted average contractual remaining life years 65	 40 91 84 39 93
the	group	and	the	company
executive options were granted on 23 june 2009 and 17 november 2009 saye options were granted on 1 december 2009 the aggregate of the 
estimated fair values of the options granted on those dates is £54m for the group and £02m for the company
shares were granted under the share matching scheme on 19 may 2009 the estimated fair value of the shares at that date was £57m for the group 
and £26m for the company
shares were granted under the performance share plan on 23 june 2009 the estimated fair value of the shares at that date was £42m for the group 
and £09m for the company
shares were granted under the deferred share bonus plan on 3 march 2009 the estimated fair value of the shares at that date was £01m for the 
group 
the performance conditions in respect of the 2006 2007 and march 2008 executive share options the 2007 share matching awards and the 2008 
performance share plan awards have not been or are unlikely to be met and consequently the charges in respect of these schemes totalling £61m have 
been reversed in the year
the group credited £15m 2008 charge £46m and the company charged £21m 2008 £05m to the income statement in respect of equitysettled 
sharebased payment transactions  
17334   proof 3  1410
94 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
10 net finance costs
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
interest on bank loans and overdrafts 291 646 285 629
interest on unsecured loans 02 02 02 02
interest payable to group companies   27 
interest on obligations under finance leases 13 16  
other finance charges – pension scheme 26   
unwinding of discounts in provisions 38 16  
amortisation of cancellation payment for swaps accounted for as cash flow hedges 87  87 
cancellation of swaps measured at fair value 08  08 
net loss on remeasurement of derivatives at fair value 37 87 30 87
finance costs	 502	 767	 439	 718
net gain on remeasurement of derivatives at fair value  24  24
other finance income – pension scheme  48  
interest receivable 56 05 49 04
finance income 56 77 49 28
net finance costs 446 690 370 690
adjusted interest cover 107x 43x  
includes £29m 2008 £22m of amortised bank finance charges
adjusted interest cover is calculated by dividing adjusted operating profit of £2233m 2008 £2687m operating profit of £2246m 2008 £2715m 
less £13m 2008 £28m of ifrs adjustments by the combined value of interest on bank loans and overdrafts excluding amortised bank finance 
charges unsecured loans and interest on bank deposits which total £208m 2008 £621m 
the unwinding of discounts charge arises principally from the exceptional property provisions created in 2008
11 tax
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
current tax
uk corporation tax     
 current year 473 420 122 204
 prior year 09 06  02
total current tax 464 414 122 202
deferred tax	 	 	
 current year 89 31 29 
 prior year  01  02
total deferred tax 89 30 29 02
total tax charge  credit	 553	 444	 151	 204  
17334   proof 3  1410
95 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
11 tax continued the differences between the total tax charge shown above and the amount calculated by applying the standard rate of uk corporation tax to the profit 
before tax are as follows
the	group	
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 £m  £m 
profit before tax 2127  1463 
tax at the uk corporation tax rate of 280 2008 285 596	 280 417 285
tax effect of credits  expenses that are not taxable   
 not deductible in determining taxable profit 19	 09 26 18
depreciation of nonqualifying property 15	 07 20 13
property sales 30	 14 12 08
prior period adjustment 09	 04 07 05
tax expense and effective tax rate for the year 553	 260 444 303
the	company
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 £m  £m 
profit  loss before tax 736  330 
intercompany dividends 1224  478 
loss before tax and dividends received 488  808 
tax at the uk corporation tax rate of 280 2008 285 137 280 230 285
tax effect of credits  expenses that are not taxable  not 
 deductable in determining taxable profit 14	 29 26  32
tax credit and effective tax rate for the year 151	 309 204 253
12 earnings per share
the	group	and	the	company
a basic and diluted earnings per share
   2009 2008
   £m £m
earnings	 	 	 	 	
earnings for the purposes of basic and diluted earnings per share being net profit attributable  
 to equity holders of the parent company   1574 1019
number of shares	 	 	 no	 no
weighted average number of shares for the purposes of basic earnings per share prerights issue adjustment  117034434 117004114
rights issue adjustment   61001501 31474107
weighted average number of shares for the purposes of basic earnings per share revised	 	 178035935 148478221
dilutive effect of share options on potential ordinary shares   4427564 1715810
weighted average number of ordinary shares for the purposes of diluted earnings per share	 182463499 150194031
at 31 december 2009 3913130 2008 4680005 share options had an exercise price in excess of the market value of the shares on that day as a 
result for 2009 these share options were excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share  
17334   proof 3  1410
96 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
12 earnings per share continued b adjusted earnings per share
adjusted earnings per share are calculated by excluding the effect of the exceptional items in 2009 and 2008 from earnings
   2009 2008
   £m £m
earnings for the purposes of basic and diluted earnings per share being net profit  
attributable to equity holders of the parent company   1574	 1019
exceptional items   327 562
tax on exceptional items   92 142
earnings for adjusted earnings per share   1339 1439
adjusted basic earnings per share   752p	 969p
adjusted diluted earnings per share   734p	 958p
13 dividends
the	group	and	the	company
amounts were recognised in the financial statements as distributions to equity shareholders as follows
   2009 2008
   £m £m
final dividend for the year ended 31 december 2008 of nil p 2007 304p per ordinary share   355
interim dividend for the year ended 31 december 2009 of nil p 2008 145p per ordinary share   170
total dividends recognised during the year    525
the company is not proposing a final dividend in respect of the year ended 31 december 2009
restated dividend cover for 2008 of 85x is calculated by dividing adjusted basic earnings per share note 12 of 969 pence by the restated for the 
rights issue total dividend for the year of 1143 pence
there are no income tax consequences in respect of the dividends declared but not recognised in the financial statements
the dividends declared for 2009 at 31 december 2009 and for 2008 at 31 december 2008 were as follows
   2009 2008
   pence pence
interim paid    145
final proposed    
total dividends declared for the year    145  
17334   proof 3  1410
97 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
14 goodwill
the	group
 retail merchanting group    
	 ——————————————————————
 £m £m  £m
cost   
at 1 january 2008 9581 3716  13297
recognised on acquisitions during the year 118 99  217
at 1 january 2009 9699 3815  13514
recognised on acquisitions during the year  14  14
at 31 december 2009 9699	 3829	 	 13528
goodwill arising on the acquisition of businesses during the year was allocated to those cash generating units “cgu” that are expected to benefit from 
those acquisitions with the exception of the wickes’ business no individual cgu is significant in comparison with the total carrying amount of goodwill 
at 31 december 2009 before impairment testing goodwill and intangibles note 15 of £8824m million was allocated to wickes £268m to tile giant 
and £6061m to the merchanting business on the acquisition of the wickes’ business £250m of goodwill which represented synergies arising from the 
acquisition was allocated to the merchanting cgu 
the group tests goodwill annually for impairment or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill might be impaired the recoverable amounts 
of the cgus are determined from value in use calculations the key assumptions for the value in use calculations are those regarding the discount rates 
growth rates and expected changes to selling prices and direct costs during the period these assumptions have been reviewed during the year in light of 
the current economic environment which has resulted in more conservative estimates about the future and the changing capital structure of the company 
management estimates discount rates using pretax rates that reflect current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to 
the cgus as a result of these deliberations the discount rate has been amended to reflect changes in the capital structure arising from the rights issue 
the turnover growth rates in each cgu are based on the directors’ expectations for the next 5 years growth is predicted to be lower than in previous 
years as a result of the difficult economic conditions that are directly affecting the construction and related industries changes in selling prices and direct 
costs used in the calculations are based on past practices and expectations of future changes in the market it is anticipated that likeforlike sales volumes 
which fell during 2009 will flatten out for a period before resuming growth at a point in 2010
at the beginning and end of the financial period the fair value of goodwill and intangibles in both segments was in excess of its book value the directors’ 
calculations have shown that no impairments have occurred the key assumptions applied in the value in use calculations were
●
    cash flow forecasts which were derived from the most recent financial budgets and plans for the three years ending 2013 which were approved by the 
directors cash flows for the following year are extrapolated from cash flows for 2013 using similar assumptions to those applied to 2013
●
   the weighted average cost of capital “wacc” of the group of 86
●
   longterm forecast growth rates of 25 in line with the average longterm gdp growth trend applied from 2014 onwards
whilst the directors believe the assumptions are realistic it is possible an impairment would be identified if any of the above key assumptions were 
changed significantly for instance factors which could cause an impairment are
●
   significant underperformance relative to the forecast results
●
   changes to the way the assets are used or our strategy for the business
●
   a deterioration in the industry or the economy
the impairment review calculations are based upon anticipated discounted future cash flows these calculations are sensitive to changes in future cash 
flows the discount rate applied and the terminal growth rate the directors believe the assumptions used are appropriate but have conducted a sensitivity 
analysis to determine the assumptions that would result in an impairment to goodwill and intangibles of £100m
 
   merchanting  wickes
	 ————————————————
weighted average cost of capital    232               135
long term growth rate reduction                              290                   43
the company has no goodwill  
17334   proof 3  1410
98 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
15 other intangible assets
 
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
	 	 	 2009	 2008
   £m £m
cost  
at 1 january and at 31 december   1625 1625
the wickes brand is not amortised as a leading brand in the diy sector with significant growth prospects it is considered to have an indefinite useful life 
and is reviewed annually for impairment details of impairment testing are given in note 14 no impairments were identified in either year
the company has no intangible assets
 
16 property plant and eq uipment
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————	 —————————
  long short plant and   plant and
 freehold leases leases equipment total equipment
 £m £m £m £m £m £m
cost or valuation      
at 1 january 2008 2451 247 959 3772 7429 05
additions 180  122 646 948 01
additions from acquired businesses 18 07  12 37 
disposals 05  42 338 385 01
at 1 january 2009 2644 254 1039 4092 8029 05
additions 21  120 180 321 
reclassification 04 04    
disposals 88  21 160 269 
at 31 december 2009  2581 250	 1138	 4112	 8081	 05
accumulated depreciation	 	 	   
at 1 january 2008 247 32 255 1845 2379 03
charged this year 42 05 68 514 629 01
disposals 01  20 303 324 01
at 1 january 2009 288 37 303 2056 2684 03
charged this year 40 06 68 472 586 01
disposals 12  20 147 179 
at 31 december 2009 316 43	 351	 2381	 3091	 04
net book value      
at 31 december 2009 2265 207 787	 1731	 4990	 01
at 31 december 2008 2356 217 736 2036 5345 02  
17334   proof 3  1410
99 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
16 property plant and eq uipment continued the cost element of the fixed assets carrying value is analysed as follows
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————	 —————————
  long short plant and   
 freehold leases leases equipment total	 total
 £m £m £m £m £m	 £m
at valuation 691 61 19  771 
at cost 1890 189 1119 4112 7310 05
 2581	 250	 1138	 4112	 8081	 05
those freehold and leasehold properties included at valuation in the consolidated balance sheet were revalued at their open market value on an existing 
use basis the valuations were performed as at 31 december 1999 by an independent professional valuer lambert smith hampton consultant surveyors 
and valuers
included within freehold property is land with a value of £947m 2008 £988m which is not depreciated
the carrying amount of assets held under finance leases is analysed as follows
 
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————————————————————————	 ——————–––––––
  long short plant    
  leases leases equipment total	 total
  £m £m £m £m	 £m
2009  08 131 19  158 
2008  08 144 26 178 
comparable amounts determined according to the historical cost convention
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————	 ——————–––––––
  long short plant    
 freehold leases leases equipment total	 total
 £m £m £m £m £m	 £m
cost 2524 237 1224 4112 8097 
accumulated depreciation 482 56 407 2381	 3326 
net book value      
at 31 december 2009 2042	 181	 817	 1731	 4771 
at 31 december 2008 2110 187 767 2036 5100   
17334   proof 3  1410
100 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
17 investment property
	
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ———––———
    £m
cost 
at 1 january 20081 january 2009 and at 31 december 2009    39
accumulated depreciation	
at 1 january 2008    04
provided in the year    01
at 1 january 2009    05
provided in the year    01
at 31 december 2009    06
net book value	
at 31 december 2009    33
at 31 december 2008    34
investment property rental income totalled £02m 2008 £03m in addition the group also receives income from subletting all or part of 88 extrading 
and trading properties the amount of which is not material
as no external valuation has been performed the directors have estimated that the fair value of investment property equates to its carrying value as 
such it is not material to the group’s balance sheet
the company has no investment property
 18 investments
a interest in associates
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
equity investment 54 52 54 52
loan facility 280	 155	 280	 155
interest on loan facility 29	 03	 29	 03
share of losses 46	 14	 	 
 317	 196	 363	 210
on 4 april 2008 travis perkins plc acquired a 30 investment in toolstation limited for a total consideration of £52m in addition travis perkins plc has 
provided a nonrevolving loan facility totalling £280m in the twelve month period to 31 december 2009 toolstation recognised total revenues of £410m 
and a loss before tax of £106m at 31 december 2009 total aggregate assets were £225m and total aggregate liabilities including the loan facility 
provided by travis perkins plc were £425m
on 1 december 2009 travis perkins plc acquired a 49 investment in the mosaic tile company limited for a total consideration of £02m in the 
seven month period to 31 december 2009 the mosaic tile company limited recognised total revenues of £53m and a profit before tax of £01m at 31 
december 2009 total aggregate assets were £34m and total aggregate liabilities were £29m
b shares in group undertakings 
	 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
cost at 1 january   18143 16730
additions   978 1413
cost at 31 december   19121 18143
provision for impairment    170 129
net book value at 31 december   18951 18014  
17334   proof 3  1410
101 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
 18 investments continued the principal operating subsidiaries of the group and company at 31 december 2009 are as follows
subsidiary  registered office
travis perkins trading company limited  builders merchants lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
keyline builders merchants limited  builders merchants southbank house 1 strathkelvin place kirkintilloch glasgow g66 1hx
wickes building supplies limited  diy retailers lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug 
city plumbing supplies holdings limited  plumbers merchants lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
ccf limited  ceiling and dry lining distribution lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
travis perkins properties limited property management company lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
benchmarx kitchens and joinery limited  specialist distribution lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
tile giant limited  ceramic tile merchants lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
held directly by travis perkins plc
the directors have applied s409 to s410 of the companies act 2006 and therefore list only significant subsidiary companies
all subsidiaries are 100 owned all companies are registered and incorporated in england and wales other than keyline builders merchants limited 
and 8 dormant companies which are registered and incorporated in scotland city investments limited which is registered and incorporated in jersey and 
2 dormant companies registered and incorporated in northern ireland
c availableforsale investments
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
fair value investment 15 20  
the investment represents a minority holding in a unit trust that acquired properties from the group in 2006 the investment presents the group with an 
opportunity to generate returns through both income and capital gains the directors consider that the carrying amount of this investment approximates 
its fair value
19 other financial assets
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
trade receivables 2795 2952  
allowance for doubtful debts 345 323  
 2450 2629  
amounts owed by subsidiaries   490 369
other receivables prepayments and accrued income 1304 1233 18 199
trade and other receivables 3754 3862 508 568
the group’s principal financial assets are trade and other receivables which for the group at the balance sheet date comprise principally of amounts 
receivable from the sale of goods together with amounts due in respect of rebates and sundry prepayments the directors consider the only class of asset 
containing significant credit risk is trade receivables the average credit term for sales of goods is 54 days 2008 57 days 
the amounts presented in the balance sheet are net of allowances for doubtful debts of £345m 2008 £323m estimated by the group’s manage
ment based on prior experience and their assessment of the current economic environment the directors consider the carrying amount of trade and other 
receivables approximates their fair values
no interest is charged on the trade receivable from the date of the invoice until the date the invoice is classified as overdue according to the trading 
terms agreed between the group and the customer thereafter the group retains the right to charge interest at 4 above the national westminster bank 
base rate per annum on the outstanding balance the group has provided fully for all receivables outstanding over 90 days beyond agreed terms trade 
receivables not receivable for up to 90 days are specifically provided for based on estimated irrecoverable amounts  
17334   proof 3  1410
102 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
19 other financial assets continued movement	in	the	allowance	for	doubtful	debts
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
at 1 january   323 215
amounts written off during the year   102 60
increase in allowance recognised in profit and loss    124 168
at 31 december   345 323
in determining the recoverability of the trade receivables the group considers any change in the credit quality of the trade receivable from the date credit 
was initially granted up to the reporting date the concentration of credit risk is limited due to the customer base being large accordingly the directors 
believe that no further credit provision is required in excess of the allowance for doubtful debts
included in the group’s trade receivable balance are unprovided debtors with a carrying amount of £209m 2008 £289m which are past due at 
the reporting date for which the group has not identified a significant change in credit quality and as such the group considers that the amounts are still 
recoverable except for some instances of personal guarantees the group does not hold any collateral over these balances 
 
