14 ELECTRICAL WHOLESALING / JUNE 2017 www.ewweb.com / JUNE 2017 15 By Jim Lucy, Chief Editor, and Doug Chandler, Executive Editor M any Top 200 electri- cal distributors are enjoying a solid year, but more than ever the growth and decline in sales seems to depend on the region. Not surprisingly, companies that rely on the oil market had a tough year last year, while distributors in metropolitan areas on a growth surge such as New York, Washington, DC and San Francisco gen- erally reported higher sales increases than other distributors. Overall sales increases for the 117 companies that offered sales forecasts came in at 8%, (the high end of the electrical wholesaling industry’s annual growth range), but a surprisingly high 28% of the sales forecasts were for increases of 10% of better. In the metropolitan Washington, DC market, John Milotte, general manager for Dulles Electric Supply Corp., Sterling, VA, expects his company’s sales to grow 20% this year, based in large part on an increase in construction projects and an uptick in retail sales. To help serve the growth his company expanded its warehouse by 18,000 sq ft. “Commercial projects grew 9% and retail lighting showroom sales grew 12%,” he said in his survey response. “Nothing is lagging.” Stuart Vogel, president and CEO of Baltimore’s Shepherd Electric Supply, also serves the Washington, DC metropolitan area along with his company’s core focus on the Baltimore metro. Vogel is also fore- casting a solid increase in 2017 sales and sees a 15% boost over last year. He said commercial construction finished strong in 4Q 2016 and that he increased his sales forecast for this year by 5%, compared to what he was forecasting six months ago. In New York, Thomas Ike, president of Chelsea Controls, says strong of- fice retrofit and healthcare markets are helping drive sales and will fuel a 7% increase for his company this year. The company has built a significant expertise in state-of-the-art lighting controls, and recently worked with the CB Richard Ellis real estate firm to offer a seminar on the Internet of Things (IoT). Says Ike, “Chelsea Controls and Technology, a division of Chelsea Lighting, has run an IoT seminar in conjunction with CB Richard Ellis for 80 clients including architects, lighting designers, building owners and general contractors. This event was supported by speakers from the following companies: Eaton, Acuity, Ketra, Lutron, Rudin Management Co. and Intelligent Buildings.” Ike says the company, which he, Brian Horigan and Eric Martin recently purchased from Steve Berg, has also seen sales from the THE 25 DISTRIBUTORS WITH THE HIGHEST SALES-PER-EMPLOYEE As in the past, specialty distributors, which tend to have fewer customers and employees than full-line electrical distributors, dominate the list of distributors as ranked by sales per employee. The companies here were among those respondents that provided both a 2016 sales number and an employee count for publication in this year’s listing. Several other distributors (both full-line and specialists) would have been in this Top 25 listing but asked that their sales data be used confidentially. The average sales per employee for the 19 respondents that identified themselves as product specialists and provided both 2016 sales and employee data was $1,554,538. The average sales per employee for the 98 respondents that identified themselves as full-line electrical distributors was approximately $665,428, up from last year’s figure for full-line distributors of $634,791. Rank Company Name Town/City State/ Province 2016 Sales Per Employee 1 Tri-State Utility Products Inc. Marietta GA 3,029,412 2 Western United Electric Supply Corp (WUE) Brighton CO 2,976,176 3 CEE US Inc. West Columbia SC 2,800,000 4 Rural Electric Supply Cooperative (RESCO) Middleton WI 2,456,161 5 TEC Manufacturing & Distribution Services Georgetown TX 2,250,000 6 Gresco Utility Supply Inc. Forsyth GA 1,651,515 7 General Pacific Inc. Fairview PR 1,365,854 8 International Electrical Supply Corp. Miami FL 1,222,222 9 The Reynolds Co. Fort Worth TX 1,215,909 10 American Electric Supply Inc. Corona CA 1,112,520 11 Sunrise Electric Supply Elmhurst IL 1,101,220 12 Benfield Electric Supply Co. White Plains NY 1,084,507 13 LoneStar Electric Supply Houston TX 1,039,216 14 Professional Electric Products Co. (PEPCO) Eastlake OH 1,024,000 15 Caniff Electric Supply Hamtramck MI 1,000,000 16 McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. Madison Heights MI 910,526 17 WESCO International Inc. Pittsburgh PA 867,047 18 Chancellor Inc. Laurel MS 833,333 19 Electric Supply Inc. Tampa FL 822,161 20 Advance Electrical Supply Co. Chicago IL 821,429 21 Facility Solutions Group Austin TX 821,120 22 Shepherd Electric Supply Baltimore MD 788,955 23 Bell Electrical Supply Santa Clara CA 772,727 24 Leff Electric Inc. (AMP Electric Distribution Services Inc.) Cleveland OH 766,260 25 North Coast Electric Co. Seattle WA 737,591 As the overall construction market revs up, many Top 200 distributors are enjoying the ride. THE TOP 200
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1 4 E L E C T R I C A L W H O L E S A L I N G / J U N E 2 0 1 7 w w w . e w w e b . c o m / J U N E 2 0 1 7 15
By Jim Lucy, Chief Editor, and Doug Chandler, Executive Editor
Many Top 200 electri-cal distributors are enjoying a solid year, but more than ever the growth and decline in
sales seems to depend on the region. Not surprisingly, companies that rely on the oil market had a tough year last year, while distributors in metropolitan areas on a growth surge such as New York, Washington, DC and San Francisco gen-erally reported higher sales increases than other distributors. Overall sales increases for the 117 companies that offered sales forecasts came in at 8%, (the high end of the electrical wholesaling industry’s
annual growth range), but a surprisingly high 28% of the sales forecasts were for increases of 10% of better.
