Acquisition Update

Wolseley PLC
08 November 2005

NEWS RELEASE
8 November 2005

                                  Wolseley plc
       Acquisition update - £7 Million Spent on Two Further Acquisitions


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 two further acquisitions.

Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 15
distribution businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an
aggregate consideration of approximately £418 million in cash. These 15
acquisitions are expected to add approximately £671 million to group turnover in
a full year. Goodwill related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around
£266 million.

North American Plumbing and Heating Distribution

On 7 November 2005, Ferguson acquired LAB Distributing, Inc. ('LAB') from Lynne
and Rick Clawson. LAB is the largest independent dealer of General Electric
appliances in the Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina market. In the year ended 31
August 2005, LAB had sales of $2.5 million (£1.4 million) and had gross assets
of $0.7 million (£0.4 million) at that date.

US Building Materials Distribution

On 7 November 2005, Stock Building Supply ('Stock') acquired Canyon Drive Lumber
('Canyon') a distributor of building materials, from members of the Barnett
family. Canyon is the market leader in Amarillo, Texas with a solid customer
base of local and regional builders that focus on custom homes. In the year
ended 31 December 2004, Canyon had sales of $32.3 million (£17.9 million) and
had gross assets of $6.3 million (£3.5 million) at that date.

The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2005 is:

Division                                                    No. of       Spend
                                                      Acquisitions   £ million

European Distribution                                            4         242
North American Plumbing & Heating Distribution                   9         102
US Building Materials Distribution                               2          74
TOTAL                                                           15         418



Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:

'I am delighted to announce these two new acquisitions which will further
strengthen our presence in North America. They support our strategy of growing
the business at double-digit rates through acquisitions and organic growth.'


ENQUIRIES:

Investors/Analysts:

Guy Stainer                               0118 929 8744
Head of Investor Relations                07739 778 187

Press:
Penny Studholme                           0118 929 8886
Director of Corporate Communications

Brunswick                                 020 7404 5959
Andrew Fenwick
Deborah Fairbrass




Exchange Rates

The following exchange rates have been used for the acquisitions noted above:
£1 = $1.80.



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 and a leading supplier of building materials to professional
contractors in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group sales for the
year ended 31 July 2005 were approximately £11.3 billion and operating profit,
before goodwill, was £721 million. Wolseley has around 60,000 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.



                                   -- ENDS --





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