Building supplies company Wolseley to lay off 95 people and close outlets

WOLSELEY IRELAND, the building supplies company which owns companies such as Brooks, Heat Merchants, Tubs Tiles and Electric Merchants is to shed 95 jobs and to close several of its stores, The Irish Timeshas learned.

Staff members were informed of the job cuts yesterday morning. It is not yet clear which specific businesses will be affected.

The redundancies represent 16 per cent of the company’s workforce in Ireland. They are in addition to the 150 job losses announced by the firm in February.

Wolseley has approximately 100 branches across the country, North and South of the Border. It said that it intends to “consolidate, transfer or close a small number of unprofitable branches of the company’s network”.

Wolseley also noted that “the ongoing changes in the Irish residential new-build market” and “the prolonged nature and severity of the global economic recession and unprecedented market conditions” led to the decision.

The job losses come as British-based parent company Wolseley announced that the Irish division of the company incurred a loss of €20 million during the 11-month period to June 30th, 2009. In a trading update yesterday morning, the London-listed firm said that the Irish construction market remained “severely depressed” and the market is “unlikely to return to the levels of activity experienced in the past decade”.

Wolseley is one of the world’s largest distributors of heating, plumbing and related building products. The group has approximately 63,000 employees worldwide in 27 countries.

The company said that the decision to layoff 95 people and close a number of branches was necessary “to ensure that the company continues to be competitive”.

It also said that the changes are intended to ensure that the company comes out of the recession well placed to successfully compete in their marketplaces.

Yesterday’s trading statement from Wolseley revealed that revenue from the UK and Ireland sections of the business was down 15 per cent from the previous year, while trading profit was approximately 75 per cent lower.

Overall, profit before tax, one-time items, amortisation and the impairment of acquired intangibles from continuing operations in the 11 months to 30 June was down 60 per cent to £233 million.

It forecast that conditions will continue to deteriorate with trading remaining challenging until at least the end of the calendar year.

The company also announced plans to sell its operations in Belgium, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.