Wolseley annual profit rises, raises dividend

LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - British plumbing supplies group Wolseley (LSE: WOS.L - news) posted a 8.6 percent rise in annual profit, said it would hike its dividend by 25 percent and would launch a 250 million pound share buyback after strong U.S. trading.

The company, which operates the Plumb Center and Ferguson chains in the United States and Britain, on Tuesday reported trading profit of 761 million pounds ($1.24 billion) on a constant foreign exchange basis for the 12 months ended July 31.

Analysts had expected a trading profit of 750 million pounds, according to a company-supplied consensus forecast.

Wolseley proposed to pay a final dividend of 55 pence per share, bringing its full-year total to 82.5 pence per share, 25 percent higher than last year. It also said it would launch a 250 million pound share buy-back plan.

(1 U.S. dollar = 0.6147 British pound) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Jason Neely)