PHMI: May’s P&H Merchants Like-for-Like Value Sales Up +1.3% Y-o-Y But Sales Volumes Drop -8.0%

The latest figures from the Plumbing & Heating Merchant Index (PHMI) report show like-for-like value sales (adjusted to remove the impact of trading days) for May 2026 through specialist plumbing and heating merchants were up +1.3% compared to May 2025. Like-for-like volume sales were down -8.0%, while prices increased +10.1% year-on-year.

With one less trading day in May 2026, unadjusted value sales decreased -3.8% compared to May 2025. Unadjusted volumes fell -12.6% and prices increased +10.1%.

Compared to April, like-for-like value sales were -1.7% lower in May. Like-for-like volume sales decreased -6.2% month-on-month and prices increased +4.8%. With one less trading day in May, unadjusted total value sales were down -6.6%, while unadjusted volumes decreased -10.9% and prices increased +4.8%.

Like-for-like value sales in the three-months from March to May 2026 were -0.4% down compared to the same period the year before. Like-for-like volumes sales fell -5.9% but prices rose +5.9%. With no difference in trading days, unadjusted value sales were also down -0.4% with volume sales -5.9% lower and prices up +5.9%.

Compared to the previous three-months (December 2025 – February 2026), March to May 2026 like-for-like value sales were down -1.3%. Like-for-like volume sales were +1.3% up and prices were -2.6% lower. With two extra trading days in the most recent three-month period, unadjusted value sales were +2.0% higher. Unadjusted volume sales were +4.7% up and prices -2.6% down.

Plumbing & Heating merchants’ like-for-like value sales in the 12-months June 2025 to May 2026 were +1.0% higher than the previous 12 months (June 2024 to May 2025). Like-for-like volume sales were -3.7% down as prices increased +4.8%. There was no difference in trading days.

May’s PHMI like-for-like value sales index was 129.1. With two less trading days versus the base Index period, the unadjusted value index was 118.7.

Mike Rigby, Managing Director of MRA Research which produces the PHMI report says, “Sales through specialist plumbing and heating merchants are stuck in the Doldrums: value sales are weak, prices are rising and volumes are down year-on-year while the Government sorts itself out.

“The parallels between the UK economy and the Doldrums, a real place, are uncanny. The Doldrums is a low-pressure area near the Equator where the prevailing breeze can disappear, making it extremely difficult to navigate. It has a reputation for stranding ships for weeks on end, causing them to run out of supplies. And it’s not just about stagnant calm winds. Weather patterns can also be erratic, moving quickly to violent thunder and electric storms.

“However, with Andy Burnham due to take over the reins as Prime Minister mid-July, could this be the reset the industry needs – a fresh opportunity to get Britain building again and a shot in the arm for the building materials supply chain?

“The new Prime Minister is saying what the building industry wants to hear: a commitment to growth in every postcode; devolved powers over housing, infrastructure and regeneration projects; the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period. But we’ve been here before and we’ve not seen the details, or a credible mechanism, or where the money or the people to build it all will come from. Ex PM Starmer promised to build 1.5 million homes in five years, and that turned out to be pie in the sky. The problems which dogged that ambitious build programme are still unresolved. We’ll have to wait for the ‘King of the North’ to get his feet under the table in Downing Street, to see what he’s made of, and whether he can translate his Manchesterism ideology into an engine to drive the growth of the UK economy.”

In order to download the full report, click here.

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