Wolseley (builders' Merchant)

Ferguson plc (formerly Wolseley plc) was an American-British multinational plumbing and heating products distributor. In August 2024, it merged into Ferguson Enterprises.

The company traced its roots to The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company, founded in 1887. Wolseley plc changed its name to Ferguson plc in March 2017, to reflect the primacy of its operations in the United States. The company continued to trade as Wolseley in the United Kingdom and Canada until 2021 when Wolseley UK was sold to a private equity firm.

History

Wolseley

The Wolseley business began in 1887 as The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. Herbert Austin, who had worked on Wolseley's shearing machinery development in Melbourne, Australia from 1887, when he was aged just 20, was appointed its manager and received a share of its equity.

Seeking other suitable products, Austin designed his first car in 1896, and for the next four years, continued to develop and improve his designs. Though the board did allow Austin to purchase some machinery to build cars, they decided around 1900, it was unlikely to be a profitable industry. In 1901, Wolseley's embryo car business was acquired by Vickers, Sons and Maxim.Roy Church, 'Austin, Herbert, Baron Austin (1866–1941)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004

The post-war rise of synthetic textiles sharply reduced the demand for wool and the necessary machinery, and in 1960, Wolseley diversified activities, by buying Nu Way Heating. Nu Way Burners was founded in 1932 in Vines Lane, Droitwich Spa, Oil Burner Components was founded by Nu Way in 1959, as a national spares organisation. Out of that grew O.B.C. Limited, and then Wolseley Centers Limited, the major distributor of plumbing and central heating equipment.

In 1965, Wolseley purchased Granville Controls and Yorkshire Heating Supplies. Wolseley continued to expand buying both manufacturing and distribution businesses. In 1982, it entered the market in the United States by acquiring Ferguson Enterprises, a distributor of plumbing supplies with around fifty branches on the East Coast of the United States, for $30.7 million. In 1984, some of the manufacturing businesses were sold, and since that time Wolseley has been mainly a distribution business. Wolseley expanded to Europe by buying French plumbing supplies business Brossette in February 1992. In April 2000, Wolseley sold most of its remaining manufacturing businesses to Cinven for £215 million.

In 2008, during the Great Recession, the company announced 6,000 layoffs.

In July 2011, Saint-Gobain acquired Build Center for £145 million and Brossete for €186-million. Wolseley sold ISB (Importation et Solution Bois) Group to its management in April 2015. Wolseley sold Bois & Matériaux to OpenGate Capital in November 2015.

Following a 2016 restructuring of the UK business (based in Warwick in Warwickshire), most of the trading brands were renamed, and brought under the single brand of ''Wolseley''. In Scotland, it was a supplier of plumbing, heating and bathroom products, branded William Wilson.

Ferguson plc

Wolseley rebranded as Ferguson effective 31 July 2017, because almost all of its business was in the United States, by its Ferguson Enterprises brand. It continued to use the name Wolseley in the United Kingdom and Canada, for its brand recognition.

In 2017, Ferguson sold its Scandinavian businesses for €1 billion. In 2018, Wolseley UK exited its wholesale business, closed nearly 100 branches and cut about 800 jobs, leaving it with 642 branches. Ferguson also made about $650 million of acquisitions. In January 2021, the company sold Wolseley UK to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for £308 million.

In August 2024, the company merged into Ferguson Enterprises.

References

External links

*

{{Construction industry in the United Kingdom

2024 mergers and acquisitions
Business services companies established in 1887
Building materials companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Berkshire
Wholesalers of the United Kingdom