This fall in revenue was primarily driven by the merchanting segment which was 8.2% lower in the third quarter on a like-by-like basis.

Both volume and margin have underperformed in this area of the business with Travis Perkins losing market share in the summer.

This has led management of Travis Perkins revising down the company’s full year adjusted profit expectations to £135m.

Other areas, like Travis Perkins’s Toolstation brand, had performed better with revenue increasing in the UK and Benelux by 2.9% and 9.6% respectively.

In contrast, Toolstation France was a loss-making segment of the business and has ceased trading with closure expected by the end of the year.

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Reflecting on these results, Travis Perkins CEO Pete Redfern blamed a lack of focus at the company: “It is clear that the group has allowed itself to become distracted and overly internally focused which has led to the underperformance in recent periods.

“We now need to get back to a focus on operational execution – delivering great products and great customer service and better leveraging our reach and scale.”

To regain cost discipline, Pete is also combining the roles of group CEO and managing director of the Travis Perkins general merchant business to “shorten reporting lines” and ensure teams work closer.

He added: “My immediate priorities are driving and incentivising branch-led performance and motivation, identifying further ways to make the business run more efficiently and ensuring that we turn and face the anticipated recovery in the UK construction market.”