ageing	of	past	due	but	not	impaired	receivables
 
days overdue	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
0 – 30 days   160 227
31 – 60 days   33 35
61 – 90 days   16 27
   209 289
included in the allowance for doubtful debts are specified trade receivables with a balance of £204m 2008 £187m which have been placed into liquidation 
the impairment represents the difference between the carrying amount of the specific trade receivable and the amount it is anticipated will be recovered
none of the company’s debts are overdue the directors do not consider there to be any significant credit risk as the majority of the debt is due from 
subsidiaries
20 cash and cash eq uivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash held by the group and company and shortterm bank deposits the carrying amount of these assets approxi
mates their fair value  
17334   proof 3  1410
103 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
21 share capital
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 a n d 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 —————————————————————————————————————
	 authorised	 issued and fully paid
	 ————————————————	 ————————————————
ordinary shares of 10p no £m no £m
at 1 january 2008 135000000 135 122641849 123
allotted under share option schemes   77265 
at 1 january 2009 135000000 135 122719114 123
allotted on rights issue 265000000 265 85903379 86
allotted under share option schemes   8973 
at 31 december 2009 400000000	 400	 208631466	 209
on 12 june 2009 travis perkins plc issued 85903379 ordinary shares at an issue price of £365 pursuant to a rights issue offering of 7 new shares for every 
10 existing shares the total gross proceeds were £3135m with issue costs of £132m the issue costs have been charged to the share premium account 
the company has one class of ordinary share that carries no right to fixed income the holders of ordinary shares are entitled to receive dividends 
as declared from time to time and are entitled to one vote per share at meetings of the company all shares rank equally with regard to the company’s 
residual assets
22 own shares
the	group	and	the	company
   2009 2008
   no no
at 1 january    5684680 5698300
acquired during the year through the rights issue   1316010 
reissued during the year    13620
at 31 december    7000690 5684680
allocated to grants of executive options   289142 289142
not allocated to grants of executive options   6711548 5395538
   7000690 5684680
the own shares are stated at cost and held by the employee share ownership trust to satisfy options under the group’s share incentive schemes all rights 
attaching to own shares are suspended until the shares are reissued on the 12 june 2009 the employee share ownership trust acquired 1316010 
shares by partially taking up its entitlement to participate in the travis perkins plc rights issue the acquisition of these shares was funded by the sale of 
nil paid rights
23 reserves
details of all movements in reserves for both the group and company are shown in the statement of changes in equity a description of the nature and 
purpose of each reserve is given below
the other reserve represents the revaluation surplus that has arisen from property revaluations in 1999 and prior years 
the hedging reserve comprises the effective portion of the cumulative net change in the fair value of cash flow hedging instruments related to hedged 
transactions that have yet to occur 
the own shares reserve represents the cost of shares purchased in the market and held by the employee share ownership trust to satisfy options under 
the group’s share option schemes
the cumulative total of goodwill written off directly to reserves for acquisitions from december 1989 to december 1998 is £401m the aggregate 
information for the accounting periods prior to this period is not available  
17334   proof 3  1410
104 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
24 borrowings
a summary of the group policies and strategies with regard to financial instruments can be found in the finance director’s review of the year on pages 36 
to 43 at 31 december 2009 all borrowings were made in sterling except for the unsecured senior notes note 24 i
a summary
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
unsecured senior notes 2717 3114 2717 3114
bank loans note 24c 5250 6850 5250 6850
bank overdraft  123 40 1038
finance leases note 24d 235 250  
loan notes note 24e 38 39 38 39
finance charges netted off bank debt  96 125 96 125
 8144 10251 7949 10916
current liabilities 753 178 778 1077
noncurrent liabilities 7391 10073 7171 9839
 8144 10251 7949 10916
these balances together total the amounts shown as bank loans in note 24b 4 borrowings continued b analysis of borrowings
the	group
	 bank	loans	and	overdrafts	 other	borrowings
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
borrowings repayable    
on demand or within one year 700 123 53 55
more than one year but not more than two years 700 700 15 15
more than two years but not more than five years 3754 6025 1406	 1591
more than five years   1516 1742
 5154 6848 2990 3403
the	company
	 bank	loans	and	overdrafts	 other	borrowings
	 —————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
borrowings repayable	    
on demand or within one year 740 1038 38 39
more than one year but not more than two years 700 700  
more than two years but not more than five years 3754 6025 1359 1557
more than five years   1358 1557
 5194 7763 2755	 3153  
17334   proof 3  1410
105 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
24 borrowings continued c facilities
at 31 december 2009 the group had the following bank facilities available
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
drawn facilities     
5 year term loan 5250 5250 5250 5250
5 year revolving credit facility  1600  1600
unsecured senior notes 2717 3114 2717 3114
bank overdraft  123 40 1038
 7967 10087 8007 11002
undrawn facilities	 	 	 	 	
5 year revolving credit facility 4750 3150 4750 3150
bank overdraft 400 377  
 5150 3527 4750 3150
the disclosures in note 24c do not include finance leases loan notes or the effect of finance charges netted off bank debt
d obligations under finance leases
	 	 present value
the	group minimum of minimum
 lease payments	 lease payments
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
amounts payable under finance leases    
within one year 28 31 15 16
in the second to fifth years inclusive 107 109 63 61
after five years 262 287 157 173
 397 427 235 250
less future finance charges 162 177  
present value of lease obligations 235 250 235 250
less amount due for settlement within 1 year shown under current liabilities   15 16
amount due for settlement after 1 year   220 234
as a result of the introduction of ias 17 – “leases” the group considers certain properties to be subject to finance leases excluding 999 year leases the 
average loan term for these properties is 49 years and the average borrowing rate has been determined at the inception of the lease to be 89 in addition 
the group leases certain fixtures and equipment under finance leases the obligations for which are secured by the lessors’ charges over the leased assets 
the average lease term is 34 years for the year ended 31 december 2009 the average implicit borrowing rate was 134 2008 149 interest rates 
are fixed at the contract date all lease obligations which are denominated in sterling are on a fixed repayment basis and no arrangements have been 
entered into for contingent rental payments
e loan notes 
included in borrowings due within the year are £38m 2008 £39m in respect of loan notes issued as consideration for the acquisition of two groups 
during 1999 and 2000 the loan notes of £03m issued in 1999 to acquire sharpe and fisher can be redeemed on 31 january and 31 july each year the 
final redemption date being 31 january 2010 the £35m of loan notes issued for the acquisition of the business of broombys limited are redeemable on 
30 june and 31 december each year until the final redemption date of 30 june 2015 
   
17334   proof 3  1410
106 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
24 borrowings continued f interest
the weighted average interest rates paid were as follows   2009 2008
    
unsecured senior notes   58 58
bank loans and overdraft   22 63
other borrowings   54 51
bank term loans and revolving credit facilities of £1000m 2008 £1000m were arranged at variable interest rates the 400m unsecured senior notes 
were issued at fixed rates of interest and swapped into variable rates this exposes the group to fair value interest rate risk as detailed in note 25 to 
manage the risk the group enters into interest rate derivatives arrangements which for the first four months of 2009 fixed interest rates on an average 
of £635m of borrowings and for the last eight months fixed interest rates on an average of £630m of borrowings for the year to 31 december 2009 this 
had the effect of increasing the weighted average interest rates paid by 20
in respect of income earning financial assets and interest bearing financial liabilities the following table indicates their effective interest rates at the 
balance sheet date and the periods in which they reprice
the	group 	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————	 ————————————————
  6	months	or	less	  6 months or less
 effective total effective total
 interest	rate	 £m  interest rate  £m
unsecured senior notes 58	 2717 58 3114
unsecured variable rate bank facilities 18	 5250 36 6850
loan notes 56	 38 60 39
bank overdraft 23	  28 124
  8005  10127
the	company 	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————	 ————————————————
  6	months	or	less  6 months or less
 effective total effective total
 interest	rate	 £m interest rate  £m
unsecured senior notes 58	 2717 58 3114
unsecured variable rate bank facilities 18	 5250 36 6850
loan notes 56	 38 60 39
bank overdraft 23	 40 28 1038
  8045  11041
g fair values
for both the group and the company the fair values of financial assets and liabilities have been calculated by discounting expected cash flows at prevailing 
rates at 31 december there were no significant differences between book and fair values on this basis and therefore no further information is disclosed 
details about the fair values of derivatives are given in note 25
h guarantees and security
there are cross guarantees on the overdrafts between group companies
the companies listed in note 18 with the exception of benchmarx kitchens and joinery limited and tile giant limited together with wickes limited are 
guarantors of the following facilities advanced to travis perkins plc
●
 £525m term loan
●
 £475m revolving credit facility
●
 400m unsecured senior notes note 24i
●
 interest rate and currency derivatives note 25
the group companies have entered into other guarantee and counterindemnities arrangements in respect of guarantees issued in favour of group 
companies by the clearing banks amounting to approximately £137m 2008 £132m  
17334   proof 3  1410
107 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
24 borrowings continued i unsecured senior notes
on 26 january 2006 the group finalised a us private placement that resulted in it receiving 400m 200m of the unsecured senior notes is repayable 
in january 2013 and 200m in january 2016 the us borrowings carry fixed rate coupons of between 130 bps and 140 bps over us treasuries as 
described in note 25 to protect itself from currency movements and bring interest rate exposures back into line with the group’s desired risk profile the 
group entered into five cross currency swaps
25 financial instruments
significant	accounting	policies
details of the significant accounting policies and methods adopted including the criteria for recognition the basis of measurement and the basis on which 
income and expenses are recognised in respect of each class of financial asset financial liability and equity instrument are disclosed in note 2 to the 
financial statements
the	carrying	value	of	categories	of	financial	instruments
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
financial assets     
designated as fair value through profit and loss fvtpl  24  24
derivative instruments in designated hedge accounting relationships 447 803 447 803
loans and receivables including cash and cash equivalents 6718 3419 3678 568
availableforsale 15 20  
 7180 4266 4125 1395
   
financial liabilities	 	 	 	 	
designated as fair value through profit and loss fvtpl 35 81 35 81
derivative instruments in designated hedge accounting relationships 26 177 26 177
borrowings at amortised cost note 24a 8144 10251 7949 10916
trade and other payables at amortised cost note 28 6387 5822 196 153
 14592 16331 8206 11327
loans and receivables exclude prepayments of £508m 2008 £520m
the carrying amount of financial assets recorded in the financial statements which is net of impairment losses represents the group’s maximum 
exposure to credit risk
fair	value	of	financial	instruments
the fair values of financial assets and financial liabilities are determined as follows
●
   foreign currency forward contracts are measured using quoted forward exchange rates
●
   interest rate swaps are measured at the present value of future cash flows estimated and discounted based on the applicable yield curves derived from 
quoted interest rates
the following table provides an analysis of financial instruments that are measured subsequent to initial recognition at fair value grouped into levels 1 to 
3 based on the degree to which the fair value is observable
●
  level 1 fair value measurements are those derived from quoted prices unadjusted in active markets for identical assets or liabilities
●
   level 2 fair value measurements are those derived from inputs other than quoted prices included within level 1 that are observable for the asset or 
liability either directly ie as prices or indirectly ie derived from prices and
●
   level 3 fair value measurements are those derived from valuation techniques that include inputs for the asset or liability that are not based on observable 
market data unobservable inputs
there were no transfers between levels during the year  
17334   proof 3  1410
108 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
25 financial instruments continued included	in	assets
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
level 1    
foreign currency forward contracts at fair value through profit and loss  24  24
level 2     
cross currency interest rate swaps designated and effective as  
hedging instruments carried at fair value 447 803 447 803
 447 827 447 827
    
