New figures show that Wales has retained its top position for sales performance at builders’ merchants across Britain.

Earlier this year, national trade body, the Builders Merchants Federation, released figures from its Builders Merchant Building Index (BMBI) which revealed that Wales came top out of 11 areas nationwide in quarter one this year.

Now the latest year-on-year data from the index for quarter two shows Wales continues to hold the top spot.

Wales comes first nationally with 8.2 per cent year-on-year growth in total builders’ merchant value sales.

This growth is slightly below the quarter one figure of 10.9 per cent, but the BMF cite the changeable weather patterns over the period as a key factor behind the drop.

The BMF’s BMBI is seen as a gold standard in the building materials sector to measure sales activity.

International analytics specialist GfK provides BMBI with point of sale tracking data drawn from over 80 per cent of builders merchants’ sales throughout the country, across the 11 defined areas in Wales, Scotland and England.

Mr John Newcomb, CEO of the BMF, said:

“The BMBI report features a wealth of data on regional performance.

“It shows how Britain’s builders’ merchants perform in different parts of the country, reflecting the ‘regional health’ of construction.

“It’s good to see the positive economic performance continuing across Wales.”

The value of the UK building materials market overall is £56 billion, which is approximately one third of the total construction industry in the UK.