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Wolseley plcReading, United Kingdom
Report FactsCompany name: Wolseley plcFiscal year end: July 31, 2007 Report title: The name the world builds on Chairman: John W Whybrow Chief Executive Officer: Chip Hornsby Number of books: 1 Report length: 132 pages Auditors: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Design agency: 35 London E-mail: investor@wolseley.com |
Report rating (Rating scale below)(3.5/5)
Profile-Mission(Excerpts, as from the report)The world’s number one distributor of heating and plumbing products to the professional market and a leader supplier of building materials… Our strong brands (°) are represented through… 5,296 branches across 28 countries.(ifc, p 3. Italics are own company’s words)(°) Brands include: Wolseley, Pipe Center, Stark, Reseau Pro, Bathstore, Brossette, Parts Center… Key FiguresGroup revenue: £ 16.2 billionTrading profit: £ 877 million Trading margin: 5.4% Profit before tax: £ 634 million Earnings per share: £ 73.52 pence (basic) Dividend: £ 21.55 pence (recommended) Return on gross capital employed: 13.7% Gearing ratio: 71.5% (Source: figures sourced from the annual report) Some Competitors
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Very good> Rock-solid and matter-of-fact Performance review introduced and signed off by the CFO: logically built, strongly backed with graphs putting numbers in perspective (often over five years) (see selected page).> One page to review Key Performance Indicators and year achievements. > Risk management is part and parcel of the performance analysis. Mitigation is addressed under the Resource management title next to each category of risk (see selected page). > Corporate governance up to UK’s best practice, with an emphasis placed on the audit committee’s work. > Classy Board portraits with fair background information for directors. |
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Good> All key brands displayed on pp 2-3 Why there? Well, why not?> Acquisitions fairly reported. > Worthy Remuneration report. |
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Buts> Financial highlights must be taken for granted until further check (year-on-year growth percentages only).> Can (the impact of) tremendous external growth be effectively measured? Not that easily… > Why focusing on the Return on gross capital employed and leaving out the key Return on equity? > The visual route could have been paved much deeper, longer and livelier than over six spreads. The inside doesn’t fully live up to the very ambitious front cover title. |
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Responsible?> A seven-page Corporate social responsibility report gives a good picture of steps taken on various issues. However, measures are not used for all them; the structure is not perfect; and neither progress is really measured nor targets are visibly set. |
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How does the company report in key areas? What are the main report pluses and minuses?
The Report Scan gives an overview of strengths and weaknesses, and scores each item.
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Selected Page(p 37 of Wolseley Annual Report 2007)
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Reportwatch
"In many organizations, the riskJulian Birkinshaw and Huw Jenkins, <br /><em>professors at the London Business School</em>
manager is too far removed from
action to feel genuine responsibility"
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