Highlights

• Travis Perkins plans to sell Toolstation Benelux to Fidelium Partners for a nominal cash consideration of €1.

• The group will inject roughly £35m of Capital into the Benelux Business before the sale completes.

• Completion is targeted before year-end, subject to consultation with the works council in the Netherlands.

• Toolstation Benelux becomes a discontinued operation, removing an expected £10m FY26 loss from adjusted profit.

Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) has agreed to sell Toolstation Benelux for a nominal price of €1, ending a long and costly attempt to build the tool and hardware Brand in continental Europe. The FTSE 250 builders' merchant will put around £35m into the business before passing it to Fidelium Partners, a step the group says should support a return to profit growth and free up capital to be used elsewhere.

What the divestment involves

Under the agreement, Toolstation Benelux will be sold for €1 in cash, following a capital injection of about £35m from the group.

Completion is targeted before the end of the year, subject to consultation with the works council in the Netherlands.

The business will be reported as a discontinued operation. Its expected FY26 loss of around £10m will therefore be excluded from group FY26 adjusted operating profit.

A long road to the exit

Toolstation's continental expansion has been under pressure for several years. In March 2024, the group set out plans for a possible exit from France, where it said that "the Investment required to reach profitability is no longer sustainable", and launched a strategic review of Benelux.

At that time the Benelux operation had 118 stores and had posted a £19m loss for 2023. By the end of 2025, the estate had shrunk to 109 stores and the adjusted operating loss stood at £11m.

Trading did not turn the corner in 2026. Like-for-like Revenue in Benelux fell 7.1% in the first quarter, while first-half revenue was down 6.1% and the operating loss widened to £7m. In August the group confirmed it had opened talks with several interested parties about a possible sale.

How it fits the group turnaround

Gavin Slark, who became chief executive of Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) in January 2026, has been reshaping a group facing soft UK construction demand. First-half revenue fell 1.8% to £2,258m, although net Debt to adjusted EBITDA came back to 1.9x, within the 1.5x to 2.0x target range.

By contrast, Toolstation UK grew first-half sales by 2.6% and lifted adjusted operating profit by 4.8% to £22m, underlining the gap between the domestic and continental operations.

Removing a loss-making unit narrows the group's footprint to its UK operations, including merchanting and Toolstation UK.

Risks and what to watch

The works council consultation must run its course before completion, and the timetable could shift if the process takes longer than planned.

The £35m injection by the group (LSE:TPK) represents a cash outflow, and year-end accounts will show the full financial effect of the disposal, including any one-off items.

Weak volumes in UK construction remain the bigger swing Factor for profits across UK shares exposed to housebuilding and repair work.

The next chapter for Toolstation

With Benelux heading out of the group, the Toolstation brand will be concentrated on its UK estate. Full-year results should provide the first clean view of the slimmer group's Earnings base and how the freed-up capital is being redeployed.