Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
04 April 2006





                                   NEWS RELEASE


                                  Wolseley plc
                              Acquisitions update
£25 million spent on three further acquisitions taking total for the year so far
                            to a record £623 million



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.  In a full year, these three acquisitions are
expected to add approximately £72 million in additional revenue.


Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 35
businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregate
consideration of approximately £623 million. These 35 acquisitions are expected
to add approximately £997 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill and
intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £402
million. These totals do not include the recommended offer for Brandon Hire plc
which was announced on 28 March 2006.


North America


On 3 April 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 30 November 2005 Home Lumber
had revenues of $92.2 million (£51.2 million) and gross assets of $24.0 million
(£13.3 million) at that date. This acquisition will add critical mass to
Wolseley's existing building materials distributor presence in California.


Europe


On 31 March 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 31 March 2005 it had revenues of £20.2 million and gross assets of
£6.6 million at that date. The product range of NL is complementary to Encon,
the distributor of insulation products acquired by Wolseley in October 2005.


On 31 March 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 31 December 2005 it
had revenues of CHF422 thousand (£187 thousand) and gross assets of CHF17
thousand (£8 thousand) at that date.



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

Division                    No. of Acquisitions           Spend
                                                        £ Million

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.'






ENQUIRIES:


Investors/Analysts:
Guy Stainer                                             0118 929 8744
Head of Investor Relations                              07739 778187


John English                                            001 513 771 9000
Director, Investor Relations North America              001 513 328 4900


Press:
Penny Studholme                                         0118 929 8886
Director of Corporate Communications                    07860 553834


Brunswick                                               020 7404 5959
Andrew Fenwick
Nina Coad





Exchange Rates


The following exchange rates have been used for the acquisitions noted above:
£1 = $1.8, £1 = 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
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 revenues for
the year ended 31 July 2005 were approximately £11.3 billion and operating
profit, before amortisation of acquired intangibles, was £708 million. 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.


                                   -- ENDS --







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