In the metropolitan Washington, DC market, John Milotte, general manager for Dulles Electric Supply Corp., Sterling, VA, expects his company’s sales to grow 20% this year, based in large part on an increase in construction projects and an uptick in retail sales. To help serve the growth his company expanded its warehouse by 18,000 sq ft. “Commercial projects grew 9% and retail lighting showroom sales grew 12%,” he said in his survey response. “Nothing is lagging.”
Stuart Vogel, president and CEO of
Baltimore’s Shepherd Electric Supply, also serves the Washington, DC metropolitan area along with his company’s core focus on the Baltimore metro. Vogel is also fore-casting a solid increase in 2017 sales and sees a 15% boost over last year. He said commercial construction finished strong in 4Q 2016 and that he increased his sales forecast for this year by 5%, compared to what he was forecasting six months ago.
In New York, Thomas Ike, president of Chelsea Controls, says strong of-fice retrofit and healthcare markets are helping drive sales and will fuel a 7% increase for his company this year. The company has built a significant expertise in state-of-the-art lighting controls, and recently worked with the CB Richard Ellis real estate firm to offer a seminar on the Internet of Things (IoT). Says Ike, “Chelsea Controls and Technology, a division of Chelsea Lighting, has run an IoT seminar in conjunction with CB Richard Ellis for 80 clients including architects, lighting designers, building owners and general contractors. This event was supported by speakers from the following companies: Eaton, Acuity, Ketra, Lutron, Rudin Management Co. and Intelligent Buildings.” Ike says the company, which he, Brian Horigan and Eric Martin recently purchased from Steve Berg, has also seen sales from the
THE 25 DISTRIBUTORS WITH THE HIGHEST SALES-PER-EMPLOYEEAs in the past, specialty distributors, which tend to have fewer customers and employees than full-line electrical distributors, dominate the list of distributors as ranked by sales per employee. The companies here were among those respondents that provided both a 2016 sales number and an employee count for publication in this year’s listing. Several other distributors (both full-line and specialists) would have been in this Top 25 listing but asked that their sales data be used confidentially. The average sales per employee for the 19 respondents that identified themselves as product specialists and provided both 2016 sales and employee data was $1,554,538. The average sales per employee for the 98 respondents that identified themselves as full-line electrical distributors was approximately $665,428, up from last year’s figure for full-line distributors of $634,791.
Rank Company Name Town/CityState/
Province2016 Sales
Per Employee1 Tri-State Utility Products Inc. Marietta GA 3,029,412 2 Western United Electric Supply Corp (WUE) Brighton CO 2,976,176 3 CEE US Inc. West Columbia SC 2,800,000 4 Rural Electric Supply Cooperative (RESCO) Middleton WI 2,456,161 5 TEC Manufacturing & Distribution Services Georgetown TX 2,250,000 6 Gresco Utility Supply Inc. Forsyth GA 1,651,515 7 General Pacific Inc. Fairview PR 1,365,854 8 International Electrical Supply Corp. Miami FL 1,222,222 9 The Reynolds Co. Fort Worth TX 1,215,909
10 American Electric Supply Inc. Corona CA 1,112,520 11 Sunrise Electric Supply Elmhurst IL 1,101,220 12 Benfield Electric Supply Co. White Plains NY 1,084,507 13 LoneStar Electric Supply Houston TX 1,039,216 14 Professional Electric Products Co. (PEPCO) Eastlake OH 1,024,000 15 Caniff Electric Supply Hamtramck MI 1,000,000 16 McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. Madison Heights MI 910,526 17 WESCO International Inc. Pittsburgh PA 867,047 18 Chancellor Inc. Laurel MS 833,333 19 Electric Supply Inc. Tampa FL 822,161
20 Advance Electrical Supply Co. Chicago IL 821,429 21 Facility Solutions Group Austin TX 821,120 22 Shepherd Electric Supply Baltimore MD 788,955 23 Bell Electrical Supply Santa Clara CA 772,727 24 Leff Electric Inc. (AMP Electric Distribution Services Inc.) Cleveland OH 766,260 25 North Coast Electric Co. Seattle WA 737,591
As the overall construction market revs up, many Top 200 distributors are enjoying the ride.
