Wolseley shareholders benefit from £300m dividend payout

Wolseley is to hand investors a £300m special dividend after reporting a jump in profits as markets in Britain and the US continued to grow.

Full-year pre-tax profits at the company, which owns Plumb Center and Bathstore in the UK and Ferguson in the US, jumped from £198m to £473m.

The company, whose UK division employs 365 people in Ripon, North Yorkshire, working in customer service, IT and finance teams, said it was seeing early signs of recovery in the UK but continued weakness elsewhere in Europe.

Revenue from ongoing businesses in the year to the end of July was up 4.1 per cent to £12.9bn.

Chief executive Ian Meakins said revenue growth rates had been maintained going into the new financial year.

“Our markets in the US continue to grow steadily and the UK market growth is encouraging,”

he said. “However, economic conditions in continental Europe are very challenging and we expect them to remain so for the foreseeable future.

“We will continue to take all appropriate actions to reduce our cost base and protect our profitability.

“In the year ahead, we plan to increase our investments where there are growth opportunities, and in technology and processes to develop more efficient business models.

This will improve the leverage in our business and generate good growth in the future.”

The firm said demand in its repairs, maintenance and improvement markets remained stable in most countries.

However, house building was weak in all regions outside the US, it said, and the impact of Government schemes aimed at kick-starting the housing market had yet to have a major impact on its business.

Mr Meakins said he was cheered by signs of early recovery in Britain, with housing transactions up five per cent and a modest rise in construction toward the end of last year.

The company plans to play a total dividend for the year of 66p per share, a year-on-year increase of ten per cent.