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£9 million spent on two acquisitions makes year-end total £383 million

06 August 2007

Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2006, a total of 43 bolt on acquisitions in Europe and North America have been completed for an aggregate consideration of approximately £383 million.

These 43 acquisitions are expected to add approximately £671 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill and intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £261 million.

In addition, on 25 September 2006, Wolseley plc completed the acquisition of DT Group (formerly known as Danske Traelast) for an estimated consideration of £1,339 million, which brings aggregate acquisition spend for the year ended 31 July 2007 to £1,722 million.

Details of the latest acquisitions are as follows:

North America

On 30 July 2007, Ferguson acquired the assets of Fire Fab, Inc. (“Fire Fab”) from Brad Coons and David Wagner. Fire Fab is a distributor and fabricator of fire safety and suppression systems located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the year ended 31 December 2006, Fire Fab had revenue of $12.4 million (£6.0 million) and gross assets of $2.7 million (£1.3 million) at that date. This acquisition expands Ferguson’s presence in the growing fire protection market.

Europe

On 30 July 2007, DT Group acquired Säve Trä Försäljnings AB (“Säve”) from Pieter Martinsson AB, Klas Berntsson Invest AB and Per Stellan AB. Säve, a builders merchant, operates from two branches in Säve and Lerum, Sweden. In the year ended 31 December 2006, Säve had revenue of SEK111.0 million (£8.1 million) and gross assets of SEK33.1 million (£2.4 million) at that date. This is the eighth bolt on acquisition since DT Group joined Wolseley Group and is consistent with the plan to expand DT’s heavy side building materials footprint in the Nordic region.

The divisional split of the total acquisition spend for the year ended 31 July 2007 is:

In addition to the above, on 26 July 2007, Wolseley France signed an agreement conditional upon obtaining French competition clearance, to acquire Sofiparts SAS (“Sofiparts”) and its subsidiary companies from SAS Savare. Sofiparts designs, engineers and assembles roof trusses operating from nineteen production sites across France. In the year ended 31 December 2006,

Sofiparts had revenue of €121.4 million (£81.5 million) and gross assets of €36.6 million (£24.5 million) at that date. Completion of this acquisition is expected in November 2007. The conditional acquisition of Sofiparts is in line with Wolseley France’s strategy to move into the truss assembly market and further increase its presence in the new residential sector.

Chip Hornsby, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:

“These acquisitions build on our strategy of profitable growth through acquisitions and organic means and provide increased diversity to the Group’s product range. We are delighted to also be announcing an agreement to acquire Sofiparts, a leading operator in the truss and wood frame housing market which will further complement our existing building materials operations in France.”

ENQUIRIES:

Guy Stainer +44 118 929 8744
Group Investor Relations Director +44 7739 778187

John English     +1 513 771 9000
Vice President, Investor Relations, North America +1 513 328 4900

Brunswick     +44 20 7404 5959
Andrew Fenwick
Sophie Brand

Exchange Rates

The following exchange rate has been used for the acquisitions noted above:
£1 = $2.06, £1 = SEK13.68, £1 = €1.49

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 itemise 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.

Notes to Editors

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 revenue for the year ended 31 July 2006 was approximately £14.2 billion and operating profit, before amortisation of acquired intangibles, was £882 million. Wolseley has around 78,000 employees operating in 28 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, Barbados and Greenland. 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.

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