UK home retailer Wickes' H1 sales drop as buyers avoid big ticket purchases

(Reuters) -UK home improvement retailer Wickes Group posted a nearly 4% drop in first-half sales on Wednesday, dented by weakness in its design and installation business as consumers avoid big ticket purchases amid a cost-of-living crisis.

The firm designs and installs kitchens, bathrooms and home offices, sells branded and own-label do-it-yourself products and also runs a local network through which customers can hire tradesmen.

Sales were staggered in the 'Do-It-Yourself' (DIY) and 'Do-It-For-Me'(DIFM) categories due to subdued appetite for large projects while demand for its lower-priced range remained robust, Wickes said.

The fortune of companies tied to the housing repair, maintenance and improvement segment have been under pressure as the squeeze on household budgets forces homeowners to delay home-improvement projects.

Like-for-like revenue for the six-month period ended June 29 fell 3.9% to 799.9 million pounds ($1.03 billion).

Still, the Watford-headquartered firm retained its annual profit outlook.

($1 = 0.7791 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)