Travis Perkins sells plumbing arm for £46m
British builders’ merchant Travis Perkins has sold its plumbing and heating business to distribution group Newbury Investments for £46m.
The sale comes just four months after Travis Perkins halted the sale of the unit, called Primaflow, blaming “unprecedented uncertainty”.
Read more: Travis Perkins halts sale of plumbing unit amid uncertainty
The deal, which the building material supplier said will help pay down its debt, is part of a strategy to reduce the complexity of the company.
Travis Perkins chief executive Nick Roberts said: “The divestment of our wholesale plumbing amd heating business is a further step in reducing the group’s overall complexity.”
He said it will enable “greater focus and more disciplined capital allocation to our advantaged trade-focused businesses”.
Shares in Travis Perkins were 0.8 per cent higher at the close of play, at 1,580.5p.
The building merchant said it expects the deal to be completed at the end of this month.
The deal marks a breakthrough in Travis Perkins’s efforts to streamline the company. Only in October it said that an “unprecedented level of uncertainty” in the economy meant it had to postpone its efforts to sell Primaflow.
Travis Perkins is also planning to spin off its Wickes division, which specialises in DIY. It said last month that it expects the demerger to be completed in the second quarter of the year.