4th Apr 2006 07:01
Wolseley PLC04 April 2006 NEWS RELEASE Wolseley plc Acquisitions update£25 million spent on three further acquisitions taking total for the year so far to a record £623 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 £25 million. In a full year, these three acquisitions areexpected to add approximately £72 million in additional revenue. Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 35businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregateconsideration of approximately £623 million. These 35 acquisitions are expectedto add approximately £997 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill andintangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £402million. These totals do not include the recommended offer for Brandon Hire plcwhich was announced on 28 March 2006. North America On 3 April 2006, Stock Building Supply ("Stock") acquired Home Lumber Company("Home Lumber") a supplier of framing lumber, OSB, plywood, engineering woodproducts and other building products, from Brent Johnson and Kelle JohnsonVollkommer. Home Lumber is located in the Inland Empire region of Californiawhich is currently one of the most robust housing markets in the USA. It has itsmain branch in San Bernardino, California and two smaller branches in Bishop,California and Yerington, Nevada. In the year ended 30 November 2005 Home Lumberhad revenues of $92.2 million (£51.2 million) and gross assets of $24.0 million(£13.3 million) at that date. This acquisition will add critical mass toWolseley's existing building materials distributor presence in California. Europe On 31 March 2006, Wolseley UK acquired Nevill Long Limited ("NL") a specialistsupplier of interior building products including suspended ceiling systems,ceiling tiles, dry lining, insulation and partitioning systems, from JamesLatham plc. NL has a network of nine branches across England and Wales. In theyear ended 31 March 2005 it had revenues of £20.2 million and gross assets of£6.6 million at that date. The product range of NL is complementary to Encon,the distributor of insulation products acquired by Wolseley in October 2005. On 31 March 2006, Tobler acquired the trade and certain assets of Hermann Frei,an oil fired and gas fired burners service and maintenance business, from MrHermann Frei. Hermann Frei is based in Nuglar near Basel and services customersin the North Western part of Switzerland. In the year ended 31 December 2005 ithad revenues of CHF422 thousand (£187 thousand) and gross assets of CHF17thousand (£8 thousand) at that date. The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2005 is: Division No. of Acquisitions Spend £ Million Europe 14 285North America 21 338TOTAL 35 623 Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said: "We are delighted to announce these new acquisitions which support our strategyof growing the business through acquisition and organic growth. The acquisitionof Nevill Long will build on our presence in the interior systems market in theUK, which we entered through the acquisition of Encon in October 2005, and HomeLumber gives us a stronger position in the buoyant housing markets of Californiaand Nevada." 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 Press:Penny Studholme 0118 929 8886Director of Corporate Communications 07860 553834 Brunswick 020 7404 5959Andrew FenwickNina Coad Exchange Rates The following exchange rates have been used for the acquisitions noted above:£1 = $1.8, £1 = CHF2.26. 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 64,000 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:
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