The company, which also owns Wickes - said it would not meet its £415 million market expectation for full-year profits, blaming a disappointing performance in its plumbing and heating business.

The group said the branches would be shut across its trade businesses, such as Travis Perkins, kitchen and joinery arm Benchmarx and plumbing and heating businesses BSS and PTS.

It is also closing ten smaller distribution centres and reviewing its plumbing and heating division.

Travis Perkins, which employs 28,000 people, said all 600 affected staff have been made aware of the changes. It hopes to relocate some workers to other sites.

The overhaul comes as Travis Perkins said full-year underlying earnings would be “slightly” lower than expected, while it cautioned over the outlook for 2017.

A spokesperson for Travis Perkins said: “Given that levels of future demand remain difficult to predict, the group has chosen to implement a number of efficiency programmes and branch closures to further optimise the network.

“This work includes the closure of 10 smaller distribution and fabrication centres, the write-off of certain IT legacy equipment and over 30 branch closures in our trade businesses.”

The group said the heating and plumbing division will see the bulk of the branch closures after a “disappointing” performance in the third quarter and in the face of worsening trading conditions. It plans to report back on its review of the business next year.

But Travis Perkins said its general merchanting business saw better trading in the quarter, while consumer-facing chains Wickes and Toolstation and its contracts businesses put in “very strong performances”. Overall like-for-like sales grew 2 per cent in the third quarter.

Chief executive John Carter said: “It is still too early to predict customer demand in 2017 with certainty and we will continue to monitor our lead indicators closely.”

Travis Perkins is half-way through a five-year overhaul of the group, which is seeing it shut unprofitable stores and expand in better-performing areas. It is revamping its Wickes stores and said it has refitted 50 shops.