Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
03 May 2006


                                   NEWS RELEASE
                                   3 May 2006



                                  Wolseley plc
                               Acquisition update
£49 million spent on three further acquisitions taking total for the year so far
                            to a record £714 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 £49 million.  In a full year, these acquisitions are expected
to add approximately £82 million in additional revenue.


Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 42
businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregate
consideration of approximately £714  million. These 42 acquisitions are expected
to add approximately £1,171 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill
and intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around
£464 million. These totals do not include the recommended offer for Brandon Hire
plc which was announced on 28 March 2006.


North America


On 2 May 2006, Stock Building Supply ('Stock') acquired the Efficient Electric,
United Electric, United Plumbing and D.S.I., Inc. companies ('Efficient') from
Steve Menzies. Efficient Electric and United Electric are installers of
electrical services for residential projects in the Las Vegas market; United
Plumbing is an installer of plumbing services in the Las Vegas market; and
D.S.I., Inc. is an electrical supply house that provides electrical products to
electrical installers. The activities complement Stock's turnkey framing
construction services in the Las Vegas market.  In the year ended 31 December
2005 Efficient had revenue of $94.1 million (£53.3 million) and gross assets of
$22.2 million (£12.5 million) at that date.


On 27 April 2006, Ferguson acquired the Davies Water Equipment Company
('Davies') from Gregory Strayer, Greg Huth and Brad Scholl. Davies is a
waterworks distributor with three locations in Wisconsin.  In the year ended 31
December 2005 Davies had revenue of $49.3million (£27.9 million) and gross
assets of $13.2 million (£7.5 million) at that date.


Europe


On 2 May 2006, PBM acquired the trade and assets of the Chelles generalist
builders merchant from Borghetto Materiaux which operates under the trademark
'BigMat'. In 2005 the Chelles branch had revenue of €0.6 million (£0.4 million)
and gross assets of €0.1 million (£0.1 million).



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

Division                       No. of Acquisitions                 Spend
                                                                 £ Million

Europe                                            17                 308
North America                                     25                 406
TOTAL                                             42                 714



Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:


'We are delighted to announce these new acquisitions which support our strategy
of sector and geographic expansion. Davies takes us for the first time into the
waterworks sector in Wisconsin while Efficient positions us to provide turnkey
electrical and plumbing installation services to the US high-volume production
building industry in the Las Vegas market.'


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


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

Brunswick                                                       020 7404 5959
Andrew Fenwick
Nina Coad








Exchange Rates


The following exchange rate has been used for the acquisition noted above:

£1 = $1.85, £1 = €1.45






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 65,000 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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