THE TOP 200
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With what seems like hundreds of new products launched in the past year, it’s not surprising that new LED lighting products attracted the most attention from Top 200 distributors. While in previous years RAB Lighting attracted multiple responses for its expanding line of LED products, this year Acuity Brands, Philips Lighting, SATCO, Sylvania, Lots and Atlas Light-ing Products were mentioned, too.
Acuity Brands received accolades for several different products. George Adams, Jr., president, Electric Supply Inc., Tampa, FL, likes Acuity’s new LED street lights because the com-pany made some modifications to a product line to satisfy some changing specs on one if its projects, while Mike Pratt, CEO, American Electric Supply, Corona, CA, gave kudos to
Acuity’s IBG LED high-bay fixtures because of their “great efficiency and vast array of options. It’s great for most applications for the big box warehouse market,” said Pratt. And Larry Heimrath, chairman, G&G Elec-tric Supply, New York, likes the Lotus LED “Trim” downlights because they offer the ability to ”install downlights where there is insufficient space for housings.” And Coburn Supply Co.’s electrical division manager, Richard Booth, likes Philips’ expanding line of Instant Fit LED lamps and says the product line is “opening doors” in his Beaumont, TX, market.
Richard Byrne, Facility Solutions Group, Austin, TX, says that while there are “too many LED and controls product introductions to keep track of,” two manufacturer events stood
out. “Leviton’s acquisition of Intense and ConTech make them a player in both LED lighting and controls. And RAB introduced controls and they continue to grow,” he said.
There were interesting comments on non-lighting products, too. Jeremy Welsand, CFO, Border States Electric, Fargo, ND, is a fan of Milwaukee Tool’s One-Key line. “One-Key technology is truly innovative that will significantly reduce the number of tools that a contractor must keep on the job and will help address the constant threat of tool theft,” he says.
Other products mentioned were GE’s new commercial distribution panel, Rockwell Automation’s Shelby software, with machine diagnostics, AFC/Atkore’s Luminary MC cable and the Siemens PLM software launch.
TOP 200 DISTRIBUTORS MAKE THEIR PRODUCT LAUNCH PICKSACQUISITIONS & MERGERS INVOLVING TOP 200 DISTRIBUTORS — 2016-2017Company Acquired Location Acquirer Location
Empire Wire & Supply* Rochester Hills, MN EIS Inc. Atlanta
Sacchi* Italy Sonepar SA Paris, France
Electrical Sales Inc.* Vista, CA Winsupply Inc. Dayton, OH
Shealy Electrical Wholesalers West Columbia, S.C. Border States Electric Fargo, ND
FDL Automation & Supply Sidney, OH CBT Cincinnati
Home Products Etc. Hillsborough, NJ Crescent Electric Supply East Dubuque, IL
Mesco Electrical Supply Milford, OH Crescent Electric Supply East Dubuque, IL
Communication Products & Services (CPS) Englewood, CO EIS Inc. Atlanta
Griffith Electric Supply Trenton, NJ Franklin Electric Moorestown, NJ
Cape Electrical Supply Cape Girardeau, MO Graybar Electric Co. St. Louis
Mayco Electric Supply Sheffield, AL Inline Electric Supply Co. Huntsville, AL
Neal’s Electric Supply Chattanooga, TN Inline Electric Supply Co. Huntsville, AL
Glenbard Electric Supply Lombard, IL Revere Electric Supply Mokena, IL
Brohl & Appell Sandusky, OH Rexel Dallas
Grove Madsen Industries Reno, NV Sonepar North America/Codale Salt Lake City
Beacon Electrical Sales & Supply Haverhill, MA Sonepar North America/Northeast Electrical Distributors
Brockton, MA
Cheyns NV Courtrai, Belgium Sonepar SA Paris, France
Atlanta Electrical Distributors Duluth, GA WESCO Distribution Inc. Pittsburgh
*2017 acquisitions. All other transactions listed here were in 2016. So far, 2017 has been a light year for M&A activity.
Hudson Yards, Manhattan West, Moyni-han Station (the redevelopment of the Big Apple’s Penn Station), and LaGuardia Airport mega-projects.
Rick Slaugh, the chief strategy offi-cer for automation specialist Shingle & Gibbs, Moorestown, NJ, said his forecast for 12% growth in 2017 is based in large part on his company’s focus on a smaller group of suppliers; full-line authorization for Siemens products in the Mid-Atlantic area; and an increase in marketing re-sources and activities. “While we have had portions of the Siemens product line for many years, we were appointed a full-line distributor in the northern NJ/ metro NY area two years ago and just recently for the Mid-Atlantic area.”
