Company type | Public limited company |
---|---|
| |
ISIN | JE00BJVNSS43 |
Industry | Building materials |
Headquarters | Newport News, Virginia (corporate and operational headquarters) [1] |
Key people | Geoff Drabble (Chairman) [2] Kevin Murphy (CEO) [3] |
Revenue | US$22.8 billion (2021) [4] |
US$2.0 billion (2021) [4] | |
US$1.5 billion (2021) [4] | |
Number of employees | 31,000 (2022) [5] |
Subsidiaries | |
Website | www |
Ferguson plc (formerly Wolseley plc) is an American-British multinational plumbing and heating products distributor with its head office in Newport,Virginia(corporate and operational headquarters) [1]
Its brands include Ferguson Enterprises (in the United States). [6]
Wolseley plc changed its name to Ferguson plc in March 2017, to reflect the primacy of its operations in the United States. Ferguson plc is listed primarily on the New York Stock Exchange and secondarily on the London Stock Exchange. [7] The company is registered in Jersey. The company continued to trade as Wolseley in the United Kingdom and Canada, [8] until 2021 when Wolseley UK was sold to a private equity firm. [9]
The Wolseley business began in 1887 making sheep shearing machinery. Herbert Austin, who had worked on Wolseley's shearing machinery development in Melbourne, Australia from 1887, when he was aged just 20, was appointed its manager and received a share of its equity. [10]
Seeking other suitable products, Austin designed his first car in 1896, and for the next four years, continued to develop and improve his designs. Though the board did allow Austin to purchase some machinery to build cars, they decided around 1900, it was unlikely to be a profitable industry. In 1901, Wolseley's embryo car business was acquired by Vickers, Sons and Maxim. [10]
The postwar rise of synthetic textiles sharply reduced the demand for wool and the necessary machinery, and in 1960, Wolseley diversified activities, by buying Nu Way Heating. Nu Way Burners was founded in 1932 in Vines Lane, Droitwich Spa, Oil Burner Components was founded by Nu Way in 1959, as a national spares organisation. Out of that grew O.B.C. Limited, and then Wolseley Centers Limited, the major distributor of plumbing and central heating equipment. [11]
In 1965, Wolseley purchased Granville Controls and Yorkshire Heating Supplies. [11]
Wolseley continued to expand buying both manufacturing and distribution businesses. In 1982, it entered the market in the United States by acquiring Ferguson Enterprises, a distributor of plumbing supplies, with around fifty branches on the East Coast of the United States. [11] In 1984, some of the manufacturing businesses were sold off, and since that time Wolseley has been mainly a distribution business. [11]
There were further acquisitions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe. Wolseley moved into Europe, by buying French plumbing supplies business Brossette in February 1992. [11] Acquisition of many more distribution businesses followed. In April 2000, Wolseley sold most of its remaining manufacturing businesses to Cinven for £215 million. [11]
Wolseley issued a profit warning in July 2008, after the credit crunch, and announced 6,000 job losses. [12] It sold Build Center and Brossete to Saint-Gobain in July 2011, [13] [14] and ISB (Importation et Solution Bois) Group in April 2015. [15] Bois & Matériaux went to OpenGate Capital in November 2015. [16]
Following a 2016 restructuring of the UK business (based in Warwick in Warwickshire), most of the trading brands were renamed, and brought under the single brand of Wolseley. In Scotland, it was a supplier of plumbing, heating and bathroom products, branded William Wilson. [17] [18] In January 2021, Wolseley UK was acquired by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, for £308 million. [9]
Wolseley announced it would rebrand as Ferguson effective 31 July 2017, because almost all of its business was now in the United States, in the name of Ferguson Enterprises. It continued to use the name Wolseley in the United Kingdom and Canada, for its brand recognition. [19] The stock listing switched to new holding company Ferguson plc on 1 August 2017. [19] In January 2021, Wolseley UK's sale to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice completed Ferguson plc's shift to north America. [9]
The company moved its primary listing to the US and consequently ceased to be a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index on 12 May 2022. [20]
In December 2023, the company confirmed that the board of directors was "evaluating the best manner and timing" of officially relocating the headquarters of Ferguson plc from the UK to the US, "which would fully align the Company’s headquarters and governance with its operations and leadership." [21]
Ferguson is organised geographically as follows: [22]
British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.
Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it also produces a variety of construction, high-performance, and other materials. Saint-Gobain is present in 76 countries and as of 2022 employs more than 170,000 people.
Wolseley UK is a supplier of building materials, with trade customers accounting for the largest proportion of its sales. Wolseley are the largest trade specialist in plumbing and heating in the UK. It has retail showrooms around the United Kingdom which are open to the general public.
Rexel is a French company specializing in the distribution of electrical, heating, lighting and plumbing equipment, but also in renewable energies and energy efficiency products and services.
Travis Perkins plc is a British builders' merchant and home improvement retailer with head offices based in Northampton. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Through its Toolstation subsidiary, the group also has operations in mainland Europe.
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is an American private equity company. It is one of the oldest private equity investment firms in the world. Founded in 1978, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in approximately 90 businesses, representing a broad range of industries with an aggregate transaction value in excess of $140 billion. Approximately half of CD&R's investments have involved corporate divestitures.
Npower Limited was a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Ferguson, LLC, headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, United States, is the largest U.S. distributor of plumbing supplies, PVF, waterworks and fire and fabrication products. It is also a major distributor of HVAC equipment and industrial products and services. It ended the 2019 fiscal year with sales of $18.4 billion. This is an increase of 12.2 percent from the previous fiscal year.
Howden Joinery Group Plc is the multinational parent company for the Howdens Joinery business (Howdens) based in London, England. It is a supplier of kitchens and joinery products to the building trade. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Novar plc was an international building supplies group based in the United Kingdom. Novar was formed in 1921 as Metal Box Company from the coming together of several businesses and trades, including canning and printing. By the 1970s, it was a market leader in these fields. In the 1980s the company diversified into building supplies and at its peak consisted of 30 companies supplying products to the construction and DIY industries.
RS Group plc is a distributor of industrial and electrical products based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
EnServe Group Limited is a support services company headquartered in Macclesfield, United Kingdom which provides infrastructure services to the utility sector. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, it was wholly owned by the private equity company Cinven between 2010 and 2016, when it was bought by Rubicon.
Genuit Group plc, formerly Polypipe Group, is a manufacturer of plastic piping systems, for use in the residential, commercial, civils and infrastructure sectors. The piping systems are used for a variety of applications including drainage, plumbing, water supply, water management, cable management, heating and ventilation. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Build.com is an online home improvement retailer, and subsidiary of Ferguson plc. It sells bathroom, kitchen and lighting hardware, appliances and other supplies. The company is headquartered in Chico, California, United States.
Trane Technologies plc is an Irish-domiciled company focused on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and refrigeration systems. The company traces its corporate history back more than 150 years and was created after a series of mergers and spin-offs. In 2008, HVAC manufacturer Trane was acquired by Ingersoll Rand, a US industrial tools manufacturer. In 2020, the tools business was spun off as Ingersoll Rand and the remaining company was renamed Trane Technologies.
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited was a London-incorporated public listed company created to capitalize on a sheep-shearing machinery business established by Frederick Wolseley in Australia which was managed by Herbert Austin who went on to manufacture Wolseley and Austin cars.
HP Products, a Ferguson enterprise, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a distributor of health and hygiene, packaging, safety, laundry and dietary, lighting, equipment, food service, coffee and beverage, and textile products.
STARK Group is one of the largest retailers and distributors of building materials for the professional segment in Europe with approx. 20,000 employees and 1,150 branches and distribution centres. Headquartered at Frederiksberg, Denmark, STARK Group owns and operates six builders’ merchant chains STARK Building Materials UK, with Jewson as the most significant brand, in the United Kingdom., STARK Deutschland GmbH in Germany and Austria, STARK Danmark in Denmark and Greenland, Beijer Byggmaterial AB in Sweden, STARK Suomi Oy in Finland, and Neumann Bygg A/S in Norway.
Edmundson Electrical Ltd is a privately held electrical distribution company headquartered in Knutsford, Cheshire, incorporated in 1991. It is the largest electrical distributor in the United Kingdom and serves both to the trade and to the public from over 300 locations. The company also serves Ireland through a subsidiary, EWL Electric Ltd, as well as through mainland Europe via its sister company, Vink Holdings.
Abrdn plc, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen plc, is a United Kingdom-based global investment company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Thanks largely to big stock awards, CEOs of U.S.-listed companies tend to make several times more than those in the U.K.