Plumbing & Heating Merchants Q3 value sales were flat year-on-year, but volume increased +5.3%, according to the latest Plumbing & Heating Merchant Index (PHMI) report, published in November.
It shows Q3 2024 total value sales through specialist Plumbing & Heating merchants were virtually flat (+0.2%) compared to Q3 2023. Volumes sales increased +5.3% but prices fell -4.9%. With one more trading day this year, like-for-like sales were -1.4% lower.
Quarter-on-quarter, total value sales for July to September 2024 were +4.0% higher than the previous three-month period, April to June 2024. Volume sales were up +3.2% and prices also rose +0.8%. With three additional trading days in Q3, like-for-like sales were -0.8% lower.
Year-to-date value sales in the first nine months of 2024 were down -1.8% compared to the same period January to September in 2023. Volume sales saw improved marginally (+0.9%) while prices slipped -2.7%.
Mike Rigby, MD of MRA Research, which produces the report commented: “Trading conditions haven’t been easy. Consumers are feeling the pinch, and confidence fell to -21 in October, according to GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index. That’s a lot better than September’s-30 but it’s a lot worse than August’s -13 when the public expected great things from the new government. Perhaps the most telling metric in GfK’s research was people’s sentiments about the general economic situation over the next 12 months. It fell a further -1 point to -28, a massive drop since August’s -13.”
