Wolseley, the world's largest supplier of plumbing and heating equipment, reported a loss of £1.17bn loss, and thus leaving stakeholders without dividend again. The troubled firm cut around 10,000 jobs during the year due to low demand across the segment, under the impact of global financial crisis.

The firm may close 653 branches under its cost-cutting campaign and launched a cost-saving drive, in a bid to eliminate £233 million of overheads by next year. The firm forecast a slump in the property market to continue in the next fiscal as well, which will adversely impact its business.

New Chief Executive of Wolseley, Ian Meakins, too presented pessimistic outlook stating that short term trade conditions would remain challenging, prompting it to take more harsh measures. He added: "The residential sector is seeing a flattening out but where we are still seeing a decline is in the industrial and commercial sectors, particularly in the United States and as a result we will see our overall market continue to decline in the coming year."

Meanwhile, despite pessimism, stocks of the firm rose 8 per cent, figuring among the top gainer in the FTSE 100 in early trading.