Plumbers’ merchant Ferguson PLC (LON:FERG) said the US market is still seeing little growth but the group expects to continue to outperform its peers there.
The FTSE 100 firm said its order books support continued modest growth in the months ahead and that its business is performing well.
For the year to the end of July 2019, Ferguson notched up global revenue of US$22.01bn, up 6.1% from US$20.75bn the year before and slightly ahead of market expectations of US$21.87bn.
Profit before tax climbed to US$1.32bn from US$1.19bn the previous year.
Ongoing trading profit of US$1.6bn was slightly ahead of expectations, which were for a profit of US$1.57bn, and up from US$1.49bn the previous year.
Basic earnings per share (EPS) fell to 481.3 cents from 515.7 cents the year before, while headline EPS, which excludes what management regards as one-off items, rose 16.4% to 517.4 cents from 444.4 cents the year before.
The full-year dividend was hiked 10% to 208.2 cents from the previous year’s 189.3 cents.
The company, formerly known as Wolsely, said work on the proposed demerger of its UK operations is progressing well and that the UK business was trading ahead of last year in constant currency terms.
Ferguson said it is assessing the most appropriate listing structure for the group and will continue to consult with shareholders on the subject.
Ferguson PLC FY19 results are now available. Full details: https://t.co/xkC3y1RNQP
— Ferguson plc (@Ferguson_plc) October 1, 2019
“Ferguson performed strongly in 2019 with organic growth in the US of 6.2% and substantial investments in acquisitions to further consolidate our market-leading positions. Markets weakened in the second half but our well-executed approach to expanding gross margins and decisive cost control measures ensured strong profit delivery. In our Blended Branches network each region grew organic revenue by about 6% and the Waterworks business grew by 6.7%,” revealed John Martin, the chief executive of Ferguson.
“We remain focused on maximising our organic revenue growth rate, gross margin expansion, tight cost control and strong cash generation,” Martin said.
Ferguson’s shares were up 3.0% at 6,122p in early deals.