Wolseley plc Acquisitions Update

27 million pounds spent on six acquisitions taking total for bolt on acquisitions for the year so far to 262 million pounds 


CINCINNATI, Dec. 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 six further bolt on acquisitions for an aggregate consideration of 27 million pounds Sterling. In a full year, these bolt on acquisitions are expected to add approximately 57 million pounds in additional revenue.

Since the beginning of the financial year on August 1, 2006, a total of twenty five bolt on acquisitions in Europe and North America have been completed for an aggregate consideration of approximately 262 million pounds. These twenty five acquisitions are expected to add approximately 444 million pounds to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill and intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around 175 million pounds. In addition, on September 25, 2006, Wolseley plc completed the acquisition of DT Group (formerly known as Danske Traelast) for an estimated consideration of 1,353 million pounds which brings aggregate acquisition spend for the year to 1,615 million pounds.

North America

On November 27, 2006, Wolseley Canada acquired Hudson Plumbing Supplies Limited ("Hudson") from Jim McKendry and Kevin Grant. Hudson is a distributor of plumbing parts operating from three locations in the Greater Toronto area. In the year ended December 31, 2005, Hudson had revenue of CAD$6.7 million (2.9 million pounds) and gross assets of CAD$2.7 million (1.2 million pounds) at that date.

On December 4, 2006, Ferguson acquired the assets of Onda-Lay Pipe & Rental, Inc. ("Onda-Lay") from a large number of individual shareholders. Onda-Lay operates from three locations, Midland (Texas), Hobbs (New Mexico) and Damascus (Arkansas) distributing polyethylene pipe products, fiberglass pipe products and providing installation services. In the year ended 31 December 2005, Onda-Lay had revenue of $38.3 million (19.5 million pounds) and gross assets of $6.7 million (3.4 million pounds) at that date.

On December 11, 2006, Ferguson acquired T'N'T Sales, Inc. trading as Page's Appliances ("Pages") from Terry Page and Tom Styer.  Pages is a leading independent appliance dealer operating from Albuquerque and Santa Fe, Central New Mexico. In the year ended June 30, 2006, Pages had revenue of $10.3 million (5.2 million pounds) and gross assets of $0.8 million (0.4 million pounds) at that date.

On December 15, 2006, Stock Building Supply ("Stock") acquired Tonto Verde Construction, Inc. and Precision Forest Products, LLC ("Tonto") from Ted Brooks and Eric Mitchell. Tonto is a framing contractor supplying the Phoenix, Arizona residential housing market. This is Stock's first entry into the Phoenix housing market which has consistently been one of the top five housing markets, as measured by the number of housing starts, over the last few years and is expected to maintain this position for the foreseeable future. In the year ended December 31, 2005, Tonto had revenue of $37.3 million (19.0 million pounds) and gross assets of $0.7 million (0.4 million pounds) at that date.

Europe

On September 1, 2006, PBM acquired Atout K-RO ("Atout") from Richard Mas and Alex Lucas. Atout is a specialist ceramic tiles distributor operating from a single location in Perpignan, Southern France. In the year ended March 31, 2006, Atout had revenue of 9.4 million Euro (6.3 million pounds) and gross assets of 0.3 million euro (0.2 million pounds) at that date.

On December 1, 2006, PBM acquired Etablissments Pochon Felix ("Pochon") from Socamo. Pochon is a generalist builders' merchant based in the Rhone Alpes region of France and is run from two outlets, Bourg en Bresse and Pont de Vaux. In the year ended March 31, 2006, Pochon had revenue of 5.7 million euro (3.8 million pounds) and gross assets of 1.0 million euro (0.7 million pounds) at that date.

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

                               No. of            Spend Million pounds
   Division                  Acquisitions

   Europe                        11                      66
   North America                 14                     196
   TOTAL BOLT ONS                25                     262
   Acquisition of DT Group        1                   1,353
   TOTAL ACQUISITION SPEND       26                   1,615

  Chip Hornsby, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:


"We are pleased to announce these six bolt on acquisitions which further strengthen our existing business in Europe and North America. Bolt-on acquisitions like these continue to be an important part of our successful growth strategy."

Exchange Rates

The following exchange rate has been used for the acquisitions noted above: 1 pound = $1.96, 1 pound = euro 0.67, 1 pound = CAD$2.27

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 31 July 2006 were approximately 14.2 billion pounds and operating profit, before amortization of acquired intangibles, was 882 million pounds. Wolseley has around 79,000 employees operating in 27 countries namely: UK, USA, France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Slovak Republic, Poland, Romania, Croatia, San Marino, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico and Barbados. Wolseley is listed on the London and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE:WOS) (NYSE:WOS)  and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies. 

DATASOURCE: Wolseley plc



CONTACT:  Guy Stainer, Head of Investor Relations, 0118 929 8744 or

07739 778187, or John R. English, Director, Investor Relations, North America,

[phone], or [phone], both of Wolseley; or Andrew Fenwick or

Nina Coad of Brunswick, 020 7404 5959



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

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