Shares in Wolseley were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading as the building merchant prepares to release its full year results on Monday.

In its third quarter statement earlier this year Wolseley reported a stabilisation of trading conditions with like for like revenues down two per cent, excluding disposals, and gross profit margin up 0.5 per cent to 27.8 per cent.

The group saw good like for like revenue growth in its British and Canadian operations offset a poorer performance from Europe and the USA. Profits were also helped by cost cutting and by changing its product mix.

Keith Bowman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said, "Ahead of the results, current full year pre-tax profit estimates provide a median figure of £299.8m, up just over 2 per cent from a year previous, whilst consensus analyst opinion denotes a strong hold".

By 16:05 shares in Wolseley were up 3.36 per cent on the FTSE 100 to 1,539.00 pence per share.