current assets  24  24
noncurrent assets 447 803 447 803
 447 827 447 827
included in noncurrent liabilities     
level 2     
interest rate cap and floor options at fair value through profit and loss  21  21
interest rate swaps at fair value through profit and loss  35 60 35 60
interest rate swaps designated and effective as cash hedging instruments 26 177 26 177
 61 258 61 258
interest	risk	management
the group is exposed to interest rate risk as entities in the group borrow funds at both fixed and floating interest rates the risk is managed by the group 
by maintaining an appropriate mix between fixed and floating rate borrowings by the use of interest rate swap contracts and forward interest rate contracts 
hedging activities are evaluated regularly to align with interest rate views and defined risk appetite ensuring optimal hedging strategies are applied by 
either positioning the balance sheet or protecting interest expense through different interest rate cycles
the group’s exposures to interest rates on financial assets and financial liabilities are detailed in the liquidity risk management section of this note
interest	rate	swaps
the group adopts a policy of ensuring that its exposure to changes in interest rates on borrowings is either on a fixed rate basis or is subject to movements 
within predefined limits to achieve its desired interest rate profile the group uses interest rate swaps 
as part of their interest rate management processes in respect of the facilities described in note 24 the group and the company at the commencement 
of the year were parties to two amortising interest rate swaps four nonamortising interest rate swaps two nonamortising interest rate swaps with a call 
option one amortising interest rate floor option and an amortising interest rate cap option in may 2009 the group and the company paid £287m to exit 
from all the above swaps and options with the exception of one nonamortising interest rate swap with a call option in may 2009 as part of their interest 
rate management processes in respect of the facilities described in note 24 the group and company entered into four amortising swaps each with an 
initial notional value of £100m two amortising swaps with an initial notional value of £50m and two nonamortising swaps each with a notional value of 
£50m contracts with notional values of £530m are designated as cash flow hedges with fixed interest payments at an average rate of 151 for periods 
up until may 2011 and have floating interest receipts equal to 1 month libor the nonamortising interest rate swap with a call option has a notional value 
of £50m with fixed interest payments at a rate of 4595 for periods up until october 2013 and has floating interest payments equal to 6 month libor
at 31 december 2009 the fair value of interest rate derivatives all of which terminate between one year and five years from the balance sheet date to 
which the group and the company were parties was estimated at £61m 2008 £258m this amount is based on market values of equivalent instru
ments at the balance sheet date interest rate swaps excluding those with a call option are designated and effective as cash flow hedges and the fair value 
thereof has been deferred in equity a credit of £47m 2008 £87m charge in respect of the fair value movement on interest rate swaps with a call option 
has been taken to the income statement through net finance charges as the company has not applied hedge accounting
interest	rate	swap	contracts
under interest rate swap contracts the group agrees to exchange the difference between fixed and floating interest rate amounts calculated on agreed 
notional principal amounts such contracts enable the group to mitigate the risk of changing interest rates on the fair value of issued fixed rate debt held 
and the cash flow exposures on the issued variable rate debt held the fair value of interest rate swaps at the reporting date is determined by discounting 
the future cash flows using the yield curves at the reporting date and the credit risk inherent in the contract and is disclosed below the average interest 
rate is based on the outstanding balances at the end of the financial year  
17334   proof 3  1410
109 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
25 financial instruments continued the following tables detail the notional principal amounts and remaining terms of interest rate swap contracts as at the reporting date
cash	flow	hedges	–	outstanding	receive	floating	pay	fixed	contracts
  average contract notional principle
	 	 fixed	interest	rate 	 amount	 fair	value
	 	————————————	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
   £m £m £m £m
1 to 2 years 151 495 5300 2370 26 42
2 to 5 years  502  2000  135
   5300 4370 26 177
the interest rate swaps settle on a monthly basis the floating rate on the interest rate swaps is 1 month libor the group will settle the difference between 
the fixed and floating interest rate on a net basis all interest rate swap contracts exchanging floating rate interest amounts for fixed rate interest amounts 
are designated as cash flow hedges in order to reduce the group’s cash flow exposure resulting from variable interest rates on borrowings the interest 
rate swaps and the interest rate payments on the loan occur simultaneously and the amount deferred in equity is recognised in the income statement over 
the period that the floating rate interest payments on debt impact profit or loss
currency	swaps
in order to eliminate the currency risk associated with the 400m unsecured senior notes described in note 24i the group and the company have entered 
into five cross currency swaps in varying amounts between £23m and £63m to fix the exchange rate at £1 equal to 173 for the entire lives of the 
unsecured loan notes although there is a mutual break clause on each swap on 1 december 2010 the forward options fix the notional amount receivable 
and payable in respect of the unsecured senior notes to £231m as well as fixing the exchange rate applicable to future coupon payments
the currency swaps manage the group’s and the company’s exposure to the fixed interest rate on the us dollar denominated borrowing arising out of 
a private placement on 26 january 2006 there are two interest rate swaps each of £58m that convert the borrowing rate on 200m of debt from 577 
to a variable rate on 6 month libor plus a weighted average basis point increment of 819 at 26 january 2006 the variable rates were both at 543 
a further three interest rate swaps of £29m £23m and £63m convert the borrowing rates on us50m us40m and us110m of debt from 589 to a 
variable rate based on six month libor plus basis point increments of 865 867 and 8605 respectively at 26 january 2006 the variable rates were at 
547 weighted average 
at 31 december 2009 the fair value of currency derivatives was estimated at £447m 2008 £803m all of these currency swaps are designated and 
effective as fair value hedges
fair	value	hedges	–	outstanding	receive	fixed	pay	floating	contracts
  average contract notional principle
	 	 fixed	interest	rate 	 amount	 fair	value
	 	————————————	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008 2009 2008
   £m £m £m £m
2 to 5 years 29 66 1156 1156 216 358
greater than 5 years 29 66 1156 1156 231 445
   2312 2312 447 803
the interest rate swaps settle on a half yearly basis the floating rate on the interest rate swaps is 6 months libor the group will settle the difference 
between the fixed and floating interest on a net basis
interest rate swap contracts exchanging fixed rate interest for floating rate interest are designated and effective as fair value hedges in respect of interest 
rates during the period the hedge was 100 effective in hedging the fair value exposure to interest movements and as a result the carrying amount of 
the loan was adjusted by £397m 2008 £1082m which was included in the income statement at the same time that the fair value of the interest rate 
swap was included in the income statement
the group acquires goods for sale from overseas which when not denominated in sterling are paid for principally in us dollars the group has entered 
into forward foreign exchange contracts all of which are less than one year in duration to buy us dollars to hedge the exchange risk arising from these 
anticipated future purchases at the balance sheet date the total notional value of contracts to which the group was committed was us40m 2008 
us46m the fair value of these derivatives is £0m 2008 £24m these contracts have not been designated as hedges and accordingly the fair value 
movement has been reflected in the income statement  
17334   proof 3  1410
110 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
25 financial instruments continued the following table details the group’s liquidity analysis for its derivative financial instruments the table has been drawn up based on the undiscounted 
net cash inflows  outflows on the derivative instrument that settle on a net basis and the undiscounted gross inflows  outflows on those derivatives that 
require gross settlement when the amount payable or receivable is not fixed the amount disclosed has been determined by reference to the projected 
interest and foreign currency rates as illustrated by the yield curves existing at the reporting date
 
	 2009
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————
  01 year 12 years 25 years 5 years total
  £m £m £m £m £m
gross settled     
interest rate swaps  receipts  145 145 1574 1354 3218
interest rate swaps  payments  37 45 1324 1229 2635
  108 100 250 125 583
foreign exchange forward contracts  268    268
total gross settled  160 100 250 125 315
net settled     
interest rate swaps  19 60 22  101
total derivative financial instruments  179 40 228 125 214
borrowings note 24  738 700 5209 1358 8005
other financial liabilities note 28  6387    6387
finance leases note 24d  28 28 79 262 397
total financial instruments  7332 688 5060 1495 14575
	 2008
	 ——————————————————————————————————————————
  01 year 12 years 25 years 5 years total
  £m £m £m £m £m
gross settled     
interest rate swaps  receipts  163 163 1842 1599 3767
interest rate swaps  payments  117 62 1419 1296 2894
  46 101 423 303 873
foreign exchange forward contracts  305    305
total gross settled  259 101 423 303 568
net settled     
interest rate swaps  39 110 115  264
total derivative financial instruments  298 09 308 303 304
borrowings note 24  162 700 7707 1557 10126
other financial liabilities note 28  5822    5822
finance leases note 24d  31 31 78 287 427
total financial instruments  6313 740 7477 1541 16071
interest	rate	sensitivity	analysis
the sensitivity analysis below has been determined based on the exposure to interest rates for both derivatives and nonderivative financial instruments 
at the balance sheet date for floating rate liabilities the analysis is prepared assuming the amount of liability outstanding at the balance sheet date was 
outstanding for the whole year a 10 increase or decrease is used when reporting interest rate risk internally to key management personnel if interest 
rates had been 10 higher  lower and all other variables were held constant the group’s
●
   profit before taxation for the year ended 31 december 2009 would have increased  decreased by £3m 2008 decreased  increased by £7m including 
£2m 2008 £4m of movement on interest rate swaps with options
●
   net equity would have increased  decreased by £6m 2008 decreased  increased by £11m mainly as a result of the changes in the fair value of 
interest rate derivatives
the group’s sensitivity to interest rates has decreased during the current period mainly due to the increase in the nominal value of interest rate 
derivatives  
17334   proof 3  1410
111 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
 26 provisions
  
	 t h e g r o u p
	 —————————————————————————————————
   property insurance  other total
   £m £m £m £m
at 1 january 2009    581 277 06 864
additional provision in the year   26 41 16 83
utilisation of provision   62 30  92
unwinding of discount   38   38
at 31 december 2009   583	 288	 22	 893
included in current liabilities   146 288 22 456
included in noncurrent liabilities   437   437
   583	 288	 22	 893
the group has a number of vacant and partly sublet leasehold properties where necessary provision has been made for the residual lease commitments 
after taking into account existing and anticipated subtenant arrangements 
it is group policy to substantially self insure itself against claims arising in respect of damage to assets or due to employers or public liability claims the 
nature of insurance claims means they may take some time to be settled the insurance claims provision represents management’s best estimate based 
upon external advice of the value of outstanding insurance claims where the final settlement date is uncertain
the following table details the group’s liquidity analysis of its provisions the table has been drawn up based on the undiscounted net cash outflows
  01 year 12 years 25 years 5 years total
2009  £m £m £m £m £m
property  137 93 232 318 780
insurance  288    288
other  22    22
  447	 93	 232	 318	 1090
2008     
property  106 85 243 370 804
insurance  277    277
other  06    06
  389 85 243 370 1087
the company has no provisions  
17334   proof 3  1410
112 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
 27 deferred tax
the following are the major deferred tax liabilities and assets recognised by the group and movements thereon during the current and prior reporting 
periods
the	group
 at recognised recognised at recognised recognised at	
 1 jan 2008 in income in equity 31 dec 2008 in income in equity 31	dec	2009
provided £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
capital allowances 146 07  139 23  116
revaluation 121   121   121
share based payments 05  05  30 08 38
provisions 106 02  104 03  107
derivatives      46 46
business combinations 142 11 05 136 09  127
brand 455   455   455
deferred tax liability 753 16 10 747 65 54 628
deferred tax asset 45 46 196 195 154 79 120
net deferred tax 708 30 186 552 89 133 508
at the balance sheet date the group had unused capital losses of £593m 2008 £610m available for offset against future capital profits no deferred tax 
asset has been recognised because it is not probable that future taxable profits will be available against which the group can utilise the losses
other than disclosed above no deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset 
the group has recognised a deferred tax asset of £12m 2008 £195m in respect of the deficit on its pension scheme the directors believe that the 
deferred tax asset will be realised as the deficit is reduced over the coming years 
 
the	company
 at recognised recognised at recognised recognised at	
 1 jan 2008 in equity in income 31 dec 2008 in income in equity 31	dec	2009
provided £m £m £m £m £m £m £m
share based payments 05 05   30 08	 38
derivatives      46	 46
provisions 05  02 07 01 	 06
 10 05 02 07 29 54	 90
28 other financial liabilities
 
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
trade payables 4089	 3964	  
other taxation and social security 337	 358	  
other payables 986	 772	 196	 153
accruals and deferred income 975	 728	 	 
trade and other payables 6387	 5822	 196	 	153
the	group 
trade and other payables principally comprise amounts outstanding for trade purchases and ongoing costs the average credit period taken for trade 
purchases is 52 days 2008 47 days the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade payables approximates to their fair value the group has 
financial risk management policies in place to ensure that all payables are paid within the credit timeframe
the	company
trade and other payables principally comprise amounts outstanding for trade purchases and ongoing costs the average credit period taken for trade 
purchases is 30 days 2008 30 days the directors consider that the carrying amount of trade payables approximates to their fair value  
17334   proof 3  1410
113 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
29 acq uisition of businesses
during the year the group acquired 1 limited company details of which are not material to the financial statements it was accounted for using the purchase 
method of accounting
	 2009	 2008
	 ————————————————————————	 ———————————————————————
 book	 provisional	 provisional book provisional provisional  
 value	 fair	value	 fair	value value fair value fair value
 acquired	 adjustments	 acquired acquired adjustments acquired 
 £m	 £m	 £m £m £m £m
net assets acquired       
property plant and equipment 	 	  52 15 37 
inventories 	 	  51 03 48
trade and other receivables 	 01	 01 30 01 29
cash and cash equivalents 	 	  09  09
trade and other payables 	 04	 04 71 04 75
tax liabilities 	 	  04  04
bank overdrafts and loans 	 18	 18 27  27
 	 13	 13 40 23 17
goodwill   14   217
deferred consideration   09   
amount payable   10   234
satisfied by       
cash   10   225
cash and cash equivalents acquired      09
   10   234
the acquisition made in the period under review is not material to the group in respect of turnover profits or cashflows therefore the results and cash 
flows of the group prepared on the basis that the acquisition was made on 1 january 2009 are not disclosed on the grounds of materiality
the turnover result and cash flow effect of the acquired business is not sufficiently material to warrant separate disclosure 
goodwill	arising	on	acquisitions
the goodwill arising on the acquisition made during the year is attributable to the anticipated profitability of this acquisition and the future operating syner
gies arising in the enlarged group no intangible assets were acquired during the year
prior	period	acquisitions
the provisional fair values ascribed to the net assets of acquisitions made during 2008 and disclosed in the 2008 financial statements were finalised during 
the year there was a £13m reduction in the fair values disclosed last year
30 operating lease arrangements
the group leases a number of trading properties under operating leases the leases are typically 25 years in duration although some have lessee only 
break clauses of between 10 and 15 years lease payments are reviewed every five years and increases applied in line with market rates the group also 
leases certain items of plant and equipment the company has no operating lease arrangements
the	 group	 as	 lessee   2009 2008
   £m £m
minimum lease payments under operating leases recognised in income for the year   1354 1290  
17334   proof 3  1410
114 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
30 operating lease arrangements continued at the balance sheet date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under noncancellable operating leases which 
fall due as follows
   2009 2008
   £m £m
within one year   1362 1257
in the second to fifth years inclusive   4899 4714
after five years   10868 10781
   17129 16752
the	 group	 as	 lessor
the group sublets a number of extrading properties to third parties property rental income earned during the year in respect of these properties was 
£47m 2008 £57m
at the balance sheet date the group had contracts with tenants for the following future minimum lease payments
   2009 2008
   £m £m
within one year   36 41
in the second to fifth years inclusive   126 129
after five years   158 181
   320 351
31 related party transactions
the group has a related party relationship with its subsidiaries and with its directors transactions between group companies which are related parties 
have been eliminated on consolidation and are not disclosed in this note transactions between the company and its subsidiaries are disclosed below 
in addition the remuneration and the details of interests in the share capital of the company of the directors are provided in the audited part of the 
remuneration report on pages 58 to 63
the remuneration of the key management personnel of the group is set out below in aggregate for each of the categories specified in ias 24 related 
party disclosures
   2009 2008
   £m £m
short term employee benefits   66 48
share based payments   23 24
   89 72
the company undertakes the following transactions with its active subsidiaries
· providing daytoday funding from its uk banking facilities
· levying an annual management charge to cover services provided to members of the group of £69m 2008 £73m
· receiving annual dividends totalling £1224m 2008 £478m
details of balances outstanding with subsidiary companies are shown in note 19 and on the balance sheet on pages 74 and 75
there have been no material related party transactions with directors
details of transactions with the group’s associate company toolstation are shown in note 18 operating transactions with toolstation during the year 
were not significant 
32 capital commitments
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
contracted for but not provided in the accounts 42 17    
17334   proof 3  1410
115 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
33 net debt reconciliation
	 t h e 	 g r o u p 	 t h e 	 c o m p a n y
	 ————————————	 ————————————
 2009 2008 2009 2008
 £m £m £m £m
net debt at 1 january 10174 9410 10916 8910
increase  decrease in cash and cash equivalents 3518 309 4168 1501
cash flows from debt 1616 473 1601 452
decrease  increase in fair value of debt 397 1082 397 1082
finance charges netted off bank debt 29 125 29 125
finance lease surrendered  29  
net debt at 31 december 4672 10174 4779 10916
34 gearing 
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
net debt under ifrs   4672 10174
ias 17 finance leases   232 245
fair value adjustment to debt   405 802
movement in finance charges netted off bank debt   96 125
net debt under covenant calculations   4131 9252
total equity   14604 10182
gearing   283 909
35 adjusted free cash flow
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
net debt at 1 january   10174 9410
net debt at 31 december   4672 10174
decrease  increase in net debt   5502 764
dividends    525
net cash outflow for expansion capital expenditure   111 535
net cash outflow for acquisitions    225
net cash outflow for acquisition of investments   10 03
swap cancellation fee   287 
cash impact of exceptional items   25 85
interest in associate   129 207
shares issued   3003 06
decrease  increase in fair value of debt   397 1082
movement in finance charges netted off bank debt   29 125
finance lease surrendered    29
special pension contributions   251 115
adjusted free cash flow	 	 	 2944	 1853
   
