Housing boom boosts Wolseley

THE world's largest plumbing group, Wolseley, lifted its sales by 12.7% in the 11 months to June as the housing boom continued in Britain and parts of the US.

Chancellor Gordon Brown's recent £1bn public spending increase, coming on top of earlier gains in the sector, is also expected to boost business at the group.

Finance director Steve Webster is predicting a strong finish to the financial year ending on 31 July.

Britain has been the best performing region for the worldwide group with the rest of Europe, and France in particular, 'subdued'. Wolseley's US market has experienced wide variations in demand for its products, often within states.

South California has been strong with North California weak, even though the state is an area where a large number of the US housing starts of 1.6 million a year are made.

Because of a squeeze on margins and falling lumber prices, Webster predicted that Wolseley's US building materials business was unlikely to match the level of trading profit of last year.

However, he said earnings would be unchanged from those given when the group issued its interim figures last March. The shares today added 13 1/2p to 556p.