On July 5, Charlie Banks, group CEO of the Wolseley Group, parent company of Stock Building Supply and Ferguson, rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. The event commemorated Banks' July 31 retirement and Wolseley's five-year anniversary on the NYSE (listing date May 31, 2001). Banks is pictured here (fifth from the left), along with several other Wolseley, Ferguson, and Stock executives, including Chip Hornsby (third from the left), who will take over as CEO in August following Banks' retirement.
In June, Theale, England–based Wolseley reported it had acquired 50 businesses in Europe and North America since the beginning of its financial year, Aug. 1, 2005, for aggregate consideration of about 900 million pounds. Most recently in North America, on June 21 Stock Building Supply acquired Coleman Floor Co., a Chicago-based supplier and installer of residential flooring with 2005 sales of $233.5 million and 23 locations.