17334   proof 3  1410
116 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
36 adjusted return on eq uity and adjusted return on capital
adjusted	return	on	equity 
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
profit before tax   2127 1463
exceptional items   327 562
adjusted profit before tax   1800 2025
opening equity   10182 10369
net pension deficit   504 115
goodwill written off   927 927
   11613 11411
closing adjusted equity   14604 10182
net pension deficit   310 504
goodwill written off   927 927
   15841	 11613
average net assets   13727	 11512
adjusted return on equity   131 176
adjusted	return	on	capital 
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
operating profit   2573 2153
exceptional items   327 562
adjusted operating profit   2246 2715
opening net assets   10182 10369
net pension deficit   504 115
goodwill written off   927 927
net borrowings    10174 9410
exchange adjustment   802 279
opening capital employed   20985 21100
closing net assets   14604 10182
net pension deficit   310 504
goodwill written off   927 927
net borrowings    4672 10174
exchange adjustment   405 802
closing capital employed   20108 20985
average capital employed   20547 21042
adjusted return on capital   109 129  
17334   proof 3  1410
117 n o t e s t o t h e f i n a n c i a l s t a t e m e n t s
37 adjusted ratio of net debt to earnings before interest tax and depreciation
adjusted ratio of net debt to earnings before interest tax and depreciation “ebitda” is derived as follows
	 	 t h e 	 g r o u p
	 	 ————————————
   2009 2008
   £m £m
profit before tax   2127 1463
net finance costs   446 690
depreciation and impairments   587 630
ebitda under ifrs   3160 2783
exceptional items   327 562
reversal of ifrs effect    25 42
adjusted ebitda under covenant calculations   2808 3303
net debt under covenant calculations   4131 9252
adjusted net debt to ebitda   147x 280x  
17334   proof 3  1410
118 f i v e y e a r r e c o r d
consolidated	income	statement 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
 £m £m £m £m £m
revenue 29309 31786 31867 28488 26408
operating profit before exceptional items 2246 2715 3199 2780 2680
exceptional items 327 562  116 
operating profit 2573 2153 3199 2896 2680
net finance costs 446 690 585 577 613
profit before tax 2127 1463 2614 2319 2067
income tax expense 553 444 761 649 659
net profit 1574 1019 1853 1670 1408
adjusted return on capital  109 129 159 146 148
adjusted return on equity  131 176 236 218 232
basic earnings per share pence 884p	 686p 1208p 1087p 921p
adjusted earnings per share pence 752p	 969p 1181p 1004p 921p
dividend declared per ordinary share pence  145p 449p 374p 340p
branches at 31 december no 1238 1223 1125 1022 983
average number of employees no 14528 15414 14580 13831 14048
basic and adjusted earnings per share have been restated for the impact of the rights issue
consolidated	cash	flow	statement 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
 £m £m £m £m £m
cash generated from operations 3198 3376 3039 3233 3108
net interest paid 290 630 725 590 382
swap cancellation payment 287    
income taxes paid 273 660 745 573 470
net purchases of investments property and plant 78 824 1189 135 702
interest in associates 129 207   
acquisition of businesses net of cash acquired 10 225 472 109 10455
proceeds from issuance of share capital 3003 06 68 69 64
dividends paid  525 481 425 386
bank facility finance charges  147   
own shares acquired   760  81
payment of finance lease liabilities 15 21 19 28 23
repayment of unsecured loan notes 01 115 02 03 08
decrease  increase in bank loans 1600 337 986 1437 8727
net increase  decrease in cash and cash equivalents 3518 309 300 02 608
net debt at 1 january 10174 9410 8044 9824 307
non cash adjustments 368 928 24  
loan notes issued   77  
cash flow from debt and debt acquired  1616 473 965 1778 8909
net debt at 31 december 4672 10174 9410 8044 9824
five year record  
17334   proof 3  1410
119 f i v e y e a r r e c o r d
consolidated	balance	sheet 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005
 £m £m £m £m £m
assets     
noncurrent assets     
property plant and equipment 4990 5345 5050 4264 4452
goodwill and other intangibles 15153 15139 14922 14445 14363
derivative financial instruments 447 803 30 38 13
interest in associate 317 196   
investment property and other investments 48 54 55 59 41
deferred tax asset 120 195 45 242 429
current assets     
inventories 3127 3219 3302 2944 2632
trade and other receivables 3754 3886 4226 3643 3224
cash and cash equivalents 3472 77 263 563 561
total assets 31428 28914 27893 26198 25715
issued capital 209 123 123 122 121
share premium account 4712 1795 1789 1722 1656
own shares 837 837 839 79 81
other reserves 92 60 271 293 231
accumulated profits 10428 9041 9025 7273 5653
total equity 14604 10182 10369 9331 7580
non current liabilities     
interest bearing loans and borrowings 7391 10073 8639 7636 10274
derivative financial instruments 61 258 298 309 
retirement benefit obligations 430 699 160 808 1428
long term provisions 437 478 137 131 132
deferred tax liabilities 628 747 753 711 726
current liabilities      
interest bearing loans and borrowings 753 178 1034 971 111
derivative financial instruments    02 51
trade and other payables 6387 5822 5850 5652 4823
tax liabilities 281 91 323 342 333
shortterm provisions 456 386 330 305 257
total liabilities 16824 18732 17524 16867 18135
total equity and liabilities 31428 28914 27893 26198 25715
   
17334   proof 3  1410
120 n o t i c e o f a n n u a l g e n e r a l m e e t i n g
notice is hereby given that the fortysixth annual general meeting of 
travis perkins plc will be held at northampton rugby football club 
franklin’s gardens weedon road northampton nn5 5bg on monday 
17 may 2010 at 1145 am 
the resolutions
resolutions 1 to 8 inclusive will be proposed as ordinary resolutions 
resolutions 9 to 12 inclusive will be proposed as special resolutions
ordinary business
1  to receive the company’s annual accounts for the financial year 
ended 31 december 2009 together with the directors’ report and 
the directors’ remuneration report and the auditors’ report on those 
accounts and on the auditable part of the directors’ remuneration 
report
2  to reappoint robert walker as a nonexecutive director who was 
appointed by the board on 30 september 2009 pursuant to article 
71 of the company’s articles of association biographical details of 
robert walker appear on page 45
3  to reappoint chris bunker as a nonexecutive director who is 
retiring by rotation pursuant to article 76 of the company’s articles 
of association biographical details of chris bunker appear on 
page 45
4  to reappoint john coleman as a nonexecutive director who is 
retiring by rotation pursuant to article 76 of the company’s articles 
of association biographical details of john coleman appear on 
page 45
5  to reappoint geoff cooper as a director who is retiring by rotation 
pursuant to article 76 of the company’s articles of association 
biographical details of geoff cooper appear on page 44
6  to reappoint deloitte llp  chartered accountants as auditors of 
the company to hold office from the conclusion of this meeting 
until the conclusion of the next general meeting of the company at 
which accounts are laid and to authorise the directors to fix their 
remuneration
special business
7  that the directors’ remuneration report for the financial year ended 
31 december 2009 set out on pages 53 to 63 be approved
8  that in substitution for all existing authorities the directors be 
generally and unconditionally authorised in accordance with section 
551 of the companies act 2006 to exercise all the powers of the 
company to allot
 a  shares as defined in section 540 of the companies act 2006 
or grant rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into 
shares up to an aggregate nominal amount of £6954585 
and
 b  equity securities as such phrase is to be interpreted in accor
dance with section 560 of the companies act 2006 up to an 
aggregate nominal amount of £13909170 such amount to 
be reduced by the aggregate nominal amount of shares allotted 
or rights to subscribe for or to convert any security into shares 
in the company granted under paragraph a of this resolu
tion 8 in connection with an offer by way of a rights issue
 i  to ordinary shareholders in proportion as nearly as may be 
practicable to their existing holdings and
 ii  to holders of other equity securities as defined in section 
5601 of the companies act 2006 as required by the rights 
of those securities or subject to such rights as the directors 
otherwise consider necessary 
and so that the directors may impose any limits or restrictions 
and make any arrangements which they consider necessary 
or appropriate to deal with treasury shares fractional entitle
ments record dates legal regulatory or practical problems 
in or under the laws of any territory or any other matter  
such authorities to apply until the end of the company’s next 
annual general meeting after this resolution is passed or if 
earlier until the close of business on 30 june 2011 but in 
each case so that the company may make offers and enter 
into agreements before the authority expires which would 
or might require shares to be allotted or rights to subscribe 
for or to convert any security into shares to be granted after 
the authority expires and the directors may allot shares or 
grant such rights under any such offer or agreement as if the 
authority had not expired
9  that in substitution for all existing powers and subject to the 
passing of resolution 8 the directors be generally empowered 
pursuant to section 570 of the companies act 2006 to allot equity 
securities as such phrase is to be interpreted in section 560 of the 
companies act 2006 for cash pursuant to the authority granted by 
resolution 8 andor where the allotment constitutes an allotment 
of equity securities by virtue of section 560 3 of the companies 
act 2006 in each case free of the restriction in section 561 of the 
companies act 2006 such power to be limited
 a  to the allotment of equity securities in connection with an offer 
of equity securities but in the case of an allotment pursuant 
to the authority granted by paragraph b of resolution 8 such 
power shall be limited to the allotment of equity securities in 
connection with an offer by way of a rights issue only
notice of annual general meeting  
17334   proof 3  1410
121 n o t i c e o f a n n u a l g e n e r a l m e e t i n g
 i  to ordinary shareholders in proportion as nearly as may be 
practicable to their existing holdings and
 ii   to holders of other equity securities as defined in section 
5601 of the companies act 2006 as required by the rights 
of those securities or subject to such rights as the directors 
otherwise consider necessary 
   and so that the directors may impose any limits or restrictions 
and make any arrangements which they consider necessary 
or appropriate to deal with treasury shares fractional entitle
ments record dates legal regulatory or practical problems in 
or under the laws of any territory or any other matter and
 b  to the allotment of equity securities pursuant to the authority 
granted by paragraph a of resolution 8 andor an allot
ment which constitutes an allotment of equity securities by 
virtue of section 5603 of the companies act 2006 in each 
case otherwise than in the circumstances set out in para
graph a of this resolution 9 up to a nominal amount of 
£1043188 calculated in the case of equity securities which 
are rights to subscribe for or to convert securities into ordi
nary shares as defined in section 5601 of the companies 
act 2006 by reference to the aggregate nominal amount of 
relevant shares which may be allotted pursuant to such rights  
such power to apply until the end of the company’s next annual 
general meeting after this resolution is passed or if earlier 
until the close of business on 30 june 2011 but so that the 
company may make offers and enter into agreements before 
the power expires which would or might require equity securi
ties to be allotted after the power expires and the directors may 
allot equity securities under any such offer or agreement as if 
the power had not expired
10  that a general meeting other than an annual general meeting may 
be called on not less than 14 clear days’ notice
11  that the company be and is hereby generally and uncondition
ally authorised to make one or more market purchases within the 
meaning of section 6934 of the companies act 2006 of ordinary 
shares of 10 pence each in the capital of the company “ordinary 
shares” provided that
 a  the maximum aggregate number of ordinary shares authorised 
to be purchased is 20863756 representing 10 of the 
issued share capital of the company as at 23 february 2010
 
 b  the minimum price exclusive of expenses which may be paid 
for an ordinary share is its nominal value of 10 pence
 c  the maximum price exclusive of expenses which may be 
paid for an ordinary share is an amount equal to 105 of the 
average of the middle market quotations for an ordinary share 
as derived from the london stock exchange daily official list 
for the five business days immediately preceding the day on 
which that ordinary share is purchased
 d  this authority expires at the conclusion of the next annual 
general meeting of the company or 30 june 2011 whichever 
is the earlier and
 e  the company may make a contract to purchase ordinary shares 
under this authority before the expiry of such authority which 
will or may be executed wholly or partly after the expiry of 
such authority and may make a purchase of ordinary shares 
pursuant to any such contract
12 that with effect from the end of the meeting
 a  the articles of association of the company be amended by 
deleting all the provisions of the company’s memorandum of 
association which by virtue of section 28 of the companies act 
2006 are to be treated as provisions of the company’s articles 
of assocation and
 b  the articles of association produced to the meeting and initialled 
by the chairman of the meeting for the purpose of identification 
be adopted as the articles of association of the company in 
substitution for and to the exclusion of the existing articles of 
association
by order of the board
andrew pike 
company secretary
lodge way house harlestone road northampton nn5 7ug
23 february 2010
registered in england no 824821
directions to northampton rugby football club can be found on page 
124  
17334   proof 3  1410
122 n o t e s t o t h e n o t i c e o f a n n u a l g e n e r a l m e e t i n g
1  a form of proxy is enclosed and instructions for its use are shown 
on the form the appointment of a proxy will not prevent a member 
from subsequently attending voting and speaking at the meeting in 
person in which case any votes of the proxy will be superceded
2  a member of the company is entitled to appoint a proxy to exer
cise all or any of his rights to attend speak and vote at a general 
meeting of the company a member may appoint more than one 
proxy provided that each proxy is appointed to exercise the rights 
attaching to different shares a proxy need not be a member 
3  to appoint more than one proxy an additional proxy forms may 
be obtained by contacting the registrars or you may photocopy the 
form please indicate in the box next to the proxy holder’s name the 
number of shares in relation to which they are authorised to act 
as your proxy please also indicate by ticking the box provided if 
the proxy instruction is one of multiple instructions being given all 
forms must be signed and should be returned together in the same 
envelope
4  the right to appoint a proxy under note 1 above does not apply to 
persons whose shares are held on their behalf by another person 
and who have been nominated to receive communication from the 
company in accordance with section 146 of the companies act 
2006 “nominated persons” nominated persons may have a right 
under an agreement with the registered shareholder who holds 
shares on their behalf to be appointed or to have someone else 
appointed as a proxy alternatively if nominated persons do not 
have such a right or do not wish to exercise it they may have a 
right under such an agreement to give instructions to the person 
holding the shares as to the exercise of voting rights 
5  to be effective the instrument appointing a proxy and any 
authority under which it is signed or a notarially certified copy 
of such authority for the annual general meeting to be held at 
northampton rugby football club franklins gardens weedon 
road northampton nn5 5bq at 1145 am on monday 17 may 
2010 and any adjournments thereof must be returned to capita 
registrars pxs 34 beckenham road beckenham kent br3 4tu 
by 1145 am on 13 may 2010 alternatively you may submit your 
proxy form online by accessing the shareholder portal at www
capitashareportalcom logging in and selecting the “proxy voting” 
link if you have not previously registered for electronic communica
tions you will first be asked to register as a new user for which you 
will require your investor code which can be found on the enclosed 
proxy form your share certificate or dividend tax voucher family 
name and post code if resident in the uk
 
