Wolseley plc will cut 250 jobs in the United States and Canada and close 90 branches, according to reports in Industrial Distribution and the Daily Press in Newport News, Va. Two hundred of those jobs and 75 of the branches are at Ferguson Enterprises locations in the United States.
Wolseley is the world’s largest distributor of plumbing and building supplies. Its U.S. operations, Ferguson Enterprises and Stock Building Supply, are suffering through 20-percent declines this year because they are tied so tightly to the fortunes of the homebuilding market. The layoffs and plant closings are tied to poor results for the nine months ended April 30. For the nine months that ended April 30, Ferguson saw revenue decline 3 percent and profit drop 1 percent.
Wolseley says the U.S. housing and repairs, maintenance and improvement (RMI) markets have continued to soften, but that U.S. commercial and industrial markets have held up well.