3rd May 2006 07:00
Wolseley PLC03 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 andheating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of buildingmaterials, announced today three further acquisitions for an aggregateconsideration of £49 million. In a full year, these acquisitions are expectedto add approximately £82 million in additional revenue. Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 42businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregateconsideration of approximately £714 million. These 42 acquisitions are expectedto add approximately £1,171 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwilland intangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around£464 million. These totals do not include the recommended offer for Brandon Hireplc 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") fromSteve Menzies. Efficient Electric and United Electric are installers ofelectrical services for residential projects in the Las Vegas market; UnitedPlumbing is an installer of plumbing services in the Las Vegas market; andD.S.I., Inc. is an electrical supply house that provides electrical products toelectrical installers. The activities complement Stock's turnkey framingconstruction services in the Las Vegas market. In the year ended 31 December2005 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 awaterworks distributor with three locations in Wisconsin. In the year ended 31December 2005 Davies had revenue of $49.3million (£27.9 million) and grossassets of $13.2 million (£7.5 million) at that date. Europe On 2 May 2006, PBM acquired the trade and assets of the Chelles generalistbuilders 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 308North America 25 406TOTAL 42 714 Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said: "We are delighted to announce these new acquisitions which support our strategyof sector and geographic expansion. Davies takes us for the first time into thewaterworks sector in Wisconsin while Efficient positions us to provide turnkeyelectrical and plumbing installation services to the US high-volume productionbuilding industry in the Las Vegas market." ENQUIRIES: Investors/Analysts:Guy Stainer 0118 929 8744Head of Investor Relations 07739 778187 John English 001 513 771 9000Director, Investor Relations North America 001 513 328 4900 Media:Penny Studholme 0118 929 8886Director of Corporate Communications 07860 553834 Brunswick 020 7404 5959Andrew FenwickNina 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 mayinvolve risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results todiffer materially from those expressed or implied by the forward lookingstatements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, projectionsrelating to results of operations and financial conditions and the Company'splans and objectives for future operations including, without limitation,discussions of the Company's business and financial plans, expected futurerevenues and expenditures, investments and disposals, risks associated withchanges in economic conditions, the strength of the plumbing and heating andbuilding materials market in North America and Europe, fluctuations in productprices and changes in exchange and interest rates. All forward-lookingstatements in this respect are based upon information known to the Company onthe date of this announcement. The Company undertakes no obligation to publiclyupdate or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of newinformation, future events or otherwise. It is not reasonably possible toitemise all of the many factors and events that could cause the Company'sforward-looking statements to be incorrect or that could otherwise have amaterial 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 andheating products and a leading supplier of building materials to professionalcontractors in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group revenues forthe year ended 31 July 2005 were approximately £11.3 billion and operatingprofit, before amortisation of acquired intangibles, was £708 million. Wolseleyhas more than 65,000 employees operating in 14 countries namely: UK, USA,France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, CzechRepublic, Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Wolseley is listed on theLondon and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE: WOS.L, NYSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE100 index of listed companies. -- ENDS -- This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Ferguson