Don Nisbet, Head of Insight, Wolseley comments…

Posted 1st July 2021

Don Nisbet, Head of Insight, Wolseley, one of the leading plumbing and heating merchant contributors to the PHMI comments on the April results:

“April saw year-on-year comparisons distorted by last year’s semi closedown so the two-year comparisons are a more useful guide to the state of the market than the spectacular one-year figures. On a two-year comparison, with a more normal 2019, the index is up 4.3% on a monthly basis and up 6.6% on a three-month basis, indicating underlying market growth.

“The coldest April since 1922 will certainly have helped the demand for the boiler and heating market”, continues Don. “Likewise, the working at home phenomena and the mini housing boom that has flowed from this, and the stamp duty holiday are certainly helping the domestic Plumbing & Heating (P&H) markets. However, commercial P&H customers will be seeing the flipside impact of the pandemic on the office market. The P&H market is undoubtedly moving in the right direction in terms of demand helped by the short-term boost of the housing market but, looking ahead, there is still a lot of uncertainty over the rest of the year with customer concerns over future availability and prices.”