Ferguson’s May to July sales tank 0.6% in the U.S.

Ferguson (LON: FERG) said on Friday that its sales in three months from May to July came in 0.6% lower at its main operations in the United States on a year over year basis. In comparison, its sales were down by 9% in April. The company attributed the improvement to the reopening of its stores in recent months as the state governments started to ease COVID-19 restrictions.

Shares of the company opened about 4% up on Friday but dropped roughly 2% on market open. At £70 per share, Ferguson is currently trading around the same level at which it started the year 2020.

The Wokingham-based company also performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 40%. At the time of writing, Ferguson has a market cap of £15.76 billion and a price to earnings ratio of 20.73.

Ferguson to continue cutting costs amidst COVID-19

The plumbing supplier resorted to suspending share buybacks and dividends, and slashed its workforce earlier in 2020 to cushion the economic blow from COVID-19. It said that its cost-cutting drive is expected to remain in place in the upcoming months to further shore up finances amidst the ongoing health crisis. According to Ferguson:

“We continue to encourage customers to use our e-commerce tools where possible, and customer adoption rates have been very strong during the pandemic.”

The London-based company that plans on demerging its business in the United Kingdom also highlighted on Friday that non-ongoing U.K. sales came in 29% lower in the three months versus 60% lower in April on an annualised basis.

In an announcement in April, the British multinational plumbing and heating products distributor had also expressed plans of a secondary listing in the U.S. if shareholders approved. The plan will be reinstated once the stock markets pull out of the COVID-19 driven volatility. As per analysts, however, it was unexpected to happen before 2021.

Naked Wines reports a 67% increase in June sales

In separate news, Naked Wines (LON: WINE) revealed a 67% year over year increase in June sales on Friday. The online wine seller said that eased Coronavirus restrictions had no impact on its performance as its orders remained strong in recent weeks. Naked Wines had previously reported an 81% increase in sales in April and May combined.

The £287 million company is currently about 75% up year to date in the stock market.