WOS Wolseley

CINCINNATI, April 4 /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 25 million pounds Sterling. In a full year, these three acquisitions are expected to add approximately 72 million pounds in additional revenue. Since the beginning of the financial year on August 1, 2005, a total of 35 businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregate consideration of approximately 623 million pounds. These 35 acquisitions are expected to add approximately 997 million pounds to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill and intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around 402 million pounds. These totals do not include the recommended offer for Brandon Hire plc which was announced on March 28, 2006. North America On April 3, 2006, Stock Building Supply ("Stock") acquired Home Lumber Company ("Home Lumber") a supplier of framing lumber, OSB, plywood, engineering wood products and other building products, from Brent Johnson and Kelle Johnson Vollkommer. Home Lumber is located in the Inland Empire region of California which is currently one of the most robust housing markets in the USA. It has its main branch in San Bernardino, California and two smaller branches in Bishop, California and Yerington, Nevada. In the year ended November 30, 2005 Home Lumber had revenues of $92.2 million (51.2 million pounds) and gross assets of $24.0 million (13.3 million pounds) at that date. This acquisition will add critical mass to Wolseley's existing building materials distributor presence in California. Europe On March 31, 2006, Wolseley UK acquired Nevill Long Limited ("NL") a specialist supplier of interior building products including suspended ceiling systems, ceiling tiles, dry lining, insulation and partitioning systems, from James Latham plc. NL has a network of nine branches across England and Wales. In the year ended March 31, 2005 it had revenues of 20.2 million pounds and gross assets of 6.6 million pounds at that date. The product range of NL is complementary to Encon, the distributor of insulation products acquired by Wolseley in October 2005. On March 31, 2006, Tobler acquired the trade and certain assets of Hermann Frei, an oil fired and gas fired burners service and maintenance business, from Mr. Hermann Frei. Hermann Frei is based in Nuglar near Basel and services customers in the North Western part of Switzerland. In the year ended December 31, 2005 it had revenues of CHF422 thousand (187 thousand pounds) and gross assets of CHF17 thousand (8 thousand pounds) at that date. The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since August 1, 2005 is: Division No. of Spend Acquisitions Million pounds Europe 14 285 North America 21 338 TOTAL 35 623 Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said: "We are delighted to announce these new acquisitions which support our strategy of growing the business through acquisition and organic growth. The acquisition of Nevill Long will build on our presence in the interior systems market in the UK, which we entered through the acquisition of Encon in October 2005, and Home Lumber gives us a stronger position in the buoyant housing markets of California and Nevada." Exchange Rates The following exchange rates have been used for the acquisitions noted above: 1 pound = $1.8, 1 pound = CHF2.26. 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 and a leading supplier of building materials to professional contractors 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 64,000 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 (LSE:WOS.L) (NYSE:WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies. DATASOURCE: Wolseley plc CONTACT: Investors-Analysts, John R. English, Director of Investor Relations, North America, +1-513-771-9000, or +1-513-328-4900, or Press, Penny Studholme, Director of Corporate Communications, +44 (0)118 929 8886, or +44 (0)7860 553 834, both of Wolseley plc Web site: http://www.wolseley.com/

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