The US-focused plumbing and heating group is returning its headquarters to London but questions remain over its future in Britain.
Think back to a decade ago and, apart from the inferno that was the financial crisis, a debate was also raging about the competitiveness of the UK economy.
One which did not was Wolseley, the plumbing and heating products distributor, which had moved to Switzerland. Trading profit, Ferguson's preferred measure, rose by 7.7% during the six months to the end of January as sales rose by 8.2% to $10.85bn. He said several factors were behind this, including less inflation in the price of goods and a slowdown in Canada, where the group is exposed to a weakening in house prices after many years of growth.
Mr Martin was at pains to play this down today, admitting that while the UK business was making relatively low returns compared with the US, he was confident that it was capable of doing better following a recent management shake-up."I wouldn't say anything today other than that I am optimistic the current team is making good progress and gaining momentum in the market."
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