Bathstore pour cold water on Wolseley

Bathstore dragged on the UK performance of builders’ merchant Wolseley after the retail chain yesterday posted a 15 per cent slump in annual sales.

Wolseley, which is the world’s largest specialist distributor of plumbing and heating products, took a £29 million write-down to reflect Bathstore’s reduced value.

It said the chain faced “particularly challenging” trading conditions.