9th Oct 2006 07:00
Wolseley PLC09 October 2006 NEWS RELEASE 9 October 2006 Wolseley plc Acquisitions update £111 million spent on four bolt on acquisitions taking total for bolt on acquisitions for the year so far to £160 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 four further bolt on acquisitions for an aggregateconsideration of £111 million. In a full year, these bolt on acquisitions areexpected to add approximately £148 million in additional revenue. Since the beginning of the financial year on 1 August 2006, a total of ten bolton acquisitions in Europe and North America have been completed for an aggregateconsideration of approximately £160 million. These ten acquisitions are expectedto add approximately £238 million to Group revenue in a full year. Goodwill andintangible assets related to these acquisitions is estimated to be around £109million. In addition, on 25 September 2006, Wolseley plc completed theacquisition of DT Group (formerly known as Danske Traelast) for £1,353 millionwhich brings aggregate acquisition spend for the year to £1,513 million. North America On 2 October 2006, the assets of Lawrence Plumbing Supply, Co and the shares ofCastle Supply Company, Inc and Castle North Corporation ("Castle Group") wereacquired from Joseph Lawrence, Joseph White, Robert Stern, Robert Caldwell andJohn Thomas in the USA. Castle Group is a premier distributor of plumbingproducts with 27 locations in Florida. This acquisition will complimentWolseley's established presence in Florida's commercial plumbing market. In theyear ended 31 December 2005, Castle Group had revenue of $165.3 million (£87.9million) and gross assets of $28.4 million (£15.1 million) at that date. On 2 October 2006, Ferguson acquired Northern Water Works Supply, Inc ("NWWS")from David B. McNair, David B. McNair Grantor Retained Annuity Trust, Janet B.McNair, Ron J. Vasko and J. Jeffrey Mogush. NWWS is the largest independentwholesaler of waterworks products in the states of Minnesota, North Dakota,South Dakota, Iowa, Western Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. In the year ended31 December 2005, NWWS had revenue of $91.2 million (£48.5 million) and grossassets of $20.1 million (£10.7 million) at that date. Europe On 2 October 2006, Wolseley UK acquired Murdock ECD Limited and Murdock HaworthLimited ("Murdock") from Murdock Group Limited. Murdock consists of threebuilders merchant branches located in the north west of England. In the yearended 31 December 2005, Murdock had revenue of £7.1 million and gross assets of£0.7 million at that date. On 5 October 2006, DT Group acquired Helatukku Finland Oy ("Helatukku") fromWedeco and Hannu Rantanen. Helatukku, based in Western Finland, imports, marketsand distributes items mainly for the kitchen cabinet manufacturing industry. Inthe year ended 31 December 2005, Helatukku had revenue of €6.3 million (£4.2million) and gross assets of €3.0 million (£2.0 million) at that date. The divisional split of the total acquisition spend since 1 August 2006 is: Division No. of Acquisitions Spend £ Million Europe 5 26North America 5 134TOTAL BOLT ONS 10 160Acquisition of DT Group 1 1,353TOTAL ACQUISITION SPEND 11 1,513 Chip Hornsby, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley said: "We are delighted to announce these four bolt on acquisitions which complementour existing business in Europe and North America. Making bolt on acquisitionsis an important part of delivering double digit growth and the pipeline for theyear remains strong. The acquisitions announced today include our first bolt onin Finland, which following the recent purchase of DT Group, will helpstrengthen our platform for growth in the region." 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 acquisitions noted above:£1 = $1.88, £1 = €0.67 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 to professional contractors and a leading supplier of buildingmaterials in North America, the UK and Continental Europe. Group revenues forthe year ended 31 July 2006 were approximately £14.2 billion and operatingprofit, before amortisation of acquired intangibles, was £882 million. Wolseleyhas more than 79,000 employees operating in 22 countries namely: UK, USA,France, Canada, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, CzechRepublic,Hungary, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, SanMarino, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico. Wolseley is listed onthe London and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE: WOS, 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