6  crest members who wish to appoint a proxy or proxies through 
the crest electronic proxy appointment service may do by using 
the procedures described in the crest manual 
crest personal members or other crest sponsored members and 
those crest members who have appointed a voting service providers 
should refer to their crest sponsors or voting service providers who 
will be able to take the appropriate action on their behalf
in order for a proxy appointment made by means of crest to be valid 
the appropriate crest message a “crest proxy instruction” must 
be properly authenticated in accordance with euroclear uk  ireland 
limited’s specifications and must contain the information required for 
such instructions as described in the crest manual the message 
regardless of whether it constitutes the appointment of a proxy or an 
amendment to the instruction given to a previously appointed proxy 
must in order to be valid be transmitted so as to be received by the 
company’s agent id ra10 by the latest times for receipt of proxy 
appointments specified in the notice of meeting 1145am on 13 may 
2010 for this purpose the time of receipt will be taken to be the 
time as determined by the timestamp applied to the message by the 
crest application host from which the company’s agent is able to 
retrieve the message by enquiry to crest in the manner prescribed by 
crest after this time any change of instructions to proxies appointed 
through crest should be communicated to the appointee through 
other means
crest members and where applicable their crest sponsors and 
voting service providers should note that euroclear uk  ireland limited 
does not make available special procedures in crest for any particular 
messages normal system timings and limitations will therefore apply in 
relation to the input of crest proxy instructions it is the responsibility 
of the crest member concerned to take or if the crest member is 
a crest personal member or sponsored member or has appointed a 
voting service providers to procure that his crest sponsor or voting 
service providers takes such action as shall be necessary to ensure 
that a message is transmitted by means of the crest system by any 
particular time in this connection crest members and where appli
cable their crest sponsors or voting service providers are referred in 
particular to those sections of the crest manual concerning practical 
limitations of the crest system and timings the crest manual can 
be reviewed at wwweuroclearcomcrest
the company may treat as invalid a crest proxy instruction in 
the circumstances set out in regulation 355a of the uncertificated 
securities regulations 2001
in each case the proxy appointments must be received by the 
company not less than 48 hours before the time appointed for holding 
the meeting or any adjournment thereof
7  only those members entered on the register of members of the 
company as at 600 pm on 13 may 2010 shall be entitled to attend 
or vote at the meeting in respect of the number of shares registered 
in their name at that time changes to entries on the register of 
members after that time shall be disregarded in determining the 
rights of any person to attend or vote at the meeting
notes to the notice of annual general meeting  
17334   proof 3  1410
123 n o t e s t o t h e n o t i c e o f a n n u a l g e n e r a l m e e t i n g
8  reference to the register means the issuer register of members 
and the operator register of members maintained in accordance 
with regulation 20 of the uncertificated securities regulations 
2001
9  the following documents will be available for inspection at the 
registered office of the company during usual business hours on 
any weekday saturdays sundays and public holidays excluded 
from the date of this notice to the date of the meeting and at 
northampton rugby football club from 1115 am on the day of 
the meeting until the conclusion of the meeting 
 
●
    copies of contracts of service of directors and nonexecutive 
directors’ letters of appointment with the company or with any of 
its subsidiary companies 
 
●
  the register of directors’ interests kept by the company 
 
●
  a copy of the company’s articles of association
 
●
    a copy of the articles of association proposed to be adopted 
under resolution 12 
 
●
   a statement giving particulars of directors’ relevant transactions
10  at 23 february 2010 being the latest practicable date before 
publication of this notice the issued share capital of the company 
consisted of 208637557 ordinary shares carrying one vote each 
therefore the total voting rights in the company as at 23 february 
2010 were 208637557
11  a person to whom this notice is sent who is a person nominated 
under section 146 of the companies act 2006 to enjoy information 
rights a ‘nominated person’ may under an agreement between 
himher and the shareholder by whom heshe was nominated 
have a right to be appointed or to have someone else appointed 
as a proxy for the meeting if a nominated person has no such 
proxy appointment right or does not wish to exercise it heshe may 
under any such agreement have a right to give instructions to the 
shareholder as to the exercise of voting rights
12  the statement of the rights of members in relation to the appoint
ment of proxies in paragraphs 1 to 6 above does not apply to a 
nominated person the rights described in these paragraphs can 
only be exercised by registered members of the company
 
13  any corporation which is a member can appoint one or more corpo
rate representatives who may exercise on its behalf all of the same 
powers as the corporation could exercise if it were an individual 
member
14  shareholders and their proxies will have the opportunity to ask 
questions at the meeting when invited by the chairman if you 
wish to ask a question please wait for a company representa
tive to bring you a microphone it would be helpful if you could 
state your name before you ask your question questions may not 
be answered at the meeting if they are deemed not to be in the 
interests of the company or the good order of the meeting would 
interfere unduly with the preparation of the meeting or involve the 
disclosure of confidential information or if the answer has already 
been given on a website the chairman may also nominate a 
company representative to answer a specific question after the 
meeting or refer the response to the company’s website
15  a copy of this notice and other information required by section 
311a of the companies act 2006 can be found at wwwtravisper
kinsplccominvestorcentreirasppagehome  
17334   proof 3  1410
124 d i r e c t i o n s t o t h e a n n u a l g e n e r a l m e e t i n g
directions to the annual general meeting
from the south via the m1
exit off motorway at junction 15a and follow the signs towards sixfields 
at roundabout with tgi fridays on the right and a bp petrol station 
on the left carry straight on up the hill at cineworld roundabout turn 
right towards the town centre go straight over the next roundabout 
sainsbury’s is on the left before the roundabout and wickes on the 
right after the roundabout and set of traffic lights continue on that road 
weedon road the entrance to the saints is on the right immediately 
after beacon bingo follow signs for vip car park off weedon road
from the north via the m1
exit off motorway at junction 16 and follow the a45 to northampton at 
cineworld roundabout continue straight on and follow directions from 
the south
from the east peterborough cambridge wellingborough
follow a45 to m1 junction 15 head north to junction 15a then follow 
directions from the south
from welford market harborough
aim towards the kingsthorpe area of northampton turn right at the 
major set of traffic lights the cock hotel is on the corner signposted 
sixfields continue on this road until you get to cineworld roundabout 
approx 3 miles then continue as from the south
from the railway station
turn right out of the station continue past thomas a becket pub 
church and co factory and bus station at fork in road bear left and 
franklin’s gardens is on your left walk takes approx 15 minutes
nearest airports
london luton and nottingham east midlands
further information
for detailed directions you might want to try the following websites
●  
multimap wwwmultimapcom
●  
the aa wwwtheaacom
●  
the rac wwwraccouk
for further details about the venuewwwnorthamptonsaintscouk
franklin’s	gardens 		
weedon	road 		
northampton	nn5	5bg
the travis perkins agm will be 
held in the captains lounge 
and the rodber suite parking 
is directly outside in the vip car 
park follow vip car park signs 
off weedon road
the annual general meeting is to be held at northampton rugby football club  
17334   proof 3  1410
125 o t h e r s h a r e h o l d e r i n f o r m a t i o n
shareholder enq uiries
shareholder enquiries should be directed to the company secretary at 
the company’s registered office
lodge way house lodge way harlestone road  
northampton nn5 7ug 
telephone 01604 752424
email cosectravisperkinscouk
or to the company’s registrars
capita registrars
northern house woodsome park fenay bridge  
huddersfield hd8 0ga
telephone 0871 664 0300 830am to 530pm monday – friday
calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras
email ssdcapitaregistrarscom
should your query relate to a pensions matter please email 
pensionstravisperkinscouk or if your query relates to a marketing 
matter please email marketingtravisperkinscouk 
financial diary
annual general meeting 17 may 2010
announcement of interim results july 2010
announcement of 2010 annual results february 2011
agm – catering arrangements
it has always been the company’s custom to provide a light luncheon 
for shareholders following the agm and a buffet luncheon will be 
available you need not notify the company in advance if you would 
like lunch
internet
there are sites on the internet that carry a range of information about 
the group and its principal brands products and services at the 
following addresses 
wwwtravisperkinsplccom investor relations site
wwwtravisperkinscouk    
wwwbmpublicsectorcouk  
wwwcityplumbingcouk
wwwccfltdcouk
wwwtoolsinthepostcouk
wwwtoolmartcouk
wwwkeylinecouk
wwwwickescouk
wwwtilegiantcouk
wwwbenchmarxjoinerycouk 
wwwiflocouk
wwwtoolstationcouk
wwwtradematecouk
wwwwickeskitchenscouk
www4tradeproductscouk
these sites allow credit account holders to order online with the 
exception of the wickes toolsinthepost and toolstation sites which 
allow online ordering by secure card transaction
some of the sites provide information about branch locations and 
allow access to prices and the product range available customers 
are also able to construct their own price quotation that includes 
any special price arrangements that have been negotiated with  
the group 
electronic communication
in accordance with the companies act 2006 and the company’s articles 
of association the company is allowed to use its website to publish 
statutory documents and communications to shareholders such as 
the annual report and accounts and the notice of the agm you can 
therefore view or download a copy of the annual report and accounts 
and the notice of the agm by going to our website at wwwtravis 
perkinsplccom see section called “investor centre” if you received 
a hard copy of this report in the post then you will not have consented 
to this method of publication should you now wish to consent to this 
method of publication you should contact
capita registrars 
freepost plus rlyxgztukrrg sas the registry  
34 beckenham road beckenham br3 9za 
by reducing the number of communications sent by post it will not 
only result in cost savings to the company but also reduce the impact 
that the unnecessary printing and distribution of reports has on the 
environment please note that if you consent to website publication 
you will continue to be notified each time that the company places a 
statutory communication on the website this notification will be sent 
to you by post however you may also choose to receive notifications 
by email and we would encourage you to do so if you wish to receive 
these notifications by email you should register at wwwcapitashare
portalcom and follow the instructions given below under the heading 
“accessing the share portal”
please telephone capita registrars on 0871 664 0391 within the 
uk calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras lines are open 
900am to 530pm monday – friday or 44 20 8639 3367 if calling 
from outside the uk if you have any queries
notes
1  before consenting to receive documents and communications via 
the website shareholders should ensure that they have a computer 
with internet access and the adobe acrobat reader facility the 
adobe acrobat reader software may be obtained via the website 
free of charge
2  if you elect to receive notifications of the publication of the docu
ments and communications on the website electronically it will be 
your responsibility to notify our registrars capita of any subsequent 
change in your email address or other contact details
other shareholder information  
17334   proof 3  1410
126 o t h e r s h a r e h o l d e r i n f o r m a t i o n
3  if you are not resident in the united kingdom it is your responsibility 
to ensure that you may validly receive documents and communica
tions electronically either generally or in relation to any particular 
document or communication without the company being required 
to comply with any governmental or regulatory procedures or any 
similar formalities the company may deny electronic access 
to documents and communications relating to certain corporate 
actions in respect of those shareholders who it believes are resident 
in jurisdictions where it is advised that to provide such access would 
or may be a breach of any legal or regulatory requirements
4  the company’s obligation to provide shareholder documents to you 
is satisfied when it transmits an electronic message the company 
is not responsible for any failure in transmission for reasons beyond 
its control any more than it is for postal failures in the event of the 
company becoming aware that an electronic communication to you 
has not been successfully transmitted a further two attempts will 
be made if the transmission is still unsuccessful a hard copy of the 
relevant notification will be posted to your registered address
5   your registration to receive electronic communications and your 
relevant contact address details will stand until such time as the 
company receives alternative instructions from you by email or in 
writing
6  the company takes all reasonable precautions to ensure no 
computer viruses are present in any electronic communication it 
transmits but the company shall not be responsible for any loss 
or damage arising from the opening or use of any email or attach
ments sent by the company or on its behalf the company recom
mends that shareholders subject all messages to computer virus 
checking procedures any electronic communication received by or 
on behalf of the company including the lodgement of an electronic 
proxy form that is found to contain any computer virus will not be 
accepted
7  the company reserves the right irrespective of your election to 
revert to sending hard copy documentation by post whenever it 
considers it necessary or desirable to do so
capita registrars
the company’s registrars capita registrars “capita” provide a 
number of services that as a shareholder might be useful to you
registrar’s online service
by logging onto wwwcapitashareportalcom and following the prompts 
shareholders can view and amend various details on their account 
please note that you will need to register to use this service for which 
purpose you will require your unique investor code which can be found 
on your share certificate proxy card or dividend tax voucher
share dealing services
capita offers an online and telephone share dealing service which is 
available by logging on to wwwcapitadealcom or telephoning 0871 
664 0346 calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras lines are open 
8am to 430pm monday – friday for the online service capita’s 
commission rates are 1 of the value of the deal minimum £2000 
maximum £75 and for the telephone service capita’s commission 
rates are 150 of the value of the deal minimum £2500 maximum 
£10250 
dividend reinvestment plan “drip”
the board has not proposed the payment of a final dividend for 2009 
nevertheless shareholders may wish to know about this plan which 
allows you to use your dividends to buy further shares in travis perkins 
for any shareholders who wish to reinvest dividend payments in the 
company a facility is provided by capita irg trustees ltd in conjunc
tion with capita registrars under this facility cash dividends are used 
to purchase additional shares shares are bought on the dividend 
payment date at the then current market price any cash left over 
which is insufficient to purchase a whole share will be carried forward 
and held without interest in a client money bank account any share
holder requiring further information should contact capita on 0871 
664 0381 calls cost 10p per minute plus any network extras from 
within the uk lines are open from 9am to 530 pm monday – friday 
if calling from overseas 44 0208 639 3402 fax 0208 639 1023 
email sharescapitaregistrarscom or visit wwwcapitaregistrarscom 
duplicate share register accounts
if you are receiving more than one copy of our report it may be that 
your shares are registered in two or more accounts on our register of 
members if that was not your intention you might consider merging 
them into one single entry please contact capita who will be pleased 
to carry out your instructions
overseas shareholders
capita are now able to provide you with a service that will convert your 
sterling dividends into your local currency at a competitive rate you can 
choose to receive payment directly into your bank account or you can 
be sent a draft in your local currency further details are available from 
capita registrars freepost plus rlyxgztukrrg sas the registry 
34 beckenham road beckenham kent br3 9za telephone uk 0871 
664 0385 calls cost 10 pence per minute plus network extras lines 
are open to 900am to 530pm monday – friday or 44 20 8639 
3405 from outside the uk or by logging on to wwwcapitaregistrars
cominternational 	 17334	 				proof	3	 1410
this document is important and requires your immediate attention if you are in any doubt as to what action you should take you are recommended to seek your  
own financial advice from your stockbroker or other independent adviser authorised under the financial services and markets act 2000 if you have sold or transferred all of your shares 
in travis perkins plc please forward this document together with the accompanying documents as soon as possible either to the purchaser or transferee or to the  
person who arranged the sale or transfer so they can pass these documents to the person who now holds the shares
printed on revive 25 – a paper containing 25 recycled waste and 75 virgin fibre sourced from well managed forests 
produced at a mill with iso 14001 environmental certification the pulp is bleached using an elemental chlorine free “ecf” process
d e s i g n e d b y r w h d e s i g n c o n s u lta n t s · p h o t o g r a p h y b y c a lv i n h e w i t t a n d c h a r l e s w a r d · p r i n t e d b y j o n e s a n d pa l m e r 	 17334	 				proof	3	 1410
travis perkins plc
2009 annu al repo rt and accounts a le ade r in builde rs me rch anting and home imp rovement ret ailing t r a v i s p e r k i n s p l c l o d g e w ay h o u s e h a r l e s t o n e r o a d 
n o r t h a m p t o n n n 5 7 u g 
t e l e p h o n e 0 1 6 0 4 7 5 2 4 2 4
t r a v i s p e r k i n s p l c 2 0 0 9 a n n u a l r e p o r t a n d a c c o u n t s


