Acquisition

Wolseley PLC
08 November 2007


                                  NEWS RELEASE
                                8 November 2007


                                  Wolseley plc
                              Acquisitions Update
                     £84 million spent on five acquisitions


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 five bolt-on acquisitions for an aggregate
consideration of £84 million. In a full year, these bolt-on acquisitions are
expected to add approximately £109 million to total revenue. Goodwill and
intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £50
million.

Details of the latest acquisitions are as follows:

North America

On 1 October 2007, Stock Building Supply ('Stock') acquired Architectural
Building Supply Company ('ABS') from members of the Tolboe and Krajeski
families. ABS is a fabricator, distributor and installer of commercial doors,
commercial hardware and access control devices for commercial and institutional
projects operating from one facility in Utah and two in Idaho. In the year ended
31 December 2006, ABS had revenue of $36.0 million (£17.3 million) and gross
assets of $9.0 million (£4.3 million) at that date.

On 29 October 2007, Stock acquired certain assets of Jacobi Hardware Co., Inc.
('Jacobi') from Walter G. Craven, Anne Craven, Walter B. Craven and Mary Ann
Moldenhauer. Jacobi is a fabricator, distributor and installer of commercial
doors, commercial hardware and access control devices for commercial and
institutional projects, based in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the year ended
31 December 2006, Jacobi had revenue of $3.3 million (£1.6 million) and gross
assets of $0.4 million (£0.2 million) at that date.

These two acquisitions are in line with Stock's strategy of increasing its
presence in the Commercial and Industrial market.

On 5 November 2007, Stock acquired the assets of KBC Construction, LLC ('KBC')
from Keith Cheshire and George Cline. KBC is a turn-key framer and wall panel
manufacturer located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the year ended 31 December
2006, KBC had revenue of $16.6 million (£8.0 million) and gross assets of $2.9
million (£1.4 million) at that date. This acquisition compliments Stock's
existing businesses in the Albuquerque area, enabling it to provide a complete
range of added value services to its customers.

On 5 November 2007, Ferguson acquired the inventory of J.D's Wholesale Plumbing
& Supply ('J.D's') from Linda F. DiMuccio. J.D's is plumbing distributor
operating from a single location in Pagosa Springs, south west Colorado. In the
year ended 31 December 2006, J.D's had revenue of $0.7 million (£0.4 million)
and gross assets of $0.5 million (£0.3 million) at that date.

Europe

On 6 August 2007 Wolseley France announced that it had signed an agreement,
conditional upon obtaining French competition clearance, to acquire Sofiparts
SAS. The offer has been approved by the French competition authority and
completion subsequently took place on 2 November 2007. Sofiparts designs,
engineers and assembles roof trusses operating from nineteen production sites
across France. In the year ended 31 December 2006, Sofiparts had revenue of
€121.4 million (£81.5 million) and gross assets of €36.6 million (£24.5 million)
at that date. The acquisition of Sofiparts is in line with Wolseley France's
strategy to move into the truss assembly market and further increase its
presence in the new residential sector.

The divisional split of the total acquisition spend to date for the year ending
31 July 2008 is:

Division                             No. of Acquisitions            Spend
                                                                  £ Million

Europe                                        3                       79
North America                                 7                       91
TOTAL ACQUISITION SPEND                      10                      170

Chip Hornsby, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said:

'I am pleased to announce these acquisitions. They are excellent businesses that
broaden our product and geographic coverage and support our strategy of growing
the business through acquisition and organic growth.'

ENQUIRIES:

Guy Stainer                                             [phone]
Group Investor Relations Director                       [phone]

John English                                            [phone]
Vice President, Investor Relations, North America       [phone]

Brunswick                                               [phone]
Andrew Fenwick
Kate Miller




Exchange Rates

The following exchange rate has been used for the acquisitions noted above:
£1 = $2.08, £1 = €1.49



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 to professional contractors and a leading supplier of building
materials in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group revenue for the
year ended 31 July 2007 was approximately £16.2 billion and trading profit was
£877 million. Wolseley has around 79,000 employees operating in 28 countries
namely: Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Finland, France, Greenland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway,
Panama, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland,
The Netherlands, Trinidad & Tobago, UK, USA. Wolseley is listed on the London
and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE: WOS, NYSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index
of listed companies.

                                   -- ENDS --




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