WOS Wolseley

CINCINNATI, May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolseley, the world's largest specialist distributor of plumbing and heating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building materials announces that Mr. Fenton Hord, who is responsible for the Company's U.S. building materials business, will retire from the Board on July 31, 2007. Mr. Hord will be succeeded by Mr. Joe Appelmann as CEO of the Company's U.S. building materials business. Mr. Appelmann has been with the business for more than 18 years. In addition, Mr. Robert Walker will step down from the Board as a non- executive director with effect from October 31, 2007. With effect from October 31, 2007, Mr. Nigel Stein will succeed Mr. Walker as a member of the Remuneration Committee and Messrs Jim Murray and Nigel Stein will be appointed to the Nominations Committee in Mr. Walker's place. Mr. Whybrow will also join the Remuneration Committee on the same date. With effect from October 31, 2007 the Remuneration Committee will comprise of Mr. Duff (Chairman), Mr. Stein, Mr. Davis and Mr. Whybrow and, from the same date, the Nominations Committee will comprise Mr. Whybrow (Chairman), Mr. Davis, Mr. Duff, Mr. Hornsby, Mr. Murray and Mr. Stein. Commenting on these changes Mr. John Whybrow, Chairman of Wolseley, said: "I wish to extend the Board's thanks to Fenton Hord for his outstanding contribution to Wolseley over the last 20 years. Although Fenton joined the Group Board 7 years ago, he was appointed CEO of our U.S. building materials business in 1987, growing the business from sales of $113 million to $5.3 billion in 2006, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 22%. "Robert Walker will be retiring from the Board in his ninth year as a non- executive director. The Board is grateful to Robert for the invaluable contribution that he has made to Wolseley over the years and we wish both Fenton and Robert well in the future. "Nigel Stein, who will become a member of the Remuneration and Nominations Committee, joined the Board on December 1, 2003 and is currently a member of the Audit Committee. Jim Murray, who will become a member of the Nominations Committee, joined the Board on April 12, 2002 and is currently Chairman of the Audit Committee." 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 revenue for the year ended 31 July 2006 was approximately 14.2 billion pounds Sterling and operating profit, before amortization of acquired intangibles, was 882 million pounds. 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.L) (NYSE:WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index of listed companies. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange DATASOURCE: Wolseley plc CONTACT: Guy Stainer, Head of Investor Relations, +44 118 929 8744, or +44 7739 778187, or John R. English, VP, Investor Relations, NA, +1-513-771-9000, +1-513-328-4900, both of Wolseley plc Web site: http://www.wolseley.com/

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