Wolseley plc Acquisitions Update

22 million pounds spent on three acquisitions taking total for year ending July 31, 2007 so far to 49 million pounds 


CINCINNATI, Sept. 20  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building materials, announced today three further acquisitions for an aggregate consideration of 22 million pounds Sterling. In a full year, these acquisitions are expected to add approximately 30 million pounds in additional revenue.

Since the beginning of the financial year on August 1, 2006, a total of six businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregate consideration of approximately 49 million pounds. These six acquisitions are expected to add approximately 91 million pounds to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill and intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around 29 million pounds. These totals do not include the acquisition of DT Group (formerly known as Danske Traelast) which was announced on July 24, 2006 and is expected to complete in the next eight days.

North America

On August 21, 2006, Ferguson acquired the assets of United Automatic Heating Supply Ltd ("United Automatic") from James Haskell. United Automatic is an Ohio-based distributor of heating ventilation and air conditioning equipment and supplies. In the year ended December 31, 2005, United Automatic had revenue of $29.4 million (15.7 million pounds) and gross assets of $5.4 million (2.9 million pounds) at that date.

Europe

On August 31, 2006, Brossette acquired Sigmatec SAS ("Sigmatec") from Mr Gournay.  Sigmatec is an electrical distributor based in Northern France. In the year ended March 31, 2006, Sigmatec had revenue of 5.6 million euros (3.8 million pounds) and gross assets of 0.4 million euros (0.3 million pounds) at that date.

On September 19, 2006, Wolseley UK acquired Morris Insulation Ltd, Acoustic and Thermal Insulation Ltd, Customised Insulation Manufacturers Ltd and Construction Insulation Distributors Ltd ("the Insulation Companies") from Rhodes Securities Limited. The Insulation Companies, based in Dublin, are the leading distributors of insulation materials in the Republic of Ireland. In the year ended August 31, 2005, the Insulation Companies had revenue of 15.6 million euros (10.5 million pounds) and gross assets of 12.7 million euros (8.5 million pounds) at that date.

The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since August 1, 2006 is:

   Division                      No. of             Spend
                              Acquisitions      Million Pounds

   Europe                          3                  20
   North America                   3                  29
   TOTAL                           6                  49


  Chip Hornsby, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:


"We are delighted to announce these three further acquisitions which will help us continue to grow our business in Europe and North America.  These acquisitions support our strategy of growing the business through acquisition and organic growth."

Exchange Rates

The following exchange rate has been used for the acquisitions noted above:  1 pounds = $1.88, 1 pounds = 1.49 euros

Certain statements included in this announcement may be forward-looking and may involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward- looking statements.  Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projections relating to results of operations and financial conditions and the Company's plans and objectives for future operations including, without limitation, discussions of the Company's business and financial plans, expected future revenues and expenditures, investments and disposals, risks associated with changes in economic conditions, the strength of the plumbing and heating and building materials market in North America and Europe, fluctuations in product prices and changes in exchange and interest rates. All forward-looking statements in this respect are based upon information known to the Company on the date of this announcement. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. It is not reasonably possible to itemize all of the many factors and events that could cause the Company's forward-looking statements to be incorrect or that could otherwise have a material adverse effect on the future operations or results of the Company.

About Wolseley plc

Wolseley plc is the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building materials in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group revenues for the year ended July 31, 2005 were approximately 11.3 billion pounds and operating profit, before amortization of acquired intangibles, was 708 million pounds. Wolseley has more than 71,000 employees operating in 14 countries namely: UK, USA, France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Wolseley is listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges (NYSE:WOS) (LSE:WOS), and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies. 

DATASOURCE: Wolseley plc



CONTACT:  Investors-Analysts, Guy Stainer, Head of Investor Relations,

0118 929 8744, or 07739 778187, or John English, Director, Investor Relations,

North America, [phone], or [phone], or Media, Penny Studholme,

Director of Corporate Communications, 0118 929 8886, or 07860 553834; or

Media, Andrew Fenwick or Nina Coad of Brunswick, 020 7404 5959



Web site:  http://www.wolseley.com/

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