Heating and plumbing supplier Wolseley saw its UK revenue nose-dive from £464m in Q3 2013 to £451m in Q3 2014.
The company said this drop in like-for-like revenue for the quarter ending April 30 was impacted because it declined some very low margin profit sales to protect gross margins, which improved in all businesses.

The company which is based in Leamington Spa also reported that new residential construction, which represents approximately 5% of UK revenue, is continuing to grow strongly.

But other areas, which comprise larger amounts of revenue for the company, such as residential RMI markets and industrial markets are not performing as well.

Chief executive Ian Meakins said: "Like-for-like revenue growth in the UK was lower as we continued to focus on protecting gross margins."

The company as a whole generated revenue in the on-going businesses of £3,048m, 6% ahead of last year at constant exchange rates and 5.1% ahead on a like-for-like basis.

Mr Meakins added: "The Group grew its gross margin and controlled operating expenses to generate good conversion into trading profit, though reported results were affected by significant unfavourable foreign exchange rate movements.

"Cash generation was good and we are continuing to invest in technology and new business models to deliver better customer service and gain profitable market share."

Looking forwards Wolseley expects its like-for-like revenue growth rate for the next six months to be about 4%.