Travis Perkins sales growth slows, says outperforming market

* Q3 group like-for-like sales up 5.7 pct vs 10.2 pct in H1

* Like for like sales in plumbing and heating unit down 5.1 pct

* CEO happy with guidance for total FY sales growth of 7-8 pct

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) down 1.3 percent after early 4pct drop (Adds detail, CEO comments, shares)

By James Davey

LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Travis Perkins Plc (LSE: TPK.L - news) , Britain's No. 1 supplier of building materials, posted slowing sales growth in its third quarter, though it still won market share, it said on Friday.

Shares in the company which trades from 16 other brands including Wickes, City Plumbing, Keyline, Tile Giant and BSS, fell up to 4 percent in early trading.

Though Travis Perkins saw sales growth in its general merchandise, consumer and contracts business, sales at outlets which had been open for more than a year in its plumbing and heating division fell by a worse than expected 5.1 percent.

That fall reflected a later start to the plumbing and heating season due to Britain's unusually mild autumn, as well as government-led incentive schemes pulling forward boiler installations into the previous financial year and disruption caused by store conversions.

For the group as a whole, like-for-like sales rose 5.7 percent in the three months to Sept. 30, compared with 10.2 percent in the first half. Total third-quarter sales increased 11.9 percent.

Chief Executive John Carter told Reuters he remained comfortable with previous guidance of total sales growth in 2014 of between 7 and 8 percent.

"Trading has remained strong for most of our businesses ... We have outperformed our markets whilst making strategic investments that we are confident will support continued market share gains," Carter said.

Travis Perkins has been benefiting from an upturn in UK building activity and the strength of housing transactions, though there have been signs the housing market has cooled in recent months.

"We really do see our next three to five years as a lot of self help and not just (being) market driven," said Carter, pointing to a strategic plan focused on modernising branches, expanding its network and exploiting its scale.

Third-quarter like-for-like sales in the general merchanting division rose 10.9 percent and were up 6.4 percent in the consumer division, which includes Wickes, and up 9.6 percent in the contracts business.

Shares in Travis Perkins, which entered the FTSE 100 index of Britain's largest companies in June last year, have fallen 13 percent so far this year. They were down 1.3 percent at 1,617 pence at 0752 GMT, valuing the business at 3.84 billion pounds($6.2 billion). (1 US dollar = 0.6218 British pound) (Editing by Neil Maidment and David Holmes)