Ferguson Announces Six Acquisitions Adding $350M Revenue — Including Three HVAC Deals

Ferguson Enterprises (NYSE: FERG) announced six acquisitions — completed or pending — alongside its Q1 2026 financial results on May 5, with an aggregate annualised revenue impact of approximately $350 million. Three of the six deals are directly in the HVAC segment, confirming that Ferguson's most ambitious strategic expansion is in heating and cooling — and that it is pursuing HVAC distribution with the same systematic acquisition approach that built its dominant position in plumbing.

Ferguson CFO Bill Brundage stated on the earnings call: 'Collectively, these acquisitions will expand and enhance our capabilities across water and wastewater treatment, residential, commercial and applied HVAC, and industrial valves and flow control. Our overall acquisition pipeline remains healthy.' For independent HVAC distributors watching the competitive landscape, this is the clearest statement yet of Ferguson's HVAC ambitions.

The Three HVAC Deals Explained

Ferguson's Q1 2026 HVAC acquisition programme targets three distinct HVAC distribution capabilities:

• Carrier Great Lakes (completed, subsequent to Q1): A regional distributor of Carrier HVAC equipment serving the Great Lakes region. This acquisition expands Ferguson's direct equipment distribution relationship with Carrier brands in a geography with significant residential and commercial HVAC demand. The Great Lakes region — Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois — is one of the largest HVAC markets in the country.

• Dealers Supply Company (definitive agreement, pending close in Q2): An 80-year-old HVAC distributor headquartered in Forest Park, Georgia, with 15 locations across Georgia and North Carolina. Dealers Supply is exactly the type of established regional independent that has been the target of both Watsco and Ferguson acquisition programmes — deep contractor relationships, strong regional market position, decades of operational history. The Southeast geography adds to Ferguson's growing Sunbelt HVAC coverage.

• New England Applied Products (definitive agreement, pending close in Q2): A Waltham, Massachusetts-based HVAC manufacturers rep agency serving greater New England with approximately two dozen employees. The New England market is one of the highest-value HVAC service geographies in the US — high labour costs, premium equipment preferences, and strong commercial construction activity make it attractive for distribution.

Ferguson's Q1 2026 acquisition programme includes three HVAC-specific deals — Carrier Great Lakes (completed), Dealers Supply Company (15 locations, Southeast), and New England Applied Products (New England rep agency) — with a combined annualised revenue contribution forming a significant portion of the $350 million total across all six acquisitions.

The Other Three Deals: Waterworks and Industrial

The non-HVAC acquisitions round out Ferguson's multi-segment portfolio:

• Technology Sales Associates, Inc. (Nashua, NH, completed in Q1): A 40-year-old water and wastewater manufacturers rep agency, expanding Ferguson's Waterworks capabilities in New England

• Chesapeake Environmental Equipment, LLC (completed in Q1): An environmental equipment distributor broadening Ferguson's water and wastewater treatment product coverage

• PRD Technologies Group (definitive agreement, Q2): Three-company industrial valves and instrumentation platform with service centres across the eastern US and California, Arizona, and Nevada — expanding Ferguson's Industrial customer group

Ferguson's Three-Pronged HVAC Growth Strategy

Ferguson's HVAC strategy is not just about acquisitions. The company is executing a three-part approach that HVACR Trends and Ferguson's own investor communications confirm:

• Dual trade counter expansion: Ferguson is converting plumbing branches to carry HVAC equipment, creating combined plumbing-HVAC counters that serve the dual-trade contractors — those who do both plumbing and HVAC — in a single stop. The company set a goal of over 650 dual trade counters in fiscal 2026.

• Geographic network expansion of standalone HVAC branches: Acquiring or opening new HVAC-only locations in markets where Ferguson has plumbing presence but not HVAC. The Carrier Great Lakes, Dealers Supply, and New England Applied Products deals are primarily geographic expansion plays.

• Strategic HVAC acquisitions: The systematic acquisition of established regional HVAC distributors with deep contractor relationships — bringing those relationships into the Ferguson network with access to Ferguson's purchasing scale, technology infrastructure, and multi-segment product portfolio.

What It Means for Independent HVAC Distributors

Ferguson adding $350 million in annualised revenue through six acquisitions in a single quarter — with three HVAC-specific — is the clearest illustration yet of what HVACR Trends described as the competitive threat: Ferguson is becoming a major HVAC distribution competitor with the purchasing scale, technology infrastructure, and branch network of a company generating over $31 billion in annual sales.

For independent HVAC distributors, the strategic response is not to compete on Ferguson's terms — scale, purchasing power, and multi-segment breadth are not advantages that regional independents can replicate. The defensible advantages of well-run independent distributors — contractor relationship depth, technical expertise, local decision-making speed, personal service quality — are what the AD-Commonwealth merger and similar buying group consolidations are designed to strengthen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What HVAC companies did Ferguson acquire in 2026?

Ferguson announced three HVAC acquisitions in Q1 2026: Carrier Great Lakes (regional Carrier equipment distributor, Great Lakes), Dealers Supply Company (80-year-old HVAC distributor, 15 locations in Georgia and North Carolina), and New England Applied Products (HVAC manufacturers rep agency in New England). Combined with three waterworks and industrial deals, the six acquisitions add approximately $350 million in annualised revenue.

Why is Ferguson buying HVAC distributors?

Ferguson is executing a three-pronged HVAC growth strategy: expanding dual trade counters that combine plumbing and HVAC in existing branches, geographically expanding its standalone HVAC network, and acquiring established regional HVAC distributors with deep contractor relationships. CEO Kevin Murphy has described HVAC as one of Ferguson's largest and most attractive growth opportunities.

How does Ferguson's HVAC acquisition strategy affect the market?

Ferguson's systematic acquisition of regional HVAC distributors is reshaping the competitive landscape by bringing established contractor relationships, geographic coverage, and brand portfolios into a distribution platform with over $31 billion in annual revenue and 1,700-plus branches. Independent distributors face an increasingly capitalised national competitor in markets where Ferguson has established a presence.