Summary:
  
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10 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
chief executive’s review of the year
for the year ended 31 december 2009
geoff cooper chief executive
introduction 
in 2009 the group’s priorities were almost exclusively focussed on 
dealing with the unprecedented downturn in construction activity our 
principal focus was on cutting costs and trading profitably to deal with 
a predicted 25 fall in activity levels and on taking a range of actions 
aimed at reducing net debt
whilst our overall forecast of activity levels for 2009 proved broadly 
correct the retail market held up much better than expected following 
actions taken by monetary authorities to boost consumer sentiment 
in contrast the trade market fared a little worse than expected the 
group in comparison with competitors with a more narrow focus 
has benefited from its breadth of business activities across these two 
segments of the building materials market this benefit was further 
boosted in 2009 by the success of wickes’ refreshed commercial 
strategy which led to market share gains profit growth and operating 
margin expansion
performance
summary
the group’s results reflect the impact of the early action taken to 
prepare for the recession the divergent fortunes of our two divisions 
and the successful rights issue completed in the first half of 2009
throughout this annual report consistent with our approach last year 
the term “adjusted” has been used to signify that the effects of excep
tional items have been excluded from the disclosures being made 
before adjusting for the effect of exceptional items in both years the 
group recorded an increase of 45 in pbt to £2127m and an increase 
of 29 in earnings per share to 884 pence including the effect of our 
£3003m rights issue shareholders’ funds increased by £4422m
the group incurred an exceptional charge of £562m in the 
prior year as a result of actions taken in response to the downturn 
in construction markets in 2009 the exceptional item related to a 
£327m pension scheme curtailment gain which arose in december 
when future increases in pension scheme members’ pensionable sala
ries were capped
for 2009 the group reported revenue down £2477m at £29309m 
2008 £31786m this revenue decline drove adjusted operating 
profit down 17 to £2246m 2008 £2715m adjusted profit before 
tax down 11 to £1800m 2008 £2025m and adjusted earnings 
per share down by 224 to 752 pence 2008 969 pence the 
revenue decrease of 78 comprised a decline of 86 in likeforlike 
“lfl” sales with network expansion accounting for growth of 10 
and a reduction in trading days accounting for 02
adjusted group operating margin fell by 088 to 766 2008 
854 note 5c whilst adjusted operating margin in the retail division 
improved by 07 to 581 merchanting division adjusted operating 
margin fell by 129 to 876 reflecting the challenge of in reducing 
fixed costs in line with the significant fall in volume experienced by 
the market
the actions we implemented in late 2008 ahead of the expected 
“our businesses 
have strong brands 
experienced 
management teams 
and market leading 
financial performance”  
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11 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
sharp downturn in construction activity in 2009 served us well we 
exceeded our original target for cost savings with the 2009 cost 
base of the company being over £60m lower than in 2008 against 
an original target of £50m having made additional headcount and 
distribution savings these savings would have been higher were it 
not for our initiatives to invest in opportunities to grow revenue in the 
retail market our cost reduction programme combined with initiatives 
to improve stock ratios and constrain capital expenditure have helped 
boost cash flow the group generated free cash flow of £2944m in 
2009 a 589 increase on last year overall including net proceeds 
from the rights issue of £3003m net debt was reduced to £4672m 
for covenant purposes net debt was £4131m giving a net debt  
ebitda ratio of 147 times and interest cover of 107 times
as expected with less construction work available competition in 
merchanting intensified during the course of 2009 with a related dete
rioration in pricing conditions product cost and price inflation continued 
to be relatively strong by historical standards in these circumstances 
we sought to trade flexibly preferring to protect our gross margin rather 
than fill our capacity with low margin work and redoubled our efforts 
to obtain favourable input prices through a range of procurement initia
tives we estimate these actions helped to offset over half of the fall 
in gross margins in the merchanting market in contrast the pricing 
environment in retail remained relatively benign as competitors sought 
to restore their low operating margin and achieve an economic return 
overall the gross margin percentage for the group decreased slightly 
mainly reflecting a decline in the merchanting division margin
for the 7 weeks to 20 february the group lfl sales performance 
was down 27 with our merchanting division down by 28 and our 
retail division down by 24 with our core and kitchen and bathrooms 
“kb” down 8 and up 233 respectively
merchanting division 
our merchanting division continued its work to ensure we offer superior 
services and products to customers our research continues to indicate 
the success of this strategy and overall merchant customer satisfac
tion improved in 2009 our merchanting branch network is rated as 
a preferred source of building materials amongst national merchants 
in 8 out of the top 13 criteria used by customers when selecting a 
provider of materials whilst this is lower than in 2008 the differences 
mainly relate to our pricing stance where we chose not to seek low 
margin work
merchanting division sales fell by 129 with sales from new 
branch openings contributing 10 and lfl sales falling by 135 
and a reduction in trading days accounting for a further decline of 
04 the lfl decline comprised 36 of price inflation offset by a 
171 decline in volume given our trading stance on low margin work 
we estimate that both our general and specialist merchanting opera
tions recorded a lfl performance behind the market with lfl sales 
in general merchanting falling by 141 and specialist merchanting 
falling by 126 independent merchants who traditionally accept 
lower operating margins appear to have increased their market share 
at the expense of national merchants with our trend of lfl sales now 
very similar to other national merchants we judge our trading stance in 
the recession to have been successful particularly when compared to 
the operating profit and margin trends of most competitors
retail division
the retail division enjoyed relatively stronger market conditions as 
consumers found their discretionary spending power increasing mate
rially following cuts in mortgage costs utility bills and other elements 
of their nondiscretionary spend this meant that despite the general 
economic uncertainty the value of the diy retail market increased by 
an estimated 3 over 2009 considerably better than expected retail 
division total sales were up by 43 to £9807m with sales from new 
branch openings contributing 12 lfl sales increasing by 32 
38 price inflation and a 06 volume decrease and a reduction in 
trading days accounting for a decline of 01 
lfl sales for the full year of wickes’ core products were down only 
slightly by 08 and on the same basis kb sales were ahead by 
277 wickes’ strong kb sales performance reflects wickes’ initia
tive to capture market share following the withdrawal from the market 
in late 2008 of a significant kb competitor wickes enjoyed great 
success with this initiative exceeding its targets for share gain and 
taking more share than its overall market presence
markets
overall
evidence of stabilisation in our markets emerged in the second half 
of the year shortly after the outset of the downturn we estimated that 
in response to the underlying difficult economic circumstances in the 
uk volumes in our markets would fall from their peak in late 2008 by 
about 25 and reach a low point in mid 2009 our view of 2009 now 
points to an overall trough of 25 but the trough in merchanting of a 
little over 30 occurred a few months later than we forecast whilst the 
retail trough of around 15 occurred in first quarter of 2009 again 
here we have seen the benefit of our spread of businesses across the 
retail and merchanting segments of the market
although the recession has broadly followed our forecasts there 
have been a few noteworthy differences from our predictions the retail 
market performed more strongly boosted by good weather and surviving 
operators benefited from the exit of a competitor from the showroom 
market by contrast the merchanting market performed less well due 
to exposure to the heavier end of the market serving large construction 
projects where the reduction in activity has been more severe
retail market
as noted above consumers found themselves better off as a result of 
falling housing and related costs although savings rates climbed and 
mortgage equity withdrawal turned negative consumers were prepared 
to spend more in a few selected markets – such as improving their   
17334   proof 3  1410
12 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
homes in addition the moribund nature of the housing market meant 
many householders were spurred to improve their existing home in pref
erence to extending their borrowings to acquire a new home in addition 
worry about jobs and a search for value seems to have boosted the 
proportion of householders ‘doing it themselves’ with less use of small 
building firms this category of trade customer is important to both 
wickes and travis perkins also wickes has little presence in seasonal 
categories such as outdoor living for which sales were increased by 
the generally benign weather in 2009 compared to other diy retailers 
wickes were therefore faced with additional challenges without the 
relief to revenue trends available from seasonally sensitive products
although the decline in retail markets followed our expectations at 
the beginning of the year the boost to consumers’ spending power 
meant we saw a steady improvement in rates of decline over the year 
with the market returning to growth in the fourth quarter overall we 
estimate the diy shed market over the year as a whole was down in 
volume by 35 and up in value by 3
merchanting market
markets for our merchanting businesses including travis perkins fared 
less well we estimate that nearly 60 of the merchantsupplied part of 
the construction materials market comprises repair maintenance and 
improvement “rmi” activity with new housing and new commercial 
public sector construction each taking up roughly half of the remainder
with little exposure to consumers purchasing directly from merchants 
and a greater reliance on the small building firms referred to above the 
merchant supplied part of the rmi market suffered the full force of the 
recession whilst this segment of the market is normally quite resilient 
since many building jobs are nondiscretionary we estimate that activity 
levels fell by 11 – an unprecedented level of volatility this fall would 
have been much worse had it not been for the expansion of public sector 
refurbishment work such as programmes to upgrade social housing
new construction fared even worse than rmi activity much atten
tion has been given to the very sharp – we estimate some 50 to 60 
peak to trough – dip in new housing activity however new construc
tion of retail commercial and industrial buildings suffered an even 
sharper and deeper decline again an expansion of public sector work 
softened the blow with a continuation of the hospitals programme 
expansion of the schools and colleges programme and extra invest
ment in infrastructure this latter category sources most of its material 
requirements directly from manufacturers and only specialist civils 
merchants like our own keyline business derive any significant benefit 
from this additional spend
after taking into account the differential level of penetration of 
merchantsourced supplies into the various segments of the market 
and the annualisation of the monthonmonth peak to trough trend we 
estimate that the merchant market declined by 12 in value and 15 
in volume for the year as a whole compared to 2008
again the impact of this decline was softened by the closure of some 
competitor businesses and branches we now estimate that since the 
retail productivity
per employee £k
2006 2007 2008 2009
189
197
186
200
merchanting
productivity
per employee £k
2006
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2009
206
220
216
215
a ian biddle driver
b bob webb ph manager 
c mathew plumridge yard superviser
d jose diaz assistant branch manager  
e adam bennett ph product leader 
a b
a c
d e 13
 
