Ferguson reports fourth-quarter and year-end results; issues fiscal 2025 guidance

Kevin Murphy, CEO of Ferguson, commented: “Our skilled employees have once again performed well and exceeded expectations to meet the complex project needs of our professional clients. The year ended in line with our expectations. Despite market headwinds and deflation during the year, we continued to outperform our markets, returned to volume growth, expanded gross margins and delivered solid operating margin performance. Our strong cash flow and balance sheet enable continued investment in organic growth, sustainable dividend growth, consolidation of our fragmented markets through acquisitions and the continuation of our share buyback program.

“Our fiscal 2025 guidance reflects modest full-year growth with continued market performance. While we expect a continued challenging market environment in the near term, we will continue to invest in scale and capabilities to capitalize on multi-year structural tailwinds such as subbase and aging U.S. residential, large nonresidential capital projects and our opportunity with the dual-trade plumbing and HVAC contractor. Our balanced business mix and ability to deploy scale locally give us confidence in our ability to outperform as our markets return to growth.”