Ferguson results drain investor interest

The price of shares in plumbing and heating supplies firm Ferguson (LON:FERG) has dropped by 5.83% to 5,036p (as of 11:30 BST) despite the company having reported a 6.2% increase in revenues and improved margins for the three months ended 30th April. However, overall trading profits were up by just under half a percent.

CEO John Martin commented: “The Group continued to grow in Q3 with revenue 6.2% ahead. We also continued to successfully grow our gross margins and have improved our underlying cost base over the last two quarters.

“We are confident that Ferguson will continue to make progress as we remain firmly focused on delivering superior customer service. We expect to generate ongoing Group trading profit in the year ended 31 July 2019 in line with current analysts’ consensus forecasts.

“Cash generation continued to be excellent and our balance sheet remains strong. We will continue to invest organically in our businesses supplemented by bolt-on acquisitions in our core operations. Given our strong financial position, and in line with our capital allocation policy, we are initiating a $500 million share buy back programme which we expect to complete over the next 12 months.”