Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
2 July 2001



                                 NEWS RELEASE

                                 2 July 2001



                    Wolseley completes its acquisition of
                             The Westburne Group



Further to the announcement on 23 May 2001 concerning the conditional contract
entered into to enable Wolseley plc to acquire The Westburne Group (as defined
in the above announcement) Wolseley is pleased to confirm that the
transactions contemplated by that Agreement have been completed with an
effective date of 1 July 2001.







                                  ENQUIRIES:

                          Richard Ireland - Chairman

                    Wolseley plc - Telephone [phone]

                        Tom Wyatt - Financial Dynamics

                           Telephone [phone]



                               www.wolseley.com