On Wednesday, Travis Perkins Plc., the British building material retailer, reported an 11% decline in complete year earnings, and shared a cautious outlook for the rest of the ongoing year, a development which sent the shares of the company tumbling.

The firm, which posted a complete year result in-line with the expectation pegged by analysts, shared that it was not the time to reinstate a dividend, as it is expecting its markets to continue to remain weak for an "extended" period, despite the fact that there is definite stabilization.

Investors ended up being unnerved, and during morning trading, Travis Perkins traded down 47 pence, or 6.3%, at 704 pence, making it the biggest faller in the FTSE 250 Index.

Chief Executive Geoff Cooper shared that he would not be focusing on cost cutting during this year, but will add more staff to the company's Wickes unit, where the kitchen and bathroom sales are booming.

"At this stage there is no clear indication of when our markets might return to growth again. Although we believe this might be evident by the end of 2010, we are also wary of the probable 'false starts' that we expect to see. We expect to resume dividend payments once uncertainty is reduced and improved prospects for our markets are visible", the company said.