Where will this lead to?

i'm still nicely in the money, but serves me right for not selling when much further ahead but going out for the rest of the day

Deutsche Bank reiterates it's Buy TP 3,073.00

1st Quarter Results

First quarter highlights

§ Gross margin of 27.2% in line with the same period last year.

§ Trading profit up 7.6% at £198 million.

§ Continued strong cash generation with net debt of £87 million.

§ Two acquisitions in the USA for total consideration of £80 million.

§ After the end of the period agreed to acquire 22 Burdens branches, subject to OFT approval.

§ Restructuring charges committed to date in Continental Europe of £33 million.

Wolseley is a rare beast -- a FTSE 100 constituent whose share price has galloped. The building materials firm has seen its price grow from a low of £19 back in December last year to £28.42 today -- close to 50%.

Full-year results in October showed an 18% rise in earnings per share, allowing the dividend to be boosted by a third to 60p per share. And then first-quarter results this week showed a 7.6% rise in trading profit, from a 2.1% growth in like-for-like sales -- with net debt almost wiped out.

You'd have done very well to buy Wolseley shares in November. And it's looking increasingly like there's a good long-term future for this "picks and shovels" company, which should do well from the recovering construction industry.

Bought in today for the longer term..hope to double in the next few years!

Proposed Changes to UK Staff Pension Arrangements

Wolseley has started a three-month period of consultation regarding proposed changes to staff pension arrangements in the UK, in light of its desire to provide sustainable and competitive pension arrangements for all of its employees.

The Company is proposing to close the current UK Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Schemes for future accrual on 31 December 2013. The DB pension benefits that employees have already built up will be protected and there will be no changes to the arrangements for retired and deferred members.

The proposals will provide all UK employees with access to a highly competitive pension scheme effective from 1 January 2014 which complies with legislation on auto enrolment which comes into force later this year.

The Company remains committed to meeting its DB pension liabilities and has invested £313 million into the scheme over the past three years including £125 million in January 2013. Wolseley expects no significant change to the overall cost of pensions as a result of this proposal.

Ian Meakins, Chief Executive, Wolseley, commented:

"We want to provide equitable and sustainable pension benefits for all UK employees. Our proposal will provide all staff with competitive pension benefits whilst reducing the impact of financial risk and volatility of the defined benefit scheme on our business in the long-term."

Liberum Capital Buy 3,300.00 3,302.00 3,150.00 3,730.00 Upgrades

WOS should certainly benefit from improving US housing data and also the budget boost given to UK housing

for myself, i have a bad history with this share, so i'm unsure how much of the above is already discounted

Half year results from plumbers’ merchant Wolseley (LON:WOS) should show the company still facing a number of challenges, not least in Europe, where like-for-like revenue growth turned negative in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

Panmure Gordon thinks the key issues in the interim statement will be: Ongoing strength of the North American recovery; trading and provisioning in the European and Nordic territories; the UK market and the impact of recent consolidation.

The City broker forecasts half year underlying earnings (EBITA) of £340mln. Group net debt at the end of the first quarter was £87mln; Panmure Gordon thinks this will rise to £490mln after the company’s special dividend payment, which soaked up £350mln.


http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/market_reports/55095/week-ahead-bellway-wolseley-and-globo-0000.html

Half Yearly Report

Financial highlights

§ Revenue in the ongoing businesses of £6,276 million, 2.2% ahead on a like-for-like basis.

§ Gross margin for the ongoing businesses increased to 27.8%.

§ Trading profit of the ongoing businesses 7.6% ahead of last year.

§ Trading margin for the ongoing businesses of 5.2%, 0.4% higher than last year.

§ Net debt of £871 million after £462 million of dividends, £125 million of one-off pension contributions and purchase of £110 million own shares by Employee Benefit Trusts.

§ Interim dividend increased by 10% to 22 pence per share.



Operating and corporate highlights

§ Continued market share gain and growth in USA, broadly flat in Canada and UK and weakness in Europe.

§ European headcount reduced by 990 (7.2%) since 31 July 2012.

§ Continued focus on productivity improvements across the Group.

§ In France, detailed plans to simplify and refocus Reseau Pro, its Building Materials business, including proposed disposal or closure of up to 40% of its network, to create a strong regional player in the north.

§ Four bolt-on acquisitions completed in the period for £120 million with aggregate annual revenue of £245 million.

told you all i always got this one wrong! .... market doesn't care for the numbers at all

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the nimble-fingered could have made a very nice and quick turn already ...... sp opened down about 70 and now only down 27

Sold my holding, been in since May 2012 1975p :-))

Well done DC!

