BUILDING, heating and plumbing supplies group Wolseley has reported a rise in both revenue and profit.

PLUMBING supplies group Wolseley said it expected to revenue to grow by about 4 per cent in the next six months, mainly driven by its biggest market the United States, and was on the hunt for acquisitions.

The company, which operates the Plumb Center and Ferguson chains in the United States and Britain, made the forecast after posting a 5.1 percent rise in third-quarter revenue to £3.05bn, on a like-for-like basis. The increase was above its expectations.

Wolseley's chief financial officer, John Martin said most of the growth had been down to United States, which accounts for two-thirds of revenue, as well as a pick-up in Nordic.

The company, whose UK division employs 365 people in Ripon, North Yorkshire, working in customer service, IT and finance teams, saw trading profit for the on-going businesses of £155m was 0.6 per cent higher than last year, 9.1 per cent higher at constant exchange rates.

On a year-on-year basis net debt has increased from £694m to £914m. There was a £90m cash out-flow for acquisitions in the quarter.

The US is the group’s largest market in revenue terms with revenue of £1.7bn recorded in the quarter compared to £451m in the UK.

During the quarter in the US Wolseley acquired Factory Direct Appliances, a small appliance showroom business with annualised revenue of £36m and Waterworks Industries, a water meter business with annualised revenue of £5m.

In the UK, like-for-like revenue declined by 3.5 per cent including price inflation of less than 1 per cent. New residential construction, which represents approximately 5 per cent of UK revenue, continued to grow strongly but growth in residential RMI markets, which represents approximately 60 per cent of UK revenue, remained modest and Industrial markets remained weak.

During the quarter in the UK Wolseley business agreed to acquire Fusion Provida and Utility Power Systems, two suppliers of utility infrastructure products. The acquisitions have annualised revenue of £55m.

In central Europe, like-for-like revenue of the ongoing businesses declined by 1.8 per cent including one per cent price inflation.

Ian Meakins, Wolseley chief executive, said: "We continued to make good progress in the third quarter with strong growth in the USA and the Nordics offsetting more challenging conditions elsewhere.

“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."