Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
24 June 2002



                                                                   24 June, 2002





                                  NEWS RELEASE

                                  Wolseley plc



                 Wolseley spends £10m on four more acquisitions



Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing,
heating and building material products, has acquired four more businesses in the
USA, Canada and the UK, for a total consideration of £10 million.  In a full
year, these acquisitions will add a further £30 million of sales.



Following the acquisition of Clayton in April 2002, Ferguson Enterprises, part
of Wolseley's North American Plumbing and Heating division has continued to
increase its presence in the waterworks sector through the acquisition of Sumner
& Dunbar, a wholesale distributor of waterworks supplies based in Massachusetts.
  Wolseley has also acquired Tahoe Truckee Supply Inc, a plumbing and heating
distributor based in the Tahoe/Reno market in the North Western United States.



Westburne Wolseley Canada Inc., the Canadian business, has just completed its
second acquisition since being acquired by Wolseley in July 2001.  It has
purchased Brock Engineering, one of the top three Heating, Ventilation and Air
Conditioning (HVAC) wholesalers in Quebec.   This move will strengthen
Wolseley's market position in HVAC in Eastern Canada.



Finally, in the UK, Wolseley Centers has made its first entry into the South
East of the Province of Northern Ireland, through its purchase of O'Rourke
Plumbing Supplies, based near Castlewellan.



These four businesses bring the Group's cumulative acquisition spend for the
year to date to £101 million, with goodwill of £63 million.



Charles Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:

'Our aim is to continue to grow Wolseley organically and through acquisitions.
Each one of these four bolt-on acquisitions demonstrates our ability to increase
Wolseley's national presence through expanding into new geographic markets, and
to enhance the existing portfolio of market sectors and products we can offer
our customers..'



                                     -Ends-
Enquiries:


Wolseley plc

Jacqueline Sinclair-Brown                             Tel: + 44 (0)118 929 8700

Director of Corporate Communications
Brunswick Group Limited

Sophie Fitton                                         Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7404 5959





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