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Plumbing company Ferguson raised its outlook on fourth-quarter results after reporting a sharp rise in third-quarter trading profit as revenue was boosting by rising prices amid strong US demand.
'Given the better than expected Q3 results, we are revising our outlook for FY2021 upwards as we expect to continue to outperform strong end markets in Q4,' the company said.
'Based on our latest view of the operating environment we expect to generate Group trading profit in FY2021 (including the impact of IFRS 16) in the range of $2,000 million to $2,100 million,' it added.
For the three months ended 30 April, trading profit grew 65.4% to $579 million as revenue increased 24.5% to $5.92 billion.
Gross margins improved, up 110 basis points to 30.9%.
Strong revenue growth was 'boosted by sequentially increasing sales price inflation and easing prior year revenue comparatives,' the company said.