Analyst Views: What did you think of Wolseley’s quarterly trading update?
PAUL CHECKETTS | BARCLAYS
Trading in the third quarter was slightly better than our expectations… However the UK was much worse on like-for-likes with a 3.5 per cent decline, although margin of 5.3 per cent was 20 basis points better. They don’t seem to be getting the balance between growth and margins quite right.
CLYDE LEWIS | PEEL HUNT
While the mix was a little different from our expectations, the overall results and outlook are in line and so we see only modest changes to full-year estimates. The drop in the UK is a bit surprising given the construction backdrop, but is partly explained by its decision not to chase high-volume but low-margin business.
ANDY MURPHY | BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH
Third quarter results were good stripping out the impact of foreign exchange, M&A costs and investment…There was some expectation that like-for-like growth…could have been weak. However, in the event, growth in the US was strong, with disappointment in other geographies offsetting the good performance.