Wolseley Plc, which held onto its North American lending group when it sold 51% of Stock Building Supply last year, reported today that the lending arm recorded an operating loss of $4 million in the six-month period ended Jan. 31.
That’s an improvement from the $18 million in losses it recorded in the first half of the previous fiscal year. The amount of loans on the books dropped nearly in half, to $199 million as of Jan. 31.
Last spring, Wolseley sold a majority stake in Stock, America’s No. 2 LBM operation, to The Gores Group of Los Angeles. Stock filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, reorganized, and emerged in July as a much smaller, more focused organization. Wolseley held onto its lending group during that process. It now focuses on five states–the Carolinas, Virginia, Texas, and Utah–and aims to sell Stock Loan Services in two to three years’ time.
Wolseley also said today that Ferguson, its U.S. plumbing and heating business, saw a 44% drop in underlying trading profits before property profits to $159 million on a 21.4% decline in first-half sales to $3.88 billion. The operating margin shrank to 4.1% from 5.8%.
Ferguson has reduced its headcount by 30% over the past 2-1/2 years, to just under 7,000 workers, Wolseley said. It also closed a loss-making HVAC operation in Alabama.