Thanks skinny, having a spring clean out at the moment. :-))

From Panmure Gordon today:
"Steady progress from Wolseley with a continuing good performance from the US being partially offset by tough conditions in Europe. Cost control and market share gains remain a feature, contributing to stable margins. While investors will focus on US housing we believe that there is a lot of good news already in the share price; take profit, Sell.
Headlines. A solid Q3 trading update with reported revenue up 6.0% to £3.2bn or +2.4% on a like for like (LFL) basis. A stable gross margin and improved cost control saw trading profit up 7.9% to £150.0m; a trading margin of 4.6%. Early trade in Q4 has continued at the same rate.
Divisional. The US remains the main driver behind the growth with LFL revenue +8.3%. The RMI (repair, maintain, improve) segment remains resilient, new housing positive but industrial is slow. Canada LFL was flat due to weaker residential volumes but infrastructure spend is positive. UK continues to improve with LFL +5.2% due to further market share gains. Nordic and European markets are challenging, seeing negative LFL trends. Progress is being made in its French restructuring.
Impact on forecasts. Ahead of the 0900 conference call we are not changing our forecasts. Our FY 2013E PTP is £670m, EPS 169.7p with consensus PTP being £653m, EPS 180.5p. For FY 2014E our PTP is £750m, EPS 191.3p with consensus PTP being £800m, EPS 216.4p.
Valuation. The calendar 2013E P/E is 17.5 falling to 16.0x and EV/EBITDA is 11.3x falling to 10.4x. The dividend yield is 2.3% with the payment covered 2.5x by earnings and 1.6x by FY 2014 FCF. The FCF yield averages 2.7% over the next three years.
Recommendation. With the share price having recently sailed through our target price we still believe it is right to lock in profits hence our cautious recommendation. The medium term attraction of North America remains in place so any price weakness will prompt us to revisit our recommendation."

Final Results

Financial highlights

§ Revenue of the ongoing businesses 4.1% ahead of last year, like-for-like growth of 2.9%.

§ Gross margin of the ongoing businesses of 27.8%, 0.3% ahead of last year.

§ Trading profit of the ongoing businesses £725 million, 10.7% ahead of last year.

§ Impairments and exceptional charges of £174 million (2012: £377 million).

§ Headline earnings per share of 181.8 pence, 8.0% ahead of last year.

§ Strong cash generation with net debt of £411 million (2012: £45 million net cash).

§ Proposed final dividend of 44 pence bringing total for year to 66 pence, 10.0% ahead of last year.

§ Proposed capital return of £300 million via a special dividend and share consolidation.

Operating and corporate highlights

§ Good growth in US, early signs of recovery in UK but continued weakness in Continental and North Europe.

§ Tight cost control and restructuring executed in Continental and North Europe.

§ Good flow-through of incremental revenue to trading profit.

§ Trading margin for the ongoing businesses of 5.6%, 0.3% higher than last year.

§ Six bolt-on acquisitions completed with annualised revenue of £301 million.

§ France strategy being executed as set out at the half year results.

AGM obviously went well!

I always follow this one but have avoided like the plague for many months as I could never ever call it right!

Results for the half year to 31 January 2014

Financial highlights

§ Revenue of the ongoing businesses 5.2% ahead of last year including like-for-like growth of 3.2%.

§ Gross margin of the ongoing businesses of 28.2%, 0.4% ahead of last year.

§ Trading profit of the ongoing businesses £360 million, 8.8% ahead of last year.

§ Headline earnings per share of 91.4 pence, 15.3% ahead of last year.

§ Continued good cash generation with net debt of £927 million (2013: £871 million) after ordinary and special dividend payments of £476 million over the last year.

§ Proposed interim dividend of 27.5 pence per share, 25.0% ahead of last year, including a rebasing of 15% reflecting the Group's strong and sustainable cash flows.

Operating and corporate highlights

§ Good growth in the USA and UK and modest improvement in like-for-like growth in Nordics. Continued weakness in Central Europe and Canada.

§ Decent flow-through of incremental revenue to trading profit.

§ Trading margin for the ongoing businesses of 5.6%, 0.2% higher than last year.

§ Two bolt-on acquisitions completed in the period with annualised revenue of £52 million. Previously announced acquisition of Puukeskus now completed.

§ Good progress on investment in technology and processes to support the development of more efficient business models.

i never ever get my timing or direction right on this one, so have avoided (losing money!) for the last year or two!

however, the results certainly show how the housing market is improving - HWDN and prob a couple of others would also indicate likewise - so those of a brave nature may still want a dabble, especially before usa wakes up