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c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r  
17334   proof 3  1410
14 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
start of the recession around 500 merchant branches have closed 
taking 5 of capacity out of the market allowing for the transfer of 
business to surviving branches where competitors have consolidated 
branches in our own case we have only closed 3 merchant branches 
over the year with our greater profitability sustaining branch contribu
tion levels despite falling volumes
managing through the downturn
in last year’s report to shareholders we described the actions we had 
taken in 2008 and our priorities for 2009 to deal with the downturn 
in our markets – as shown below the analysis indicates the extent to 
which we have been successful in these plans
actions	 and	 priorities	 achievements	 and	 performance
management focus
●
 scale back development activities 
●
 all but key projects terminated
●
 prioritise short pay back projects 
●
 cash projects ahead of plan
●
 boost service levels 
●
 higher customer ratings recorded
●
 increase branch supervision 
●
 field management prioritised
●
 reduce central function headcount 
●
 peak to trough central function headcount down by 9
market share gains
●
 generate sector leading performance  
●
 share lost in merchanting due to margin stance retail share up by 03 
●
 increase penetration of growing customer segments 
●
  further gains in social housing cash based builders major contractors
and interiors
gross margin protection
●
 increase common and direct sourcing 
●
  increased our direct purchases by 50 and added c30bps to our margin
●
 extend use of new pricing tools 
●
 over 15 bps margin gained in the merchanting division
●
 sustain higher price inflation 
●
 full year 17 ahead of plan
●
 overall seek to compensate for anticipated market price pressure 
●
 group gross margin percentage down slightly
cost reduction
●
 sustain the late 2008 cuts in headcount 
●
 peak to trough headcount down by 13
●
 reduce transport costs 
●
 delivery cost to sales ratio lower than 2008
●
  achieve £50m net reduction in overhead cost  
●
 cost reduced by over £60m compared to 2008 after absorbing inflation
ie after absorbing inflation on the cost base 
working capital efficiency
■
  manage any supplier pressures from the difficult credit 
●
 all suppliers maintained trading on normal terms with average creditor  
insurance market    days improving by 5 days
●
 use new supply chain capabilities to reduce stock by £20m 
●
 stock likeforlike adjusting for inflation reduced by £34m from initiatives 
●
  limit the deterioration of debtor and bad debt ratios 
●
  debtor days improved by 3 days and bad debt ratio improved by 011  
092 to 081
property realisations
●
 generate in excess of £16m of cash 
●
 £19m of cash generated from 17 property projects
●
 contribute in excess of £10m to ebit as a ‘steady stream’ 
●
 2009 profits before taxation of £11m
●
 maintain the quality of the freehold estate 
●
 freeholds incl long leaseholds maintained at 30 of the estate
reduce capital expenditure
●
 constrain 2009 capex to £37m limiting new works 
●
 capex kept to £28m with all essential works completed
●
 target £60m capex for 2010 
●
 capex forecast for 2010 of £60m
further cost and cash actions
●
 reduced energy transport and waste costs 
●
 these costs reduced by £4m within total noted above
 managing through the downturn  
17334   proof 3  1410
15 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
overall we succeeded in achieving the majority of the challenges we 
set ourselves when plotting a course through the difficult market condi
tions we faced this demonstrated yet again the strength of our opera
tional management when executing difficult change programmes
development
the onset of the recession altered dramatically our stance on expan
sion with the cancellation of many projects and withdrawal from 
acquisition negotiations we continued brownfield expansion at tile 
giant in 2009 where new stores enjoy a good cash payback profile 
and toolstation under the terms of our development agreement most 
development work in other brands in 2009 therefore involved a range 
of projects to evolve our offer to customers
wickes
there was limited network expansion in 2009 with total retail selling 
space expanded by 04 only stores under contract opened in the 
year and as a result we launched a net 2 new stores having relo
cated our oldham reading and slough stores and rebuilt our store at 
chadwell heath destroyed by fire in 2008 at 31 december we traded 
from 195 stores 
we continued to invest in new products and new formats during the 
year we opened our smallest ever full range store with an extended 
multichannel offer reflecting our continued view that the lower fixed 
costs of smaller stores backed by the efficiency of smarter supply 
chains are right for the future several stores were refitted or relocated 
giving a net improvement in the quality of the estate during the year
we completed a successful refresh of our showrooms eliminating 
the poorly performing conservatory and bedroom categories and 
expanding our bathroom offer showrooms are now dedicated to 
kitchens and bathrooms use of this new space was supported by the 
employment of new design consultants and a strong television adver
tising campaign which significantly improved both brand awareness 
and recognition of the high quality of product we offer
travis perkins
expansion for travis perkins was limited predominately to the opening 
of 6 new sites to support local authority stores contracts won during 
the year and 1 other branch we had 25 managed stores in partner
ship with local authorities or their contractors by the end of 2009 out 
of a total of 618 sites of which 174 incorporated a toolhire outlet 
an extension of the concept of stand alone stores that service 
individual local authorities is ‘inbranch’ local authority contract point 
these meet the demands of individual authorities that do not require a 
stand alone branch but still want the benefit of centralising purchases 
made by their employees and subcontractors in 2009 we established 
8 of these dedicated service points within existing branches and 
currently have secured agreement to open a further 3 in 2010
we continue introducing initiatives to secure new business during 
the year we focussed on increasing the number of active trade cash 
cards and active trading accounts by the end of 2009 we had achieved 
a 7 uplift 
we have successfully trialled a new tool that better enables the 
external sales force to target new and dormant customers which 
will be rolled out across the business during the first few months of 
2010 this tool together with the team of territory managers we are 
currently building will further increase the sales opportunities avail
able to the business
stock availability and control remain at the core of our efforts we 
have trialled ‘branch select’ to our larger or more specialist branches 
which for them is an extension of our already successful company
wide mandated stock requirement where all branches have to main
tain certain stocks in project quantities in addition we have introduced 
autoreplenishment of planed square edged timber and mouldings 
from our timber supply centres this improves colleague productivity 
and helps optimise branch stock quantities and availability 
keyline
our 83 branch heavy building materials and civils and drainage 
specialist is the most exposed of our brands to new construction 
activity since it specialises in serving ground workers and civil engi
neering contractors 
after a difficult start to the year keyline found its markets stabilising 
in q3 whilst we have therefore chosen to constrain its expansion its 
longerterm prospects are positive linked to a recovery in housing and 
continued good prospects for investment in infrastructure in 2009 
we appointed a new managing director andrew harrison to keyline 
andrew is a very experienced managing director having previously led 
ccf and benchmarx upon arrival at keyline andrew and the team 
launched a new initiative to concentrate on refining its specialist offer 
under the “best in town” banner which is aimed at demonstrating to 
customers that keyline should be their first choice in civils products 
alongside this it strengthened its sales team to enable it to make 
further inroads into the infrastructure sector
city plumbing supplies
city plumbing supplies “cps” via its 194 branches made good 
progress during the year by adding sales from market share growth 
to compliment its wellmanaged overhead base it focused on local 
customers by offering an enlarged range of products supported by an 
enhanced service from our distribution centre
with a newly refined and better balanced business model serving 
plumbing contractors and the installed bathroom sector cps offers 
good potential for expansion having held back any branch develop
ments in 2009 cps continues to trade from 194 locations cps is 
the smallest of 4 national businesses serving the plumbing heating 
and ventilation market and we have significant scope for growth once 
market conditions become more favourable development work in 
cps in 2009 focussed on trading ‘smartly’ to maximise the opportuni
ties available from this highly competitive market with a number of   
17334   proof 3  1410
16 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
refinements to ranges promotional schemes and supplier incentives
as an important addition to our customer offer cps has invested in 
a management team to establish a heating spare parts business which 
will be led by ian tillotson our group spares director
ccf
our drylining screeding ceilings and insulation specialist is more 
exposed to late cycle trends this means it enjoyed better volumes in 
2009 than the rest of the merchanting businesses however we are 
now seeing a similar sharp downturn in this specialist market which 
could well be longer and deeper than in the general trade market we 
are therefore holding back on any physical developments until we can 
see better market prospects this means the ccf business continued 
to operate from 33 branches at the end of the year 
ccf’s market is now very largely held in the hands of major national 
or international distributors who have recently invested in the sector 
and with only a few suppliers of the key products competitive condi
tions remained very tight despite this ccf’s “onestop shop” offer 
to contractors means it enjoys a good reputation and indeed it was 
accredited as best distributor by the influential federation of plastering 
and dry lining contractors by coming first in seven out of eight service 
categories
reinvigorated commercial activities resulted in ccf gaining 
significant market share it established a new flooring division and 
in addition invested resources in partitions and acoustics to good 
effect whilst improving its overall overhead management
benchmarx
2009 was another year of improved trading performance a new 
managing director chris larkin a former travis perkins regional 
director was appointed in mid 2009 to benchmarx our specialist 
kitchen and joinery business for the trade which was launched in 
2006 prior to chris’ arrival we had spent time refining the benchmarx 
business model to improve new branch breakeven volumes and 
cash payback profile chris and his team have built on this platform 
by improving the sales and marketing focus and have succeeded in 
increasing benchmarx’ customer base and revenues 
we took further market share improved our doors range through 
centralisation of distribution and established a contract sales presence 
to service the social housing sector we also developed a successful 
implant branch model for use within the wider merchant network 
affording us a low cost route to expansion
benchmarx’ 29 kitchen  joinery branches serve a market with 
attractive returns and growth characteristics and our offer has scored 
very highly with our new customers in this market we plan further 
branch openings and we remain committed to creating a business with 
a significant market share in this sector
tile giant
we entered the retail tile market at the end of 2007 via the acquisition 
of tile giant a 29store chain operating mainly in the midlands this 
business has subsequently been expanded rapidly through 2 acquisi
tions tile magic and tile it all and a number of brownfield open
ings including 10 stores opened in 2009 it traded from 86 stores 
at the yearend and we have a good pipeline of further opportunities 
to expand 
in 2009 we completed the rebranding of the businesses acquired 
during 2008 so all stores now trade under the tile giant banner our 
new stores are performing well and we plan to increase the rate of 
openings in 2010
on 1 august 2009 we added a further channel to tile giant when 
we acquired tile hq an internetbased seller of tiles and developed 
its range into natural stone products a faster growing segment of the 
market via the part acquisition of one of our key suppliers the mosaic 
tile company this will enable us to improve the supply of natural stone 
products and so remain ahead of the market in this area
using the acquired expertise we are completely redeveloping the tile 
giant website and aim to relaunch it as a fully transactional offering in 
the first quarter of 2010
toolstation
in april 2008 the group acquired a 30 equity interest in toolstation 
a rapidly growing direct retailer of lightside products since then under 
a development agreement the group has funded a rapid rollout of 47 
new stores 
toolstation added an additional 25 stores in the year bringing the 
total trading at the end of the year up to 59 in july 2009 it opened a 
new distribution centre at redditch to support its plans to rapidly grow 
its footprint across the uk this enabled the bridgwater distribution 
centre to return to its originally designed function of servicing the mail 
order and internet businesses
toolstation’s development in 2009 has created 175 new jobs 
in the uk which means that since travis perkins became a share
holder toolstation has created 381 new jobs and with its rate of lfl 
sales growth significantly outstripping its peers we are confident of 
further growth 
the group has an option to acquire the outstanding portion of 
toolstation’s equity under certain conditions in 2012
organisational capabilities
under a strategy of cost reduction in response to the recession our 
organisational capabilities were shrunk in 2009 leaving us with not 
much more than the essential requirements to continue running the 
business however we have been careful to maintain the core capabili
ties of the group for example by retaining key staff but redeploying 
them as a substitute for bought in services allowing us to cut back on 
the costs of using these external providers this leaves us well posi
tioned to take advantage of opportunities that may arise when volume 
growth returns
as well as the redeployment of staff we have streamlined manage 17
 
