Wolseley aims for underlying revenue growth of 5 pct

* No "weak spots at all" in U.S. business

* Conditions in UK, Nordic region to improve slightly (Adds CFO quotes, details, analyst comments)

By Li-mei Hoang

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Plumbing supplies group Wolseley raised its underlying sales growth forecast to 5 percent for the coming year after it posted a 13 percent rise in first-quarter profit on the back of strong U.S. demand.

The British company said the United States, which accounts for 55 percent of group sales, would remain the main driver for growth after revenue in the first quarter there rose 10.7 percent to 2 billion pounds ($3.1 billion).

Wolseley (LSE: WOS.L - news) , which runs the Plumb Center and Ferguson chains in the United States and Britain, posted first-quarter underlying profit of 235 million pounds.

Chief Financial Officer John Martin said it was likely full-year underlying sales would grow about 5 percent, with another 2-3 percent growth expected from acquisitions and expansion.

"Like-for-like this year ... consensus expectations offer about 5 percent, I think that's quite likely now," he told Reuters after the company released first-quarter results.

"The U.S. for quite some time now has been very consistent ... There are no weak spots at all in our U.S. business," Martin said.

The company said it expected trading conditions in Britain and the Nordic regions to marginally improve, after they grew by 0.5 percent and 1.9 percent respectively, but France remained challenging.

Wolseley, which generates 85 percent of revenue overseas, said it expected the impact of currency exchange translations to lessen on the strengthening dollar, after posting a first-quarter foreign exchange loss of 9 million pounds.

Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) in the company were 0.1 percent higher at 3,569 pence by 1046 GMT.

"Wolseley's Q1 update ticked most of the boxes for us. We are pleased to see the acceleration in U.S. growth and stabilising trends across its main European markets," said Liberum analysts. (1 US dollar = 0.6361 British pound) (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; editing by Louise Heavens and David Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) )