For some Top 200 companies, web-based sales were driving growth. Doug Root, president, Atlanta Light Bulbs, Tucker, GA, said. “We saw a substantial increase in sales due to a concerted effort to expand our B2B business. Sales in B2B were up 25% year-over-year. Overall company sales were up 10% for 2016 from a down year in 2015.”
Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, MO, also used an investment in technology
This year’s Top 200 distributors are supplying all sorts of large construc-tion projects across the nation. Here’s a sampling of some of the larger projects they are working on:
$175 million corporate headquarters and lab for Johnson Controls
Expansion of “The Villages” senior complex in central Florida
Philadelphia’s Comcast Center
Big 3 automakers’ construction projects
Detroit’s Little Caesar’s Arena
Facebook call center in Omaha, NE
Google campus in Silicon Valley
NBA Warriors Arena in San Francisco
Gaylord Convention Center in Denver
Hudson Yards and LaGuardia Airport in New York
Obama Presidential Library in Chicago
Los Angeles – NFL Ram’s/Charger’s Football Stadium, new LA Soccer Club Stadium and Disneyland expansion
San Francisco’s Transbay Terminal and Salesforce Tower
A $6 billion Shell cracker plant near Pittsburgh and a $2 billion gas processing plant in Youngstown, OH
Wynn casino in suburban Boston
Georgia’s Vogtle Nuclear Plant
Tampa – downtown redevelopment, Tampa airport and St. Petersburg Pier
Exxon-Mobil chemical plant in Texas
BIG PROJECTS FOR TOP 200 DISTRIBUTORS
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Multiple Adjustable Lengthsto Suit Tight Spaces
Orient in any Position for Maximum Luminance
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2016 was a busy year for branch openings. Whole-sale Electric Supply Inc. opened up three branches in Arkansas – Battsville, Jonesboro and Stuttgart, while Lowe Electric Supply Co., Macon, GA, added branches in Milledgeville and Valdosta, GA to its branch network. Along with acquiring a new location in Chicago with its purchase of Bright Electrical Supply, Van Meter Inc., Cedar Rapids, IA, opened the doors of a new facility in Omaha, NE.
Elliott Electric Supply, Nacogdoches, TX, continued its branch expansion with new locations in Ada and Stillwater, OK; Bastrop and McAllen, TX; and Wichita, KS. Graybar, along with its acquisition of Cape Electri-cal Supply, Cape Girardeau, MO, opened locations in Grand Forks, ND, and Huntsville, AL and closed one in Rockford, IL. Graybar also opened an Innovation lab at the University of Illinois Research Park to focus on data analytics. In other branch news, Werner Electric Supply, Appleton, WI, made a big move in North Dakota with new branches in Bismarck and Fargo.
Several Top 200 distributors invested in new ERP systems. Raymond de Steiger Inc., Sterling Heights, MI, moved to the Infor SXE ERP platform. At VEC Sup-ply, Charlottesville, VA, Frank Stalzer, president and CEO said he expects his company’s recently installed Prophet 21-Epicor system to “improve productivity, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.”
There were also quite a few companies that moved into new headquarters or opened new distribution centers. Baynes Electrical Supply, Brockton, MA, moved to a new 70,000 sq foot distribution center and Echo Electric Sup-ply Group, Council Bluffs, IA, moved to a new corporate office building and built a large supply house/distribution center in Council Bluffs.
Richard Booth, electrical division manager, Coburn Supply Co., Beaumont, TX, said his company just moved its headquarters to a new location in Beaumont and has a new store being built in Bossier City, LA. Coburn will be celebrating its 85th anniversary in 2019.
Werner Electric made other internal investments along with its branch expansion in North Dakota mentioned ear-lier. Says Scott Teerlinck, the company’s president, “We opened a new headquarters and RDC in 2016, and the cutover from old system and facility to new is fully behind us. We are far more productive with our new WMS and systems than ever before, enabling the scalability for future growth.”
First SOURCE Electrical, Houston, TX, is coming off a big year with a 20% sales increase that’s due in part to a large contract award for a data center and signifi-cant investments in sales personnel. Phil deLoache, the company’s president, says, “We have just made an an-nual investment of over $2.5 million in additional sales personnel as well as additional investments in inventory and support personnel to grow the business aggressively in the months and years to come.”
Along with opening a new location in Phoenix, Tim Flynn, president, Allied Wire & Cable, Collegeville, PA, says the wire specialist invested in AS9100 certification so it can do business in the aerospace market.
