WICKES owner and builders' merchant Travis Perkins has said its Cumbrian branches will not be affected by a nationwide axing of 600 jobs, which will also see it close more than 30 branches as it warned about "uncertain" trading.

Travis Perkins' Cumbrian outlets are in Carlisle, Barrow, Brampton, Cleator Moor, Kendal, Keswick, Milnthorpe, Millom, Penrith, Ulverston, Whitehaven and Wigton.

The firm was founded as the Benjamin Ingram company in 1797 and in 2015 opened its 2,000th branch.

The group operates more than 20 businesses including Travis Perkins, Wickes, BSS, Toolstation and Tile Giant.

It confirmed, however, that Wickes and Toolstation branches would not be affected by the proposed job cuts.

Travis Perkins expects core earnings for 2016 to be "slightly below" the current market consensus of £415m.

It also highlighted uncertainty in the outlook for 2017 as it reported third quarter total sales growth of 3.4 per cent and underlying growth of 2.0 percent.