North America drives 9.9% rise in Ferguson Q1 profits
Ferguson
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16:40 24/04/24
Plumbing and heating products distributor Ferguson reported a 9.9% rise in first quarter trading profit to $432m as North American operations offset a fall in the UK.
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Revenue rose to $5.5bn from $5.11bn as the company said it expected to meet full year expectations.
Gross margin continued to improve, up 50 bps to 29.6%, as a result of recent acquisitions and the exit of low margin wholesale business in the UK last year.
Like-for-like revenue growth was 1.5% in the quarter which included about 2.5% of price inflation, Ferguson said.
This reflected weak repair, maintenance and improvement markets. Total revenue was down 9.5% on a constant currency basis due to closed branches and the exit of low margin business, it added.
US operations reported organic growth of 9.6% in supportive markets, said chief executive John Martin
“Growth in the US was widespread across all geographic regions and major business units. Canada continued to grow against tough prior year comparatives and the UK also grew modestly on a like-for-like basis,” he said.
"Since the end of the quarter, the US has continued to grow well and the current indications are that growth will continue in the months ahead. As a result, we expect trading profit for the full year to be in line with analysts' expectations.”