Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
07 July 2003



                                  NEWS RELEASE

                                  7 July 2003


          Wolseley plc announces the completion of the acquisition of

                            Pinault Bois & Materiaux






Wolseley plc, the world's specialist trade distributor of plumbing, heating and
building material products, announced on 24 April 2003 that one of its wholly
owned subsidiaries had made an offer, conditional upon approval of the
appropriate competition authorities, for Pinault Bois & Materiaux ('PBM'). The
offer was approved by the competition authorities on 3 July 2003 and completion
subsequently took place on 7 July 2003. The cash consideration of €565 million
(£390 million), including net debt acquired, was financed from Wolseley's
existing resources.



       Note: The following exchange rate has been used in this release:-

                                   £1 = €1.45



Contacts


Wolseley plc

Guy Stainer, Head of Investor Relations       Tel: [phone]


Brunswick

Andrew Fenwick                                Tel: [phone]
Nina Richmond


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