9th Mar 2006 07:01
Wolseley PLC09 March 2006 Wolseley plc Acquisitions update -------------------- £63 million spent on four further acquisitions taking total for the year so far to £571 million, a record spend in any one year Wolseley plc, the world's largest specialist trade distributor of plumbing andheating products to professional contractors and a leading supplier of buildingmaterials, announced today four further acquisitions. Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2005, a total of 29businesses in Europe and North America have been acquired for an aggregateconsideration of approximately £571 million. These 29 acquisitions are expectedto add approximately £868 million to group turnover in a full year. Goodwill andintangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £367million. US Building Materials Distribution---------------------------------- On 7 March 2006, Stock Building Supply ("Stock") acquired K&A Lumber Company ("K&A") a leading supplier of framing lumber and fabricated reinforcing steel("rebar"), from Richard Jackson II and Richard Jackson III. K&A has one outletin Homestead, Florida. The acquisition complements Stock's existing Floridaoperations enabling it to utilise the rebar fabrication capabilities of K&Aacross the Florida market. K&A's customers include national and regionalcommercial contractors as well as national, regional and local homebuilders. Theacquisition is in line with Stock's strategy of diversification into some of thecommercial business opportunities in building materials. In the year ended 31December 2004 K&A had sales of $86.5 million (£49.4 million) and gross assets of$36.7 million (£20.9 million) at that date. North American Plumbing & Heating Distribution----------------------------------------------- On 21 February 2006, Ferguson acquired Central Georgia Supply Co., Inc., tradingas Dixie Plumbing Supply Co. ("Dixie") a plumbing and waterworks wholesaler,from Ricky Hulett and Kent Procter. Dixie has a very strong market position inits one location in Macon, Georgia. In the year ended 31 December 2004 Dixie hadsales of $15.8 million (£9.0 million) and gross assets of $3.7 million (£2.1million) at that date. European Distribution--------------------- On 1 March 2006, PBM acquired Centrale Reolaise des Bois ("CRB"), an assemblerand distributor of wood products, from Groupe Intersites. CRB has one outlet inLa Reole, 70km east of Bordeaux. CRB's customer base includes generalistbuilders, end-users and carpenters. In the year ended 31 December 2004 it hadsales of €1.6 million (£1.1 million) and gross assets of €0.6 million (£0.4million) at that date. Also on 1 March 2006 PBM acquired the assets of Centrale des Materiaux ("CM"), aspecialist generalist builders' merchant. CM has one outlet and will expandPBM's coverage in the South of France. In the year ended 31 March 2005 CM hadsales of €1.1 million (£0.75 million) and had gross assets of €1.0 million (£0.7million) at that date. The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2005 is: Division No. of Acquisitions Spend £ Million------------------------------------------------------------------------------European Distribution 12 275North American Plumbing & Heating Distribution 13 114US Building Materials Distribution 4 182 TOTAL 29 571 Charlie Banks, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said: "We are delighted to announce these new acquisitions which take our total spendfor the year so far to a record £571 million. These bolt-on acquisitions willfurther strengthen our presence in Europe and North America and they support ourstrategy of growing the business through acquisition and organic growth." 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 5959 Andrew FenwickDeborah Done Exchange Rates The following exchange rates have been used for the acquisitions noted above:£1 = $1.75, £1 = €1.46. 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 sales for theyear ended 31 July 2005 were approximately £11.3 billion and operating profit,before amortisation of acquired intangibles, was £708 million. Wolseley hasaround 63,000 employees operating in 14 countries namely: UK, USA, France,Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic,Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark. Wolseley is listed on the London andNew York Stock Exchanges (LSE: WOS.L, NYSE: WOS) and is in the FTSE 100 index oflisted companies. -- ENDS -- This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Ferguson