Wolseley UK said the wide-ranging transformation plan, which only affects the firm’s plumbing & heating operations, is designed to deliver “a step change in operational efficiency and consistency”. The civils, utilities and infrastructure businesses in the UK remain unaffected by the review.

The UK streamlining strategy is set to take two to three years and cost £100m, with £70m funded by savings and cash from disposals. It is expected to deliver annualised cost savings of £25m to £30m, the company said.

Wolseley also plans to spend £40m over three years refurbishing branches and stepping up investment in digital tools.

“It is too early to provide details of which branches will close, either by region or brand identity,” it added.

John Martin, group chief executive, said: “Our review of UK operational strategy has identified opportunities to transform our customer propositions while simplifying our branch network and supporting logistics facilities to greatly improve service levels.

“Regrettably this will result in job losses which we will handle sensitively and minimise through redeployment and attrition as far as possible.”

Wolseley generated £1,996m revenues from its UK activities in the year to 31st July 2016, up just 0.5 per cent on 2015. Trading profit for the year was £74m, down 17.8 per cent on the previous year.

By contracts Wolseley’s US operations saw revenues grow 6.2 per cent to £9,456m for the year and trading profit by a similar percentage to £775m.

Patrick Headon, managing director of Wolseley UK, said: “We have put the customer at the heart of this review with the aim of making Wolseley the first choice specialist merchant in our chosen markets. We have a great business in the UK and there are continued opportunities for growth. I’m confident the transformation programme will drive better customer service and employee engagement and improve our financial returns.

“The trends in our profitability have been disappointing and we need to take action to improve our customer proposition and the efficiency of our business. We have an outstanding team made up of hard working and dedicated people across the UK and we are very conscious of the impact this transformation of the business will have on some of them. We are therefore committed to carrying out this programme as sensitively as possible, using voluntary means to achieve the proposed headcount reductions wherever possible. Over time I’m confident our proposals will benefit both our colleagues in the UK and the customers they serve every day.”