Because of his company’s focus on the mission-critical and design-build construction markets with a focus on substation equipment, medium voltage switchgear and motor control, Clarence Robie, president, B&S Electric Supply Co., Atlanta, said they added several employees to their sales and project management teams in Atlanta and Louisville with strong electrical backgrounds on both switchgear and lighting. B&S Electric Supply is also cel-ebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
Doug Root, president, Atlanta Light Bulbs, Tucker, GA, also made an investment in his sales team by training them to work in and through new online sales channels. “We have restructured the inner workings of the company to pull the everyday inside sales rep to be truly an inside proactive sales rep,” he says. “We beefed up customer service to deal with our new revenue channels coming on board: Jet.com, Walmart.com and ebid.com.”
Several Top 200 distributors passed milestones and are enjoying or looking forward to anniversary celebra-tions. Mike Pratt, CEO, American Electric Supply, Corona, CA, say his company met its goal of passing $100 million in sales out of a single branch locations. Some of the electrical distributors on the Top 200 list that announced anniversaries include PEPCO Inc., Eastlake, OH (50 years in 2018); Dulles Electric Supply Corp. (32 years); Frank-lin Empire, Montreal, QU (75 years); Peninsular Electrical Distributors (75 years in 2016); Johnson Electric Sup-ply Co., Cincinnati (110 years); Tri-State Utility Supply, Marietta, GA (60 years in 2016); Sunrise Electric Supply, Elmhurst, IL (30 years); Kansas City Electrical Supply Co., Lenexa, KS, (90 years); and Main Electric Supply Co., Santa Ana, CA (70 years).
WHAT’S NEW WITH THE TOP 200 DISTRIBUTORS?
growth in 2016 by opening new loca-tions and expanding existing facilities… Increased the size of the sales force and invested in training. Made a strategic acquisition (Cape Electric Supply) to broaden our reach and complement our core business.”
Phil deLoache, president of Houston’s FirstSOURCE, was one of the distributors that saw the oil and gas market dent sales last year. DeLoache said his company’s decrease in sales last year was due to “unfavorable market conditions in the Houston area with distributor sales off an average of about 15% to 18%.”
“Most markets continue to lag al-though showing some signs of recovery,” he wrote in his Top 200 response. “Single-family residential remains strong.” In 2017, deLoache expects a sales increase of over 20% “due to a large contract award for a data center and significant investments in sales personnel.”
Methodology. To compile this listing,
TOP 200 ERP SYSTEMS
Of the 117 Top 200 distributor executives who provided information on their ERP systems, 57% used Epicor software, including Eclipse, Prophet 21, or Trade Service. (Note: Other software includes Comet, Prism, Rubicon, Micro-soft Dynamics, SHIMs, Takestock, Traverse and Ximple.) No less than 67 Top 200 distributors are on an Eclipse/Epicor system.
in April of this year EW’s editors sent out a survey to several hundred distributors of electrical supplies that have either been on the list in the past or have at least $8
million in annual sales, according to our data sources.
In addition, we get data from publicly (Continued on page 33)
to fuel sales. Kara Bowlin, Graybar’s communications specialist, said the com-pany’s executive team expects growth of
4% to 6% this year, based on an uptick in business from the commercial construc-tion, education, health-care, wholesale,
services, industrial OEM and industrial MRO market segments. She said in her survey response that Graybar “achieved
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Here’s your opportunity to learn more about the very largest electrical distributors in this year’s
2017 Top 200 listing.
THE WORLD’S TWO LARGEST ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS
Company Name Town/City 2016 Revenue EmployeesNumber of locations:
Sonepar SA Paris, France 21.25 43,000 2,800Rexel SA Paris, France 13.57 27,309 2,023
In 2016, the two largest electrical distributors in the world operated more than 4,800 locations, had more than 70,000 employees and did an estimated $34.83 billion in sales in dozens of countries (Rexel – 32 countries; Sone-par – 44 countries). (EW sales estimates converted to U.S. dollars from Euros using the 12/31/15 exchange rate).
Electrical Wholesaling’s editors thought our readers might be interested in some of the stories behind the numbers in this year’s Top 200 listing, so we are publishing capsule summaries of what’s happening with some of the largest of the Top
200 distributors. We based these reports on news articles we published on these firms over the past 12 months,
company websites and other public information sources.Writing up capsules on all 200 companies on this
listing would take more than 30 pages of the magazine, but we thought you might enjoy some additional infor-mation on the some of the largest distributors in North America. Check out www.ewweb.com for additional profiles and links.
1. SONEPAR NORTH AMERICA
U.S. Headquarters: Charleston, SCParent: Sonepar SA, Paris, FranceSenior Executive: Halsey Cook, United States; Marie Christine Coisne-Roquette, Worldwide2016 Sales: $9.6 billion (North Amer-ica); $21.25 billion worldwideLocations: 988 (North America); 2,800 (Worldwide)Employees: 43,000 (Worldwide)
By Sonepar’s standards it was a qui-et year on the acquisition front with only one deal in the United States, the purchase of the Boston metropolitan area’s Beacon Electrical Sales & Supply, a 20-employee distributor with approxi-mately $21 million in sales. Sonepar also acquired Sacchi, one of Italy’s largest electrical distributors. According to a press release, the acquisition will double the size of the company’s business in Italy (Europe’s third biggest market) and will strengthen its position in Lombardy, the country’s number-one industrial market.
