Newport News, VA – March 27, 2012 – Ferguson’s parent company Wolseley plc, the world’s largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors, announced its financial results for the first-half of the 2012 fiscal year.
Ferguson’s like-for-like revenue growth for the first six months was nine percent, including price inflation of approximately four percent. On an underlying basis, Ferguson’s trading margin was 6.2 percent, up from 5.5 percent in 2011.
The repair, maintenance, installation (RMI) segment remained resilient and there has been a modest recovery in levels of new construction. Ferguson’s Blended Branches, which serves both residential and commercial customers, continued to grow supported by the stable RMI market. The Waterworks and Industrial business units continued to gain market share benefiting from growth in the oil and gas sector.
“We had a solid performance for the first half,” commented Ferguson CEO Frank Roach. “Our business and geographic diversity has served us well and allowed us to grow despite the slow-growth economy and a weak residential housing market.”
Ferguson completed three acquisitions in the first-half: Groeniger & Company, a large Waterworks distributor in California, SG Supply Co., Inc., a blended branch in the Chicago area and Louisiana Chemical Pipe, Valve & Fitting, Inc., an Industrial distributor in the Gulf Coast region. Acquisitions accounted for one percent of the company’s revenue growth.
For more information on Wolseley’s first-half results, please visit www.wolseley.com.
