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Company to build North American
headquarters in Newport News
by Heather
B. Hayes
for Virginia Business
February 2006
Newport News had a few advantages
in competing with North Carolina for the site of Wolseley’s
North American headquarters.
Wolseley PLC, based in Theale, England,
will spend $30 million on a 220,000-square-foot facility
and bring 400 jobs to the region. The company is the
world’s largest specialist trade distributor of
plumbing and heating products and a leading supplier
of business materials to professional contractors.
Newport News was familiar territory
to Wolseley. The city is already the operations base
for Ferguson Enterprises,
the largest of Wolseley’s three North American
businesses. It also is the hometown of Claude “Chip” Hornsby,
CEO for Wolseley North America.
Of course, more than $4 million in state incentive
grants didn’t hurt either.
A company spokesperson said an initial goal for the
division once the headquarters facility is completed
is to double North American sales volume every five
to seven years. Globally, Wolseley currently takes in
annual revenues of $20.8 billion and employs more than
60,000 people in 14 countries.
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