In other news at the company, Dave Gabriel, formerly president of Sonepar’s North America region, became COO and now oversees operations in all countries except the USA, France and the Central Europe Area, which will directly report to the future CEO.
2. WESCO INTERNATIONAL INC.
Headquarters: Pittsburgh, PASenior executive: John Engel2016 sales: $7.03 billion (North America); $7.35 billion (Worldwide)Locations: 475 branches (North America); 500 (Worldwide)Employees: 8,400 (North America); 9,000 (Worldwide)Recent stock price: $60.80
WESCO made a nice-sized acquisi-tion with its purchase last year of Atlanta Electrical Distributors, one of the larger independents in the Atlanta metro. This purchase followed previous acquisitions
of two Top 200 distributors — Hill Coun-try Electric Supply, Austin, TX; Needham Electric Supply, Canton, MA; and Aelux Lumigent, Glenside, PA, a specialist in lighting retrofits that has completed more than 1,000 lighting upgrades across a broad range of commercial properties.
The company expects growth of 1% to 4% in what it says is a tough pric-ing environment. In remarks made at the release of the company’s 1Q 2017 financial results John Engel said, “Our first-quarter results were in line with our expectations and the outlook we pro-vided in January. Our sales results reflect improving momentum in our business, driven by a return to growth in industrial and in Canada. Operating margin was also in line with our expectations, as we continue to execute our cost management and supply chain initiatives in a still-challenging and demand-constrained pricing environment.”
The company’s stock price is up 64% from a nasty dip in Jan. 2016, but still hasn’t regained its 2014 swagger when it lived above the $80 per share level.
3. GRAYBAR ELECTRIC CO.Headquarters: St. Louis, MOSenior executive: Kathleen Mazzarella2016 sales: $6.68 billion (North America); $6.69 billion (Worldwide)Locations: 550 (North America); 551 (Worldwide)Employees: 8,500 (North America); 8,526 (Worldwide)ERP system: SAP
Graybar’s acquisition of Cape Electric Supply, Cape Girardeau, MO, to bolster its industrial business along the Missis-sippi and Ohio Rivers headlined a busy year for the company. Along with this ac-quisition, the company opened branches in Grand Forks, ND, and Huntsville, AL, and closed a location in Rockford, IL. The branch openings continue a trend at Graybar, which has added more branches through greenfield startups than through acquisitions over the past few years.
As an employee-owned company, Graybar’s most recent 10K offers some good insight into its growth over the past few years. The company saw a 4.5% sales increase in 2016 and said in this report:
“Over the last several years, we have focused on achieving profitable growth and strengthening our position in the supply chain. We have accomplished these priorities through organic growth and strategic investments in our business. Specifically, we opened new locations and expanded existing facilities to provide convenient local service to our customers.
“We also enhanced our technology and service capabilities to improve ef-ficiency and productivity. We increased the size of our sales force and invested in training and development for all of our employees. Finally, we made strategic acquisitions to broaden our reach and complement our core business. All of these efforts have enabled us, for the year ended December 31, 2016, to achieve new company records in net sales, gross margin and net income.”
4. REXEL HOLDINGS USAParent: Rexel SA, Paris, FranceHeadquarters: Dallas, TXSenior executive: Brian McNally2016 sales: $4.95 billion (North America); $21.25 billion (Worldwide)Locations: 560 (North America); 2,023 (Worldwide)Employees: 8,003 (North America); 27,309 (Worldwide)ERP system: Eclipse
In addition to its 2016 acquisition of automation specialist Brohl & Appell, Sandusky, OH, Rexel moved aggressively earlier this year to build on its energy retrofit business with the news that Rexel Energy Solutions (RES), a specialized business unit of Rexel USA based in Taunton, MA, unveiled a national team of lighting and controls experts to sup-port ESCOs (energy service companies) across the country.
Since 1942, the Rexel Energy Solutions team, formerly Munro Distributing Co.
A LOOK AT THE
THE FIVE LARGEST FULL-LINE ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS IN NORTH AMERICACompany Name: Location 2016 Revenue Employees Branches
Sonepar North America Charleston, SC 9,600,000,000 43,000** 988WESCO International Inc. Pittsburgh, PA 7,030,460,000 8,400 475Graybar Electric Co. St. Louis, MO 6,677,666,400 8,500 540Rexel - North America Dallas, TX 4,951,689,600 8,003 560Consolidated Electrical Distributors Irving, TX 4,400,000,000 # 6,200 # 500In 2016, the five largest full-line distributors in North America had an estimated $32.65 billion in combined revenue and operated an estimated 3,063 branches. According to Electrical Wholesaling sales data, these five companies account for no less 33% of an estimated $99.78 billion-plus in 2016 electrical sales in the United States and Cana-da. Footnotes: All data reported for North America unless otherwise noted. **Worldwide; # Estimate published in Forbes magazine’s listing of America’s Largest Private Companies 2016 – CED was ranked #95 on that list.
