LONDON: The latest Builders' Merchants Federation's Key Performance Indicators Report gives a snapshot of the key trading results for builders' merchants for the 12 months ending April 2009. This was the period when most merchants' sales had fallen 'off a cliff' as the economy nose-dived into recession.

The BMF KPI Report shows a sales decrease of 15.7 percentage points over the same 12-month period in 2007-2008. Despite the downturn in sales, the KPI Report shows that members managed to contain pressures on operating efficiency. For example:

• Total sales per employee were almost the same as last year, albeit from reduced staff numbers following widespread redundancies over the period.

• Gross profit per employee dropped to £47 383, a 1.3 % point reduction from last year.

• Vehicle operational costs were held steady (with an increase of only 0.3% points) in the face of increasing fuel charges over the period.