Recent Acquisition Activity

Wolseley PLC
24 May 2004

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                                  Wolseley plc
                     Update on Recent Acquisition Activity

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

Since Wolseley's Interim results announcement on 22 March 2004 a further five
additional distribution businesses in Europe and North America have been
acquired for an aggregate consideration of approximately £44 million in cash.

These acquisitions bring Wolseley's total spend on acquisitions, including debt
acquired, since the beginning of the financial year, to approximately £122
million. In total, the 14 acquisitions completed to date are expected to add
approximately £303 million to group turnover in a full year. Goodwill related to
these 14 acquisitions is estimated to be around £50 million.

Details of the additional five acquisitions are set out below.


North American Plumbing and Heating Distribution
------------------------------------------------

In March 2004, Ferguson acquired Municipal Pipe and Fabricating Company and
Municipal Pipe and Fabricating Company S.W. ('Municipal Pipe'). Municipal Pipe
is a distributor of water and wastewater materials, including pipe, valves,
fittings and fire hydrants with locations in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and
Mission, Texas. The acquisition of Municipal Pipe extends Ferguson's current
waterworks presence within the state of Texas and complements existing
operations in Dallas, Austin and Corpus Christi. Municipal Pipe had sales of
£37.5 million in the year to 30 September 2003 and net assets of £6.4 million at
that date.

Also in March 2004, Wolseley Canada acquired Salles de Bain du Coteau Inc., a
luxury bath showroom selling plumbing products primarily to contractors and
their customers in Terrebonne, Quebec. Salles de Bain du Coteau had sales of
£1.6 million in the year to 31 October 2003 and net assets of £0.6 million at
that date.

In May 2004, Wolseley Canada acquired Murray Industrial Ltd., a leading supplier
of industrial supplies based in St. John's, Newfoundland. Operating from three
branches, Murray Industrial has been providing industrial supplies to the
energy, mining, pulp and paper sectors for more than 20 years. It had sales of
£2.2 million in the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets of £0.3 million at
that date. Murray Industrial will provide a platform for Wolseley Canada to
further develop its business in PVF, engineered pipe, plumbing and HVAC/R in
Newfoundland.


US Building Materials Distribution
----------------------------------

In May 2004, Stock Building Supply acquired Bellevue Builders Supply of Albany/
Schenectady, NY. Bellevue operates from 7 branches, a distribution centre, a
truss manufacturing centre, a kitchen warehouse and a manufacturing centre that
specialises in doors, stairs, worktops and wall panels. It had sales of £53
million in the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets of £15.2 million at that
date.


European Distribution
---------------------


Also in May 2004, PBM in France acquired Quercy Negoce, a single branch building
materials distributor based in the north of France. Quercy Negoce had sales of
£1.8 million in the year to 31 December 2003 and net assets of £0.2 million at
that date.


The segmental split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2003 has been:

I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I
I Division                                        I   No. of     I    Spend    I                                       
I                                                 I Acquisitions I  £ million  I
I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I
I European Distribution                           I      3       I      57     I
I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I
I US Building Materials Distribution              I      4       I      38     I
I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I
I North American Plumbing & Heating Distribution  I      7       I      27     I
I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I
I TOTAL                                           I     14       I     122     I
I-------------------------------------------------I--------------I-------------I

Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:

'As we said in our interim results on 22 March 2004, the underlying performance
of the group remains strong. These bolt-on acquisitions will further strengthen
our presence in Europe and North America, and they support our strategy of
growing the business via acquisition and organic growth.'


Exchange Rates
--------------

The following exchange rates have been used for the five acquisitions noted
above:   £1 = $1.80, £1 = €1.47, £1 = C$2.46.


Press/Investor Enquiries:

Wolseley plc                     0118 929 8700
Guy Stainer
Head of Investor Relations


Brunswick                        020 7404 5959
Nina Richmond


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 2003 were approximately £8.2 billion and operating profit,
before goodwill, was £473 million. Wolseley has around 47,000 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:
WOL.L, NYSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 listed companies.



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