Stock Building Supply's latest layoff cuts 1,500

D udley Price, Staff Writer

RALEIGH - Stock Building Supply, one of the nation's largest building-material suppliers, is cutting 1,500 jobs as the U.S housing slump depresses sales and profit.

Raleigh-based Stock said in November that it was cutting 2,000 jobs. The latest round of layoffs was announced Monday by the company's British parent, Wolseley Plc, which also is closing 22 Stock branches and cutting 500 jobs at its Ferguson plumbing division, which is headquartered in Virginia.

Wolseley spokeswoman Denise Waters declined to say how many of the layoffs were in the Triangle.

Stock has 16,000 employees in 34 states, including just under 1,000 in the Triangle. The company has expanded rapidly, buying 16 building supply outlets in the past year. It now has 314 branches.

Officials blamed the company's worsening financial condition on builders starting fewer new houses and a decline in lumber prices.

"We've responded swiftly to the challenging market conditions as a significant amount of our business is in residential construction," Stock vice president of finance Jim Major said in a prepared statement.

Officials apparently aren't ruling out more layoffs.

"As always, we will continue to focus on increasing our long-term profitability," Major said. "We do not anticipate making further cuts but will continue to monitor market conditions."

Analysts said the housing decline appears to be slowing, but nobody will know for certain if there will be a rebound until the traditionally strong spring selling season begins.

"The jury is still out," said Kevin Lapwood, an analyst at Seymour Pierce in London. New home sales in the U.S. appear "to be leveling out, but there may be some more pain before there's gain," he said.

The housing industry needs to rid itself of a huge number of unsold homes, suggesting that new residential construction will continue to drop through the middle of the year, said Greg Geiber, a housing analyst for A.G. Edwards in St. Louis.

"We've never had so much inventory in the industry," Geiber said, adding that homes are still priced too high to sell quickly. "A lot of people think buyers will be back, but I don't think so until there are more meaningful cuts in house prices."

Founded as Carolina Builders in 1922, Stock was acquired by Wolseley in 1986. The company makes and sells structural components for homes, ranging from roof and floor trusses to wall panels. It also sells moldings for interior and exterior decorations, stairs, doors and window frames.

Declining construction during the five months that ended in December reduced demand for lumber and structural panels, which make up 45 percent of Stock's revenue, the company said. Lumber prices have fallen 22 percent, and panel prices are down 35 percent.

Demand for new housing dropped in parts of Florida and in Phoenix, Minneapolis, Detroit, San Diego and Las Vegas, the company said. Stronger markets included Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.

None of the 22 branches being closed is in the Triangle, Wolseley spokeswoman Waters said, but she declined to name locations. Stock will continue to make acquisitions, she said.

Reading, England-based Wolseley, the world's largest supplier of plumbing and heating equipment, gets half of its sales in the United States, where Stock has annual sales of $5.3 billion.

Staff writer Dudley Price can be reached at (919) 829-4525 or dprice@newsobserver.com.