GRAFTON, the Woodie's DIY group, has purchased the British based Wessex Builders Merchants for £4 million sterling. On completion of the sale, the group intends to recover £536,000 in an outstanding loan to a company formerly within the group to reduce the final consideration to £3.5 million, it said yesterday.

The Wessex acquisition is the group's second purchase in the past couple of weeks. Last month, it bought the builders merchants, direct sales and casting divisions of A. R. Hendricks in London, for £2.7 million. Wessex reported sales of £14.1 million to the end off December last and draft profits of £604,000 before tax over the same period. Its net assets were valued at that time at £2.2 million.

Wessex is made up of two divisions, a plumbing, heating and sanitary ware merchants, and a builders merchants business. The plumbing side has four branches in the UK, at Swindon, Bath, Bournemouth and Weymouth. The builders merchants business trades as Wiltshire Buildings Supplies and has one branch at Swindon.

Announcing the acquisition yesterday, Grafton's executive chairman, Mr Michael Chadwick, said it will significantly enhance the group's activities in the UK builders merchants sector. The group has 21 branches, all located in the south of England.