Wolseley’s interim results show a pre-tax profit of just £72m from £12.1bn sales, but the group declared itself “strongly positioned” to meet current market challenges after capital raising of £1bn and continual cost-cutting.
The group said its UK and Ireland revenue continued to deteriorate in the nine months ended April 30, principally as a result of further weakness in the RMI market and a recent softening of commercial and industrial sectors.
UK and Ireland sales dipped 15% during the period at outlets including the Build Center chain, while trading profit was 75% lower than a year ago.
Wolseley recently announced further cost-saving measures in the form of the proposed closured of distribution centres at Didcot, Chorley, Henfield and Ripon, resulting in 270 redundancies. In Ireland, headcount reductions of 180 are envisaged.
The group said it expected market conditions to continue to deteriorate in the short term and remain challenging until at least early 2010.
Its debt stands at £1.5bn, down from £2.8bn a year ago.
