The acquisition would expand the Fortune 500 company beyond its traditional construction markets and into highly technical flow-control systems serving power plants, semiconductor facilities, data centers and other critical industries.

NEWPORT NEWS — Ferguson Enterprises is making a $1.6 billion move into the industrial systems that quietly keep modern factories, power plants and critical infrastructure operating.

The Newport News-based company announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Houston-based FloWorks, an industrial distributor and service provider specializing in valves, valve automation and flow-control systems. The all-cash transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.

FloWorks generated approximately $1 billion in revenue during 2025 and operates more than 60 locations across the United States and Canada. The company has more than 1,000 employees, 25 service and repair centers and a portfolio of 15 brands serving the chemical, refining, power generation, semiconductor, pharmaceutical and data-center industries.

Ferguson expects the acquisition to produce approximately $45 million in annual cost savings and other synergies through improvements to logistics, technology and its distribution network. The deal would also expand Ferguson’s total addressable market from roughly $340 billion to $400 billion.

“FloWorks strengthens our leading position in high-growth industrial end markets,” Ferguson President and CEO Kevin Murphy said in announcing the transaction.

Ferguson is best known as North America’s largest distributor of plumbing, heating, ventilation and water-related products. But the FloWorks acquisition represents a deeper push into specialized industrial markets where technical expertise, maintenance services and access to critical components matter as much as the products themselves.

Valves may not attract the attention of aircraft carriers, data centers or semiconductor plants, but they are essential to all of them. They regulate the movement of water, steam, gases and chemicals through increasingly complex industrial systems.

That makes the acquisition especially relevant to Ferguson’s home city.

Newport News has built its economy around advanced manufacturing, shipbuilding, aerospace and defense. The city is home to Newport News Shipbuilding, where nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines are constructed, as well as a broader network of manufacturers, engineers and technology companies supporting maritime and aerospace industries.

The connection is more than rhetorical. In 2025, Newport News Shipbuilding installed its first additively manufactured valve manifold aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise, then under construction in the city. The five-foot-long, 1,000-pound component distributes fluid from a single source to multiple locations aboard the ship. HII said using additive manufacturing for similar components could reduce lead times, improve quality and lower construction risk.

Ferguson is not becoming a shipbuilder or valve manufacturer through the FloWorks acquisition. It is strengthening its position as a distributor and technical service provider within the same industrial supply chains that advanced manufacturers depend on.

That distinction matters.

Hampton Roads frequently describes its industrial economy as stretching from the seabed to space. Flow-control technology operates throughout that continuum, including shipboard piping, energy infrastructure, water systems, industrial production facilities and the factories producing next-generation technology.

The acquisition gives a Newport News-headquartered company a larger role in supplying and servicing those systems nationally.

Ferguson reported $31.3 billion in 2025 sales and employs approximately 35,000 people across more than 1,700 locations. The company joined the Fortune 500 in 2025 and remains one of the largest corporations headquartered in Hampton Roads.

The FloWorks announcement did not include plans for additional jobs or facilities in Newport News. FloWorks’ leadership, brands and workforce are expected to remain in place, with most of its operations concentrated along the Gulf Coast and across the southern United States.

The immediate local impact may therefore be felt at the corporate level rather than through a new factory or distribution center.

But the strategic significance is larger. Ferguson is using its scale, logistics network and Newport News headquarters to move beyond conventional construction distribution and further into advanced manufacturing, energy and technology markets.

For a region seeking to define itself as America’s military and advanced-industrial metro, one of its largest companies is now making the same shift.

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The Ledger Star is an independent digital publication covering the people, decisions, investments, and ideas shaping the future of Hampton Roads. It focuses on what matters most to the region's business, civic, and community leaders, providing context and analysis rather than chasing every headline.