Wickes has kicked off 2026 with a steady rather than spectacular update, and that is probably enough for the market. Group revenue for the 17 weeks to 25 April 2026 rose 1.3% to £537 million, with growth driven by Design & Installation and TradePro. Just as importantly, the company said it remains comfortable with consensus expectations for 2026 adjusted PBT – adjusted profit before tax – which currently sits at £57.1 million.
This reads like a business that is still taking share in a patchy home improvement market. The topline is moving forward, volumes are growing, and management sounds confident without getting carried away. That said, there are a couple of softer spots in here, especially around like-for-like sales and kitchen ordering trends.
Wickes Q1 2026 trading update key numbers retail investors should know
| Segment | Revenue | Reported growth | LFL growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | £392 million | -0.4% | -1.7% |
| Design & Installation Ranges | £145 million | 6.4% | 4.3% |
| Group | £537 million | 1.3% | -0.1% |
LFL means like-for-like, which strips out the effect of things like new space and looks at comparable sales. On that basis, the group was basically flat, down 0.1%, so this is not a runaway consumer recovery story. But it is still a pretty resilient performance given the backdrop management describes.
Wickes Retail sales held back by weather, but market share gains still matter
Retail revenue slipped 0.4% to £392 million, with LFL revenue down 1.7%. On the face of it, that is the weaker part of the update. However, Wickes says outdoor project demand was hit hard by exceptional rainfall compared with better conditions last year, which makes the comparison tougher than the headline suggests.
The interesting bit is underneath that. Indoor project sales stayed in growth and were around eight percentage points ahead of outdoor categories. That tells you the problem was not a broad collapse in spending across the business – it was much more category specific.
Management also says retail volumes grew, even though prices remained deflationary in low single digits. In plain English, Wickes sold more stuff, but at slightly lower prices than last year. For investors, that is usually a healthier place to be than the other way around, because volume growth and share gains tend to say more about competitive strength than price alone.
Wickes says it continued to outperform the market and gain share, with particular gains in interior paint, tiling & flooring and timber. That matters because DIY and trade retail is a competitive space. If Wickes is winning share while the market is uneven, it should be well placed when conditions improve.
TradePro growth to 662,000 active members is one of the best parts of the Wickes story
TradePro continues to look like one of the company’s strongest growth engines. Sales were up 4% year-on-year, and active TradePro members rose 9% to 662,000. These are local trade professionals, and once you get them buying regularly, they can become a very sticky and valuable customer base.
This matters because trade customers tend to be more repeat-driven than casual DIY shoppers. They shop for speed, convenience and value, and if Wickes is becoming part of their regular workflow, that creates a steadier stream of demand. In a choppy consumer market, that is exactly the sort of customer mix you want.
My read is that TradePro is doing more than just offsetting weak DIY demand in bad weather. It is helping reshape Wickes into a more dependable business, less exposed to one-off weekend spending patterns. That is a positive for the quality of earnings over time, even if the company has not disclosed any margin impact here.
Design & Installation revenue growth is strong, but Wickes kitchen orders need watching
The standout numbers came from Design & Installation Ranges, where revenue rose 6.4% to £145 million and LFL revenue grew 4.3%. Wickes says delivered sales have now been in positive growth for four consecutive quarters, helped by the order book built during 2025. Delivered sales are the revenues that can actually be recognised once goods or services have been provided.
That is good news because it shows the business is converting previous customer demand into reported sales. Bathrooms and Wickes Lifestyle Kitchens performed strongly, suggesting the broadened customer proposition is landing well.
But there is a catch, and it is an important one. While the number of Design & Installation projects ordered has grown in 2026, ordered sales by value were slightly lower than the same period last year. The reason given is that Bespoke Kitchens orders have slowed as customers become more careful about total project spend.
That is not a disaster, but it is the main yellow flag in the update. Ordered sales are a useful forward indicator. If customers are trading down or delaying bigger-ticket kitchen decisions, that could temper future growth in this division unless bathrooms and Lifestyle Kitchens keep making up the difference.
Wickes store rollout, lower business rates and profit guidance support the 2026 outlook
Wickes is also pressing on with expansion. It currently operates 230 stores and is accelerating investment in a rollout strategy with an ambition to reach 300 stores. For 2026, it expects to open 4-5 new stores and refit or refresh 15-20 stores. During the period, it refreshed three stores.
That tells you management is thinking beyond a soft patch in parts of the market. It has already identified optimal locations and is securing the future property pipeline, which sounds like a measured and planned approach rather than growth for growth’s sake.
There is also a helpful cost tailwind. Wickes says it has a good productivity plan and expects to benefit from lower business rates following the latest revaluation. That matters because even modest revenue growth can translate into better profit delivery if costs are moving the right way too.
The headline reassurance is that management remains comfortable with consensus expectations for 2026 adjusted PBT. As at 8 May 2026, the mean analyst forecast was £57.1 million, with a range of £54.0 million to £59.4 million. When a company says it is comfortable with forecasts, investors usually read that as “no profit warning here”. In this market, that has value.
What the Wickes trading update means for investors
Overall, I think this is a solid update. Not blow-the-doors-off stuff, but solid. The positive case is clear: Wickes is growing group revenue, winning market share, expanding TradePro, delivering strong Design & Installation sales, and backing that up with confidence in full-year profit expectations.
The negatives are also clear enough. Like-for-like growth is flat at group level, retail was still down on that basis, and the slight dip in ordered sales by value for Design & Installation shows customers are still cautious on bigger purchases. The weather excuse for outdoor demand sounds reasonable, but investors will want to see retail return to cleaner growth as the year progresses.
If you own the shares, this update probably does what you would want it to do. It supports the investment case without pretending the market is easy. For me, the biggest takeaway is that Wickes appears to be executing well in a difficult backdrop, and that is often how better retail stories separate themselves from the pack.