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c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
a hubert pawlowski warehouse assistant
b nigel lemon warehouse supervisor
c jeffrey whitbread warehouse assistant 
d steven greenen business development manager
a
b
c b
c d b  
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18 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
ment structures eliminated some departments cut discretionary 
expenditures and reduced headcount required in activities related to 
the volume of business we handle we expect to make a number of 
these changes permanent having proved we can operate satisfactorily 
with fewer resources in a number of aspects of the group however 
in 2010 we will also selectively invest in new resources to support 
improvement of our customer offer in our businesses this will involve 
some new activities in market research marketing sales multichannel 
operations it and supply chain
in 2009 we took specific actions aimed at maintaining morale and 
employee engagement in difficult trading conditions this included 
removing less engaged colleagues as we reduced costs improving remu
neration for the remaining employees increasing internal communica
tion activities and removing unnecessary and burdensome procedures
as we reported last year our senior management group experi
enced an increased and unusual level of turnover at the end of 2008 
as we cut costs in 2009 stability returned with only 11 departures – 
10 planned and 1 unplanned and undesirable after promotions and 
restructuring to support our streamlining of management structures the 
management group now comprises 187 executives in addition to the 
appointment of new managing directors to keyline andrew harrison 
an experienced md of a number of our businesses and benchmarx 
chris larkin a successful tp south east regional director described 
above we made 3 further changes to responsibilities norman bell our 
managing director of travis perkins in the south west was promoted 
to the executive committee to spearhead further development of our 
product offer norman’s role was taken up by mark nottingham our 
managing director for travis perkins in the north and andrew popple 
a regional director in the north was promoted to replace mark
the action we have taken to deal with the contraction in our markets 
and to pursue our stretched targets has increased the demands on 
our people the effect of seeking to reduce variable costs in line with 
sales trends seize opportunities from failing competitors and continue 
to serve customers well has manifested itself in an increased and 
more diverse workload for many of our people they have responded 
superbly in 2009 i continued my programme of regular visits to our 
branches stores distribution centres and offices and by the end of the 
year had seen 470 sites since joining the company i also continued to 
meet with all colleagues in our support functions over a rolling series of 
communication and feedback sessions during the year i am continually 
impressed by the dedication and commitment of my colleagues and 
would like on behalf of the board to express my thanks to all of them 
for all their hard work
environment
with the help of our non executive environmental advisory panel 
“neeap” we took a more active stance in 2009 to the development 
scope and pace of our environmental activity therefore in a year 
littered with government and ministerial announcements and consulta
tions about initiatives designed to reduce environmental harm we have 
confirmed our intention to go beyond demonstrable compliance and 
in some cases best practice our plans take into account commercial 
opportunities available and regard the environment as a stakeholder in 
the longterm survival of the business our objectives remain broadly 
the same and cover
●
  responsible procurement
●
 carbon management
●
 resource efficiency 
●
 local pollution prevention
we have invested in capital projects and in systems in pursuit of these 
priorities in 2009 with the aim of seeking a quantified commercial 
return and environmental benefit
continuous improvement
we monitor review and improve our environmental performance via an 
environmental management system certified to the iso 14001 stan
dard all our timber purchasing tracking and resale activity across all 
divisions is governed by our chain of custody procedures certified 
to external standards this allows us to bring fsc and pefc certified 
product to market
in this environmental review we present our latest quantitative 
and qualitative measures of performance lloyds register of quality 
assurance have examined how we have calculated and estimated our 
performance and have commented on the completeness and materi
ality of this review their assurance statement can be found on our web 
site – wwwtravisperkinsplccoukenvironment
performance trends can be seen by examining the graphs in this 
report the final indicators are a combination of measured averaged 
and estimated performance wherever possible we have used stan
dardised data collection and reporting techniques and we continue to 
work to improve the accuracy of the measures reported
we have adjusted historical data as noted below in order to increase 
reporting accuracy in 2010 we expect to improve further our accuracy 
by installing automatic meter reading equipment in many sites the 
equipment will improve our reporting of carbon emissions and will 
allow us to improve our targeting of consumption at site level
●
  historic carbon dioxide emissions from utility consumption have 
been amended to take into account increased data accuracy from 
the annual apportionment of kwh consumption this has resulted in 
a minor change under 1 to previously reported carbon dioxide 
tonnage data
●
  the natural gas carbon dioxide emissions factor has changed from 
net calorific value to gross calorific value basis in accordance with 
the “2009 guidelines to defra  decc’s ghg conversion factors for 
company reporting” version 2 30092009
●
  the waste tonnage charts reported in the 2008 environment 
report incorrectly showed total waste produced and the amount 
recycled the charts should have shown waste sent to landfill  
and the amount recycled the chart has been corrected for the 2009 
report  
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19 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
●
  estimated 2008 packaging tonnage of 64041 is adjusted to 63332 
due to increased data accuracy
●
  the 2008 water consumption baseline has been revised from 
403779 m
3
 to 349390 m
3
 due to increased data accuracy
engagement
dialogue with stakeholders is an important part of our approach to 
environmental improvement in 2009 in addition to consulting with 
our neeap see the box below we consulted with over 60 groups or 
individuals about aspects of our performance to help us to set priori
ties on environmental issues customers and regulators were the most 
well represented stakeholder groups in our consultations our financial 
stakeholders were least well represented
statement of the activities of the travis perkins non executive 
environmental advisory panel approved by the panel 
the travis perkins group values the contribution made by its non 
executive environmental advisory panel this panel representative 
of the main stakeholders of the group meets twice a year and is 
chaired by the ceo geoff cooper the panel’s role is to inform and 
guide the group’s environmental objectives and to help travis perkins 
identify a clear response to environmental issues which can generate 
heat but with inadequate light the panel is particularly encouraged 
to examine emerging issues and areas where clear government envi
ronmental policy or best practice doesn’t yet exist
the panel currently has 5 independent members drawn from the 
financial construction product manufacture house building repair 
and maintenance and environmental regulatory sectors each panel 
member offers a different perspective on the issues the solutions 
and the driving forces behind the solutions
the panel has so far reviewed the approach taken by travis 
perkins and offered comment on the objectives of the group in light 
of emerging practice and the response in the finance market and the 
construction and retail industry the panel has significantly helped 
travis perkins to understand its role in the supply chain and the contri
bution to improved environmental sustainability that it might make in 
fulfilling this role the panel has particularly encouraged the group to 
adopt a clearer environmental vision that encompasses this
the panel’s role is exclusively forward looking and it does not 
provide any kind of assurance or verification to travis perkins’ 
current environmental performance travis perkins will continue to 
use a credible 3rd party to verify the accuracy of its environmental 
reporting travis perkins will also continue to draw on all its experi
ence of the market and on other sources of information on policy 
and good and emerging sustainable practice when considering 
its environmental position the panel complements the group’s 
understanding of environmental policy and best practice it also 
enhances the group’s dialogue with the broadest range of stake
holders ensuring that their views are considered by travis perkins in 
determining its environmental objectives
as well as listening to the views of our stakeholders we also 
contribute to debate and seek to influence opinion about business’ 
role in environmental issues in particular we are active in environ
mental forums in the construction product association british retail 
consortium and the wwf forest and trade network
information about our environmental performance is accessible by a 
wide range of stakeholders via our web site we also provide detailed 
reports to rating agencies such as the carbon disclosure project and 
forest footprint disclosure project disclose much detail on our timber 
buying to the wwf through the forest and trade network and are 
involved in sector performance agreements and reporting such as the 
brc’s “a better retailing climate”
in 2009 via wickes we signed the waste reduction action 
programme “wrap” voluntary home improvement sector commit
ment to optimise packaging through this we expect to make progress 
over the next few years
we expect our neeap to become more influential in framing our 
internal decision making about our environmental objectives we have 
rejoined the timber trade federation partly for the opportunity to influ
ence the responsible sourcing debate 
we will continue to engage in dialogue with a wide selection of 
groups and individuals but in particular will concentrate on our 
employees an underrepresented group both our employees’ enthu
siasm to adopt new and better environmental practice and their 
ability to generate improvements and to come up with ideas is largely 
untapped 
responsible timber trading
we estimate that in 2009 we purchased 84 by value of timber 
products from material that came from certified well managed and 
controlled forests this continues our record of consistent improvement 
in recent years and suggests that we will achieve our 90 interim 
target by 2011 we do best in those categories with the shortest supply 
chains between us and the forest and those where we are the importer 
and distributor for a large amount of the category volume 
last year we successfully introduced important and significant 
changes to our timber product chain of custody procedures in the 
merchant and retail divisions these have ensured that certified 
product remains on offer in all branches and stores that sell timber 
– over 800 sites the changes support our efforts to enhance the 
robustness of chain of custody as responsible sourcing comes under 
increased scrutiny revisions to public procurement standards and 
building codes now require an increase in the demand for demon
strably certified product 
in 2010 we will focus on increasing certified product purchases 
from the harder to influence product categories such as flooring and 
doors in these product categories the supply chain between ourselves 
and the forest tends to be longer and be filled with small intermedi
aries this raises the need to adopt a stewardship role over the whole 
supply chain  
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20
36
c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
carbon management
in 2009 we emitted 154818 tonnes of carbon – 8 less than in 2008 
the biggest contributor to this reduction was lower emissions from 
our consumption of gas our carbon dioxide emissions from burning 
gas were down 7 over 2008 despite the 2009 winter being colder 
we attribute this reduction in emissions to the work we have done in 
installing heating controls in wickes – our highest consumer of gas 
the work started in 2008 and all stores had been fitted with these 
controls by autumn 2009
in the supply chain we have had some success in improving effi
ciencies from customer deliveries and these also contributed to our 
absolute carbon reduction on average on a likeforlike basis carbon 
dioxide emissions from branch to customer deliveries were 4 lower 
for 2009 than for the 2005 baseline year the monitoring capability of 
our fleet management process has helped to achieve these efficien
cies over 2009 and indicates that there are more savings to be made 
unfortunately the negative operating leverage effect of falling market 
volumes has meant that our measured carbon footprint of 591 tonnes 
per million pounds of inflation adjusted turnover does not reflect these 
efficiency gains however our average emissions per occupied building 
have been falling year on year over the last 5 years and our 2009 rate 
of 125 tonnes of carbon dioxide per site is 24 less than it was in the 
baseline year of 2005
we do not believe that our emissions per site will rise significantly 
as turnover starts to grow and while we may miss our interim 15 
reduction target in 2010 we still expect to achieve our 20 reduction 
in emissions per million pounds of adjusted sales by 2013
in 2010 we will concentrate much of our effort in establishing the 
ability to monitor electricity consumption at a site level more accu
rately in turn this will allow us to engage the site management and 
target reduced consumption both of these activities will increase 
our efficiency and also allow us to enter into the carbon reduction 
commitment energy efficiency scheme with an early adoption credit 
and a reducing emission trend 
we also intend to continue to deliver carbon efficiencies in the 
supply chain and to examine how we can quantify this more accurately 
by including the parts of the distribution chain that are currently outside 
of our direct control
waste management
in 2009 we sent 29148 tonnes of waste to landfill some 35 less 
than in 2008 and 41 less than our baseline year of 2005 we believe 
that this rate of improvement in performance will be sustained and will 
allow us to deliver by 2013 the target we have set ourselves of a 50 
reduction in landfill 
much of the success we have had in reducing waste to landfill 
last year has stemmed from the gradual removal of large open skips 
because these do not encourage reduction reuse or recycling in 
2010 we intend to pursue this with greater vigour with many sites 
being reduced to 1100 litre “wheelie bins” we have also provided 
2006
fsc ocs
24 49
2005
fsc ocs
34
ocs
2007
fsc
28 48
ocs
2008
fsc
26 54
2011
target
fsc and ocs
90
ocs
2009
fsc
58 26
timber certification
2005 data excludes wickes timber figures
timber purchased £ 
fsc forest stewardship council ocs other certified schemes
co
2
 emissions
corrected data and oecd sales deflated figures
tonnes co
2
 per £m group sales
transport
2007
energy
256 278
transport
2008
energy
276 326
transport
2009
energy
269 323
2010
target
energy and transport
508
2006
energy transport
265 319
2005
energy transport
271 326  
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21 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
branches with simple lower cost alternative waste recycling options 
both via backhaul through our internal supply chain for packaging and 
cardboard and through specialist partners for other materials since 
july 2009 all of our 7 distribution centres have collected bagged up 
waste plastic and cardboard from our stores and branches we have 
bailers installed at each distribution centre to enable us to compact 
and then sell the waste over the half year we have picked up bailed 
and sold on to the reprocessing market 2139 tonnes of material and 
estimate that we have reduced the demand for general waste capacity 
in branch and store skips by up to 30 our recycling rate in 2009 
was almost 30
in 2010 we will increase the segregation of our waste at source 
and expect to take advantage of our distribution network to accumulate 
sorted waste we have made a promising start in 2010 already and all 
pallets including damaged ones can now be returned via our distribu
tion network for reuse or recycling 
packaging
in 2009 we estimate that we sold 59484 tonnes of packaging this 
is 6 down on our revised 2008 estimate of 63332 tonnes on a 
likeforlike basis this equates to 207 tonnes per million pounds of 
sales in 2009 compared to 199 in 2008 we have spent some time 
in 2009 consulting with wrap  particularly about retail packaging 
wickes was the first business to sign up to wrap’s home improve
ment sector commitment we have also been vocal in the construction 
product association “cpa” about packaging reduction both the wrap 
agreement and cpa packaging reduction forum will be important in 
delivering our packaging reduction ambitions which are split between 
improving packaging specification for our own branded products and 
influencing propriety branded suppliers to reduce packaging for the 
branded product we sell
work on packaging specification changes will start in 2010 to deliver 
a 3year programme aimed at achieving a 20 reduction in tonnes of 
packaging per million pounds of adjusted sales by the end of 2013
water
in 2009 we estimate that we used 330086 m
3
 of water on a 
consumption to real turnover basis our 2009 consumption is slightly 
up on 2008 we have done some work on improving the accuracy of 
billing but have not yet addressed water efficiency this is not a priority 
area for us in 2010 although the target of reducing water consumption 
by 5 per million pounds of adjusted sales by 2013 remains
pollution prevention
we reported 3 incidents of high level hazardous waste fly tipping at 
our sites to environmental regulators in 2009 in addition we recorded 
3 minor spills of fuel but these were not notified to regulators as the 
spills were prevented from entering any water courses
we had no prosecutions for any environmental offence in 2009 
however we did receive one enforcement notice from a regulator to 
waste tonnage
corrected data and oecd sales deflated figures
tonnes waste per £m yard and core sales excludes sales from direct deliveries 
2006 2005
waste
waste
recycling
recycling
17
10
196
219
28
recycling
2007
waste
180
31
recycling
2008
waste
184
36
recycling
2009
waste
133
2013
target
waste to landfill
109
environmental incidents
and complaints
2006
complaints incidents
10 5
2005
complaints incidents
5 5
2007
complaints incidents
10 6
2008
complaints incidents
17 4
2009
complaints incidents
6 3  
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22 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
clean up one of our sites we also entered into a dialogue with three 
regulators who were seeking confirmation about possible statutory 
nuisances and a failure to meet essential packaging requirements we 
do not believe that there is any planned action by any regulator relating 
to these incidents which we have recorded as complaints
in addition we received 2 complaints from neighbours about noise 
and in each case have worked to resolve the complaint by either 
changing working hours or installing white noise beepers on vehicles
even though the level of complaint and incidents in 2009 was at 
a 5 year low we remain committed to improving our performance 
we have a target of zero incidents and complaints and will remain 
diligent in our site operations in 2010 we will continue to communicate 
with our branches and stores to ensure that the site noise level control 
adequately reflects the environmental impact and environmental risk
community activities
our relationships with local communities and the public at large are 
deeply embedded in our heritage and culture and are strongly high
lighted through our work with charities the partnerships with our 
chosen charities continue to thrive through a variety of activities across 
all of our 1238 stores and branches in the uk as a group we have 
raised over £18m over the last three years for our chosen charities
this year wickes became the first of our businesses to succeed in 
raising more than £1 million for its nominated charity leukaemia and 
lymphoma research since the partnership with leukaemia research 
began 3 years ago the enthusiasm and support of colleagues has been 
overwhelming and reaching the £1 million mark is a testament to the 
dedication of all employees in our retail stores and teams in october 
2009 a group of wickes colleagues successfully climbed mount 
kilimanjaro raising over £75000
wickes colleagues play a vital role in organising many local fund
raising events such as football tournaments and golf competitions 
as well as instore events such as fancy dress days and car washes 
they also participate in larger public events including marathons 
triathlons and ‘bikeathons’ our top fund raising store last year raised 
over £9000
despite more difficult trading conditions the rest of the group raised 
over £850000 for action for children formally nch and mencap with 
its sister charity enable in scotland over a threeyear period 
in 2009 the merchanting businesses and our northampton head 
office raised over £230000 through a variety of fundraising activities 
63 employees from our travis perkins business and head office took 
on a “beat the moon” challenge which saw them cycle walk ride and 
canoe over 31 miles in one day raising £43000 through this achieve
ment two of our travis perkins’ businesses both held a charity ball 
raising almost £70000 between them
from 2010 each of our businesses will adopt its own nominated 
charity or charities this will enable further worthwhile causes to benefit 
from the fundraising efforts and generosity of our employees this 
means that starting in 2010 the group as a whole will be supporting 
11 charities – breast cancer campaign children’s hospices uk the 
prostate cancer charity childline happy days clic sargent donna 
louise hospice keech hospice care for children warwickshire and 
northamptonshire air ambulance and whizkidz wickes will continue 
to support leukaemia and lymphoma research as they celebrate 50 
years as a charity 
in 2009 we continued our role as main sponsor of northampton 
saints rugby club and continued to involve our northamptonshire 
colleagues in joint community activities including sportsmatch – the 
governmentfunded scheme that gives local primary schools rugby 
coaching sessions assembly visits and classbased tag rugby compe
titions our “1000 projects…” initiative continues to forge and develop 
relationships with local communities in the towns and cities in which 
we trade more than 700 local projects schools charities and ameni
ties across the uk have benefited from the time and talent and often 
materials donated by our employees
each project involves our teams giving their own time and working 
with suppliers local customers and community organisations to deliver 
a building project of real value to the communities in the towns and 
cities where we trade some recent examples include
●
  wood green school in walsall where the local travis perkins 
branches joined forces with sixth form students for a 5day project to 
create a leisure area within the school their remit was to construct 
the leisure area from sustainable or recycled materials to provide a 
safe and interesting environment for them to meet and socialise 
●
  our travis perkins’ vauxhall branch are supporting a local care home 
by repainting a relaxation area to brighten it up for residents
●
  employees from our keyline morley branch are donating materials 
and building a sensory garden for disabled children at northowram 
primary school west yorkshire 
●
  the team at travis perkins in colchester led by their branch 
manager steve bareham completed no less than 6 projects as part 
of our “1000 projects…” initiative and raised thousands of pounds 
for our nominated charities in recognition the team were rewarded 
at the prestigious colchester and district business awards earlier 
in 2009 for successfully incorporating community and fundraising 
projects into their everyday working lives
year on year the “1000 projects…” initiative proves to be instru
mental in helping our branch teams cultivate and develop relationships 
with the local community to develop team morale and ‘togetherness’ 
and gain excellent local publicity
investors
the rights issue in may removed the market uncertainty about the 
robustness of the group’s balance sheet and spurred a lot of activity in 
trading of the group’s shares
responsibility for communications with shareholders and debt 
providers rests directly with me and paul hampden smith our finance 
director with support and advice from the company’s brokers we do 
not employ an investor relations manager the company chairman and  23
 
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c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
a neale mist telephone sales representative
b ray cox yard supervisor
c derrick steeletelephone sales representative
a b
c  
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24 c h i e f e x e c u t i v e ’ s r e v i e w o f t h e y e a r
senior independent director attend a selection of investor meetings 
throughout the year and the company chairman attends the meetings 
at which we present the group’s interim and preliminary results to buy
side and sellside analysts in addition to these meetings at least one 
day per month is set aside to meet investors and analysts 
this regular programme is supplemented with one trip per year to 
meet with investors in eire canada and the usa and we host a visit for 
analysts to a selection of our businesses once per year
in 2009 we conducted nearly 155 meetings with investors activity 
levels again boosted by the rights issue increased in 2009 as part of 
each exercise to present interim and preliminary results we typically 
meet shareholders representing around 60 of the shares outstanding 
this includes a ‘family lunch’ where we meet with representatives of 
the travis and perkins families
strategy
we have developed our strategy to respond to three distinct phases 
of the recession managing the downturn stabilisation and exploiting 
opportunities our priorities in managing the downturn are described 
above and we have now turned our attention to the prospects for our 
markets in this next phase of stabilisation 
although forecasts are particularly problematic in this recession we 
estimate our markets are now stabilising having fallen sharply from 
the third quarter of 2008 we are now in a phase of stabilisation which 
presents its own difficulties with no growth some exaggerated short 
term volatility in market trends continued intense competition and 
business failures and the potential for material shortages following the 
large cuts in manufacturing capacity implemented by manufacturers 
at this stage there is no clear indication of when our markets might 
return to growth again although we believe this might be evident by 
the end of 2010 we are also wary of the probable ‘false starts’ that 
we expect to see
whilst our markets are no longer exhibiting the abrupt declines in 
volume that characterised the start of the recession activity levels 
remain fragile we are concerned in particular about weak consumer 
spending trends in 2010 as inflation rises and the cushion of falling 
mortgage costs annualises out we expect the home improvement 
market to contract further in 2010 but with only limited benefit from 
competitors going out of business in contrast to the large capacity 
reductions seen in 2009 against this background we expect pricing 
discipline to be maintained since returns for most operators remain at 
subeconomic levels however there is always a risk of sporadic price 
aggression from less disciplined operators
we also expect a contraction in the merchanting market although 
it will be slight and will simply reflect the annualisation of the trough 
although there will be significant variations in the fortunes of the 
various segments of the market increased activity in housing construc
tion albeit from a low base and expanded public sector investment in 
the built environment will provide a ‘floor’ to activity levels
in an anticipated period of low growth our focus is shifting to driving 
organic performance
against the fragile market background we remain vigilant keeping 
a tight control on our core operating costs and looking to maintain 
gross margins wherever possible the structural improvements in our 
overhead base will be sustained with no reinstatement of manage
ment posts removed in late 2008 and cash generation will continue 
as a priority through pursuit of supply chain initiatives we will adopt a 
flexible stance to expansion of our successful retail marketing invest
ments credit extended to trade customers and sales prospecting 
activity in trade markets seeking to match the costs of these against 
the strength of activity levels
whilst remaining vigilant we have made provision in our cost plans in 
2010 to selectively invest in a number of new activities that have direct 
benefits to customers in the form of a steadily more attractive offer
until we can see signs of a recovery in our markets we do not 
think it worthwhile to comment on or further develop our strategy for 
exploiting opportunities the outline of these strategies can be defined 
but it is difficult to determine in present conditions when they are 
likely to become relevant 
our businesses have strong brands experienced management 
teams and market leading financial performance these strengths 
mean we remain confident of our ability to position the group to take 
advantage of further opportunities we believe will arise when our sector 
returns to growth
geoff cooper  
chief executive
23 february 2010