Expert comments
The trade paint market continues to improve as the year progresses, with volume growth so far at +2% when compared to this time last year. Exterior categories like masonry have… Read more
Expert comments
Demand in the fastener and fixings sector has continued to follow the general trends across merchants, with continuing soft demand driven by the sluggish levels of construction and Repair Maintenance… Read more
Expert comments
After a better-than-expected start to the year, the robust sales seen in Q1 did not continue into Q2, and ready-mixed concrete volumes sank to a historic low. Aggregate sales were… Read more
Expert comments
UK construction is in a holding pattern. The fundamentals remain positive to the upside, but in Q2 that’s been tempered by the changeable broader economic climate and the threat of… Read more
Expert comments
As we move beyond the half-way point of 2025, the industry is experiencing an uptick in confidence, driven by modest growth in Q2. Off the back of more stable interest… Read more
Expert comments
If 2025 is the first ‘normal’ year since 2020 then it is not great. While April was decent, May and June nullified any momentum that was building. There has been… Read more
Expert comments
After a buoyant pre-sales season and a booming Q1, where our biggest challenge was getting stock to customers fast enough, Q2 continued in the same vein – until it didn’t. April and May saw Covid lockdown levels… Read more
Expert comments
Quarter 1 2025 has been another UK residential construction quarter best described as ‘in recovery’ rather than recovered. Most green shoots of recovery we have experienced in the last two… Read more
Expert comments
The second half of 2024 was marked by some unexpected changes in the manufacturing supply chain. As a result, some sizeable shifts in merchant distribution partners for the UK building… Read more
Expert comments
The recent U.S. tariff changes are creating significant ripple effects across global supply chains, placing additional pressures on UK merchants who already contend with managing steady sales and maintaining margins…. Read more
Launched in 2015, the award winning monthly Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) report is the only reliable measure of repair, maintenance & improvement (RMI) activity in the UK. Filling an important gap, it can be widely used in construction, and by economists, Government, national media, commentators and influencers outside the industry.
