Wolseley UK holds profits but hiccups in US

Wolseley, the world’s largest trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors, has lifted turnover in the six months to 31 January 2008 to £8bn.

Pre-tax profit ran to £79m, well down on the comparable period in the previous year, when Wolseley made a £290m profit on turnover of £7.9bn.

Wolseley’s profit-making hiccup was not as a result of the trading in its UK & Ireland operation which Chip Hornsby, chief executive, described as “good”.

Not surprisingly it was part of the America operations that caused the group’s somewhat furrowed brows.

Divisional analysis shows operating profit figures (before central costs of £9m in Europe and a further £4m in North America) to have been:

• £76m – UK and Ireland
• £28m – France
• £41m – Nordic
• £9m – Central and Eastern Europe
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• £160 – US Plumbing and Heating
• £147m loss – US Building Materials
• £16m – Canada

Hornsby said that the UK & Ireland operations accounted for 20% of the Wolseley group’s turnover. “Government expenditure on social housing, health and education remains positive,” he said.

Wolseley UK & Ireland recorded a 3% lift in turnover to £1.6bn, of which 2% was organic growth. Good trading margins were achieved in Plumb Center and Bathstore.

During the six months 10 new locations were added in the UK and Ireland bringing the total to 1,927.