Plumbing World's parent company NZPM has posted an $8.2 million loss for the 2025 financial year.
The parent company of Plumbing World, AquaSource and Metrix has posted an $8.2 million loss for the 2025 financial year, its second loss in subsequent years as a downturn in the construction industry impacts demand.
NZPM Co-operative recorded total revenue of $295.86m for the year to March 31, 2025, a 7.8% drop from the year prior, when it recorded revenue of $320.97m, according to the New Zealand Companies Office.
The group’s gross profit also fell, dropping from $95.6m in 2024 to $85.2m in 2025.
Its earnings before net finance costs, dividends and tax fell 88.7% from $8.89m in 2024 to just $1m in 2025.
Overall, the business reported a net loss of $8.2m for the year, a bigger loss than its $6.3m loss last year.
NZPM’s interim chief executive Brett Cruickshank said a downturn in the construction industry had played its part.
“In terms of our revenue, that’s market-driven, so revenue’s down 8% on the prior year. That’s the construction of residential and new residential builds and I guess just a general construction-industry downturn, so there’s some impact on the commercial segment as well,” Cruickshank said.
“Even the alterations and maintenance market is down. These are challenging economic times and people are deferring maintenance.”
Cruickshank said data the group tracked showed its market share remained static, so the whole market had gone backwards.
That included its margins, which Cruickshank said were roughly 1% lower over the prior year because of market pressure.
Cruickshank said the business had undertaken several internal initiatives to drive down costs, including reducing its staff numbers by roughly 10% in the last 12 months.
No stores had been shut down as part of its cost-base reductions, although a warehouse in Wellington did close.
Alongside the business’ cost reductions, however, has been a large investment into a full replacement of its core business software that began in 2022 and which has now been completed.
The business partnered with Microsoft to install its Dynamics 265 service, estimated originally to cost $8m, but grew to over roughly $16m by the time of completion.
“That project’s in and it’s going really successfully, it’s operating well and it’s just part of the investment in technology that we need to do to modernise the business. As you know, these projects are big and complex and take a lot of people and resource to get them in,” Cruickshank said.
“We went live across our network on the first of January and we’ve been settling it down in the subsequent months, but we’re happy where we’re up to with it and how it’s operating.”
Included in the $8.2m loss is the business’ $5.8m dividend to its co-operative members, which Cruickshank said would be suspended for the year ahead because of the financial pressures.
He said the business hadn’t seen an improvement in sales since the start of the year and believed it would be another six to nine months before the cycle recovers.
While the business performed well during the Covid period, thanks to a boom in the housing development market, changes in interest rates and employment levels had impacted the number of people confident to buy or build new homes.
Cruickshank said that lower immigration has also had an impact in driving down demand for new housing.
“Costs of homes being higher, interest rates and mortgage rates being higher and less demand, the whole dynamic has just really adjusted the other way very quickly.”
NZPM was formed in 1964 by a group of Master Plumbers led by Ido De Bernardo to establish a merchant chain throughout New Zealand.
Its main operating businesses include Plumbing World, the largest 100% New Zealand-owned national plumbing merchant. Metrix is a leading importer and distributor of European bathroomware to the New Zealand market.
NZPM also owns 33% of AquaSource, a Hong Kong-based specialist plumbing procurement business, to ensure long-term sourcing of its products.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.