Wolseley shares up on latest results

The share price of Wolseley is up today (June 3rd) following the company's latest results.

Wolseley announced that its trading profits at constant exchange rates for the nine months to the end of April were over nine per cent up, while a like-for-like rise of 5.1 per cent was already recorded by the firm.

Revenue of the ongoing businesses for the third quarter was also six per cent ahead of last year at constant exchange rates, while the company revealed it recorded a gross margin for its ongoing businesses of 28.1 per cent, up ten basis points ahead of last year.

Trading profit for the ongoing businesses was £155 million over the third fiscal quarter, which was more than nine per cent up on last year at constant exchange rates.

Progress achieved

Chief executive at Wolseley Ian Meakins stated that "good progress" was made by the company over the course of the quarter. He pointed out strong growth in both the US and the Nordics has had the result of offsetting more challenging conditions elsewhere in the business during the three-month period.

He said: "Like-for-like revenue growth in the UK was lower as we continued to focus on protecting gross margins. The group grew its gross margin and controlled operating expenses to generate good conversion into trading profit, though reported results were affected by significant unfavourable foreign exchange rate movements.

"Cash generation was good and we are continuing to invest in technology and new business models to deliver better customer service and gain profitable market share."

Wolseley also completed five bolt-on acquisitions for total consideration of approximately £119 million during its third quarter, although the company stated that foreign exchange movements had an adverse impact on trading profit by £12 million.

Investors responded positively to the financial results revealed by Wolseley today and by 13:08 BST the firm was one of the best performers on the FTSE 100 after recording a 1.6 per cent boost to its share price.

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