Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Wolseley’s interim financial statement for the group’s third quarter and the nine months to April 30 shows UK performance slowed ‘significantly’.
While broadly in line with expectations overall, the group said their results had shown signs of weakening in the European markets where they has seen “a more pronounced slowdown in the UK over recent weeks.”
Over all, for the nine months to April 30, the group saw revenue increase by 2%. However, a sharp drop in pre-tax profits of 30% negated this small increase.
Despite a softening in the European markets, the results for Wolseley UK (including Ireland) fared marginally better with a 3% rise in revenue and only a 6% drop in trading profit. However, this is for a nine-month period, and more recent months taken in isolation paint a less cheery picture. In fact, Wolseley said they “experienced a more challenging April,” in particular, “as the market slowed significantly”.
The group outlook is that challenging conditions are set to continue. Commenting on the latest financials, group ceo Chip Hornsby said:
“Given the continuing tough market conditions, our response has been to take further action to lower the cost base and improve cash flow, while continuing to pursue our longer term strategic aims.”
