Wolseley's Irish business lost €32.5m in past year

THE OWNER of building supplies and DIY chains Brooks and Heat Merchants has axed 3,000 jobs and shut 280 stores in Ireland and Britain over the past year.

London-listed Wolseley said yesterday that it had cut €174 million in costs from its Irish and British businesses since 2008, resulting in the lay-off of 3,083 people and the closure of 284 branches.

Two months ago, it emerged that the company was planning to lay off 95 of its Irish staff and close a number of its stores around the country. It announced 150 job losses in Ireland in February.

Wolseley owns Brooks, Heat Merchants, Tubs Tiles and Electric Merchants and operates about 100 stores on both sides of the Border. The company said the number of Irish and British stores at its financial year-end on July 31st was 1,643 compared with 1,927 a year ago.

Yesterday, the multinational said its Irish business lost €32.5 million in the 12 months to July 31st.

“The Irish construction market remains severely depressed with activity levels down by 70 per cent and further economic uncertainties affecting the repair, maintenance and improvement markets,” it said in a statement.

The group added that it had cut labour costs in Ireland by one-third and said staff numbers were 47 per cent of what they were at the height of the building boom in early 2007.

Overall, Wolseley reported that trading profit from its Irish and British operations fell almost 70 per cent to £55 million (€60 million) from £176 million.

It attributed the fall in profits to the loss suffered in its Irish business and to lower volumes.

Sales were down 16 per cent at £2.7 billion this year from £3.2 billion in 2008.

Less than a fifth of its sales come from Ireland and Britain. The company has operations throughout Europe and the US.

Its US business is its biggest single unit, accounting for more than 45 per cent of its sales.

One of Wolseley’s bigger rivals in the US is Irish-based CRH.

Wolseley said yesterday US sales grew 3.6 per cent over the financial year to £6.5 billion from £6.3 billion in 2008. However, almost £1.6 billion of this was down to currency translation from a stronger dollar to a weaker sterling.