UK-based distributor Wolseley plc is once again looking to exit its U.S.-based Stock Building Supply operations with a deadline of Aug. 1, 2009.
Even after extensive cost-cutting measures last fall that included reducing headcount by an additional 3,000 and closing 86 branches, the business lost $246 million last year.
Stock Building Supply is heavily reliant on housing starts in the U.S., which declined from around 750,000 in Oct. 2008 to about 460,000 in January. Enough is enough, John Whybrow, chairman of the board, says in a Webcast on the Wolseley site. “We cannot go on with markets deteriorating like that.”
Wolseley said it prefers a joint venture partner for the business, though closing Stock – the worst-case …