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Inc. (which Rexel purchased in a 2012 acquisition), has provided electrical and energy conservation solutions and sup-port to contractors, ESCOs, and util-ity partners nationwide. In addition to their existing teams in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California, they have recently added sales teams in Tennessee, Minnesota and Illinois, and additional personnel in California, New York and North Carolina.
Rexel has started the year with a slight increase in sales, according to a state-ment by CEO Patrick Berard about the company’s 1Q 2017 financial results. “Rexel’s first-quarter performance was in line with our expectations,” said Berard. “Two elements are to be noted in our past quarter’s performance: For the first time in several quarters, we posted organic sales growth on a constant and same-day basis with a simultaneous improvement in profitability. In addition, our sales in the United States returned to growth after seven consecutive quarters of organic decline on a constant and same-day basis. These results confirm that the measures we are taking to revitalize organic growth and improve profitability are starting to show results.”
North America, which accounts for 36% of the company’s sales, was up +1.2% in Q1 on a constant and same-day basis. The release said this is the first quarter of growth on a constant and same-day basis for the region since Q4 2014, driven by encouraging signs of sales recovery in the United States, which accounts 79% of the region’s sales. Rexel noted that the decline in sales to the oil and gas industry had stopped in the U.S. but said that Canada, which ac-counts for 21% of the company’s North American region, saw a 25.7% decline in sales to the oil and gas market in 1Q 2017. The first-quarter report also said sales at Platt were up 3% in the quarter; Rexel Commercial & Industrial posted strong double-digit growth of 11.1% and that Gexpro activities were impacted by continued slowdown in the OEM segment.
5. CONSOLIDATED ELECTRICAL
DISTRIBUTORS INC. (CED)Headquarters: Irving, TXSenior executive: Kurt Lasher2016 sales: $4.4 billion (estimate from Forbes magazine)Locations: 500Employees: 6,200 (estimate from Forbes magazine)
CED prefers to keep a low profile, and the company has not publicized any of the acquisitions it has made over the past 60 years to become one of the five largest full-line electrical distribu-tors in North America. The company’s most recent acquisitions were the 2015 purchases of SEFCO Electric Supply, Jackson, MS, and Electric Motor Sales & Service, Chattanooga, TN.
While the Colburn family that quietly runs the company prefers to stay out of the headlines, when you get the chance to talk off the record to any of the managers for the company’s 500-plus profit centers, they are unfailingly positive about their careers with the company. One former manager recently joked with an EW editor, “CED gives you plenty of rope to run your own business successfully or to hang yourself.”
When you Google CED, you can pick up some interesting nuggets about the company. A 1998 article in the Los Angeles Times said that family patriarch Richard D. Colburn, who passed away in 2004, once told a Times reporter that he preferred to stay out of the spotlight because of “a simple lesson” from his father: “Fools’ names and fools’ faces often appear in public places.” One place you do see the Colburn name is on the world-renowned Colburn School for classical music in downtown Los Ange-les, which includes a conservatory and dance institute.
6. ANIXTER INC.Headquarters: Glenview, ILSenior executive: Bob Eck
2016 sales in electrical and utility products: $3.13 billion (Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES) and Utility Power Solutions (UPS) only, doesn’t include Network & Security Solutions businessLocations: 320 (North America)2016 total company sales: $7.62 billionEmployees: 8,900 (Worldwide)Locations: 320 (Worldwide)
You better get used to seeing Anixter trucks delivering more than wire and cable now that it’s a billion-dollar player in the utility market through its 2015 acquisition of HD Supply’s Power Solu-tions unit. The Utility Power Solutions business unit seems to be fitting in nicely and producing strong growth, leading all Anixter business units with a +7.4% year-over-year sales increase in 1Q 2017.
The company reported strong results for the first quarter of this year. “First quarter 2017 year-over-year organic sales growth of 5.6% on a per day basis was our strongest sales growth since the fourth quarter of 2014, as our business continues to benefit from synergy initia-tives and a slowly recovering industrial economy,” said CEO Bob Eck in a press release. “We were pleased to deliver or-ganic growth in all three segments and all three geographies, including 19.3% growth on an organic, per day basis in our EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) geography.
“Sales in our Network & Security Solutions segment increased by 5.8%, marking 14 consecutive quarters of sales growth, while our Electrical and Electronic Solutions segment delivered 4% growth and our Utility Power Solutions segment delivered strong 7.4% growth, each year-over-year on an organic, per day basis.”
