Plumbing supplies group Reliance Worldwide Corporation says it is unsure if the extreme cold snap across the mid-west of the United States will make its way further south to the company's heartland where it usually experiences a solid uptick in business for its Sharkbite push-to-connect plumbing fittings in February and March from cracked or broken pipes.

Reliance shares had climbed 13 per cent since January 24 as investors bet that Reliance would benefit from what authorities in the US have termed a Polar Vortex , where temperatures have plunged to record lows of minus 29 degrees celsius in Chicago. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and 12 people have died in the extreme cold. But the stock slipped 2 per cent early on Friday to $4.70 after it tempered the expectations of a sales spike from this geographic region.