Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
06 January 2005


                                 Wolseley plc
                   £41 Million Spent on Four New Acquisitions


Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing and
heating products and a leading supplier of building materials to professional
contractors, provides an update on recent acquisitions.


Since Wolseley's last acquisitions announcement on 27 September 2004, an
additional four distribution businesses in Europe and North America have been
acquired for an aggregate consideration of approximately £41 million in cash.


These acquisitions bring Wolseley's total spend on acquisitions, including debt
acquired, since the beginning of the financial year, to approximately £183
million. In total, the ten acquisitions completed to date are expected to add
approximately £290 million to group turnover in a full year. Goodwill related to
these ten acquisitions is estimated to be around £68 million.


Details of the additional four acquisitions are set out below.


North American Plumbing and Heating Distribution


In December 2004, Parnell-Martin Management LLC ('Parnell-Martin') was acquired
in the USA. Parnell-Martin is a wholesale distributor of plumbing products from
17 locations across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida. The acquisition of Parnell-Martin will increase Wolseley's market share
in the region and will enable Parnell-Martin to benefit from access to
Ferguson's distribution centres. Parnell-Martin had sales of $93.0 million
(£48.9 million) in the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets, excluding net
debt, of $34.9 million (£18.3 million) at that date.


Also in December 2004, Ferguson acquired Record Supply Company, Inc. ('R
Supply'). R Supply is a four branch, wholesale distributor of plumbing, heating,
air conditioning, waterworks, irrigation products and industrial tools,
operating in the northern regions of Nevada and California. R Supply had sales
of $30.0 million (£15.8 million) in the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets,
excluding net debt, of $9.3 million (£4.9 million) at that date.


Wolseley Canada acquired the shares of TAPS Wholesale Bath Centre Inc. ('TAPS')
in December 2004. Based in Toronto, TAPS is the largest retail plumbing showroom
in Ontario. The single facility, which has a reputation for quality and
excellence, will enable Wolseley Canada to continue its expansion into the
profitable retail showroom market through replication of the TAPS concept to
other metropolitan areas across Canada. TAPS had sales of C$14.0 million (£6.3
million) in the year to 31 December 2003 and net liabilities, excluding net
debt, of C$0.3 million (£0.1 million) at that date, due to excellent working
capital management.


The previously announced acquisition by Ferguson of substantially all of the
operating assets of the Clark Group family of companies completed in November
2004, following Court approval. The Clark Group's main business is the
fabrication and distribution of fire protection equipment, headquartered in St.
Louis Missouri.


European Distribution


In November 2004, Brossette in France acquired the trade and assets of BML, a
specialist distributor of products to public works projects, operating from one
branch south of Paris. The company had sales of €5.6 million (£4.0 million) in
the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets, excluding net debt, of €0.7 million
(£0.5 million) at that date.



The segmental split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2004 has been:

Division                                      No. of Acquisitions      Spend
                                                                     £ million

European Distribution                                            5         130

North American Plumbing & Heating                                5          53
Distribution
                                      TOTAL                     10         183


Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:


'These bolt-on acquisitions will further strengthen our presence in Europe and
North America, and they support our strategy of growing the business through
acquisition and organic growth. We are well on the way to achieving our target
bolt-on acquisition spend of £200 million in the current financial year.'


Exchange Rates


The following exchange rates have been used for the six acquisitions noted
above: £1 = $1.90, £1 = €1.41, £1 = C$2.30.


Press/Investor Enquiries:


Wolseley plc                                       0118 929 8700
Guy Stainer
Head of Investor Relations



Brunswick                                          020 7404 5959
Nina Coad



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 2004 were approximately £10.1 billion and operating profit,
before goodwill, was £619 million. Wolseley has around 50,000 employees
operating in 13 countries namely: UK, USA, France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, 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.


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