HEATING and plumbing firm Wolseley yesterday warned that “extremely challenging” conditions were set to linger until early next year as profits tumbled by nearly 90 per cent.

The Plumb Center and Build Center firm, which has outlets in the North-East, has been hit by housing slumps on both sides of the Atlantic, but is now faced with weakening commercial and industrial markets as recession bites. The group’s pre-tax profits for the nine months to April 30, have fallen 88 per cent, to £72m, and more than 13,700 jobs have been cut worldwide since August last year.

CONTRACT WIN: Newcastlebased advertising and marketing agency Different has become one of only a select number of agencies in the UK to be chosen as a preferred supplier for the Central Office of Information (COI), beating off competition from 160 others nationwide. COI recently launched a framework of regional agencies to better meet the needs of its Government and public sector clients with regional marketing requirements, and said Different was chosen for its capabilities across the design, marketing and branding sectors.

NEW RECRUITS: Cruise operator River Escapes has made two additions to its crew. The family-run company, which operates trips along the River Tyne, has taken on Michael Rowlands as its hospitality manager, and Samantha Oliver as floor manager.

River Escapes now has a crew of 30, and these appointments will help support its programme of events throughout the summer.

BIG MATCH HANGOVER: Record numbers of people called into work sick yesterday morning following Manchester United’s defeat in Wednesday night’s Champion’s League final, it has been revealed. alldayPA, which operates an outsourced 24-hour absence line for thousands of UK businesses, said it received eight times as many absence calls as it would on an average Thursday. It revealed the effect was most pronounced in the North- West – where absence calls were up ten-fold – but there was a higher-than-average absence rate in the North- East.

NEW CONTRACT: A North- East plant has won an £18m refurbishment contract for a power station. Siemens Energy Service Fossil, which employs 900 workers in Newcastle, has been awarded the contract by RWE npower for major refurbishment work at its Didcot B Power Station in Oxfordshire.