Wolseley, the distributor of heating and plumbing products, insists it has no intention of abandoning its London listing to move to New York. That is despite 68 per cent of revenues coming from the booming US market, along with 87 per cent of trading profits if you include central costs, rising to 78 per cent and 90 per cent if you strip out the Nordic operation which is being sold.
Such switches of location are unusual; Henderson Group, the asset manager, is giving up its London listing in May because of the purchase of Janus Capital, but this is very much governed by particular circumstances.
There are no identical companies quoted in the US, but similar ones trade on a higher earnings multiple than Wolseley