Eck also said in the press release that the company’s sales increase in 1Q “reflect slowly improving economic environment and solid execution of our growth initiatives.”
“As we enter the second quarter of 2017, we are cautiously optimistic that the positive momentum we experienced
in the quarter will continue, as we main-tain our focus on our growth initiatives which include synergistic sales and global accounts,” he said.
On a sad note, last year the company lost legendary co-founder William Anix-ter, who passed away at age 92 on May 8, 2016. He founded the company with his brother, Alan, in 1957. In other news at the company, Anixter recently announced that William Galvin was promoted to President and COO, effective July 1, from his previous role as executive V.P. of the company’s Network and Security Solutions business unit. Galvin has been with Anixter for 29 years.
The big news with Border States was its June 2016 blockbuster acquisition of Shealy Electrical Wholesale, West Columbia, SC, with its 350 employees in 17 locations throughout the fast-growing Carolinas region. Shealy had been one of the 50 largest distributors on the Electrical Wholesaling Top 200 list, ranking #41 on the latest list, based on 2015 sales, with sales of over $200 mil-lion. The deal is believed to be Border States’ largest acquisition to date and extends its reach to the East Coast for the first time.
Jeremy Welsand, the company’s CFO, said in his Top 200 responses that the Border States team is expecting 2017 growth of approximately 12%, due in part to renewed growth in its industrial and construction business, a recovery in
the oil business, and the impact of the Shealy acquisition. In other news at the company, over the past year the company opened an additional location in Denver and closed branches in Park City, UT and Junction City, KS.
8. CRESCENT ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.
U.S. headquarters: East Dubuque, ILSenior executive: Martin Burbridge, president, CEO2016 electrical sales: $1,035,000,000Locations: 143Employees: 1,825ERP system: EclipseBuying/marketing group: IMARK Group
Crescent Electric Supply rejoined the acquisition game in 2016 with one deal that seems a natural fit and another
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that shows quite a bit of imagination. Crescent early this year bought Mesco Electrical Supply in Milford, Ohio, a fellow member of IMARK Group that adds three locations to Crescent’s depth of coverage in its core Midwest regional territory. The more surprising move came August 2016 with the purchase of online retailer Home Products Etc., including its EliteFixtures.com site, which sells lighting and plumbing fixtures as well as furniture in both the business-to-business and consumer markets. The Home Products deal serves a major strategic initiative at the company to aggressively grow its online presence. It also brings Crescent both a proven and scalable e-commerce platform and an experienced team of e-commerce spe-cialists to build new online services. The company’s website at www.cesco.com now has a preview of its new yet-to-be-launched website design and e-commerce functionality with enhanced features for project management, specialized quota-tions, multi-level permissions within a customer account and streamlined quick-order capabilities.
9. CITY ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.
U.S. headquarters: Dallas, TXParent: City Electrical Factors, -Kenilworth, UKSenior executive: Thomas Hart-land-Mackie2016 electrical sales: $1,021,000,000Locations: 434 (U.S.)Employees: 2,830
City Electric Supply, based in Dallas, continues to build and fine-tune its col-lection of distribution branches across the United States since it passed the $1 billion mark in U.S. revenues in 2015. The company wrapped up 2016 with its seventh-straight year of double-digit growth, seeing U.S. revenues rise 12%. The company has added 20 new locations and plans to open 20 to 25 more in the coming year. Recent openings include
Charlottesville, VA; Athens, GA; Sierra Vista, AZ; and Hainesport, NJ.
In a roundup of the company’s results in his “Mackie Monday” blog, Thomas Hartland-Mackie provided a longer per-spective, saying the company has grown 155% since its 2009-2010 fiscal year. “Over the past 12 months, we added 242 to the team and promoted 193 people to more senior roles within the organization as we continue to invest more than ever in training initiatives.”
The company’s interest in training also extends beyond the CES walls. Al-ready this year it has launched a new effort to encourage young people to join the trades. The Brighter Future Schol-arship, which provides $5,000 each to five students who enroll in an electrical trade school, is a response to a shortage of labor amid growing demand, Mackie said in his blog.
Highlights of the past year from the company’s in-house quarterly maga-zine including lighting retrofits for the Aveda Institute, a school of cosmetology and massage in Denver, and the gym at Florida Gateway College, as well as an account of how the company’s Hilton Head, SC, branch endured Hurricane Matthew.
10. W.W. GRAINGERU.S. headquarters: Lake Forest, ILSenior executive: Jim Ryan2016 electrical sales: $1,001,000,000 (EW estimate)Locations: 435Employees: 25,000
Grainger’s dominance as the big-gest online commerce site for a wide array of industrial maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products has put it in the crosshairs of competitors seeking a piece of that market. Investor worries that such competitors might succeed have given Grainger’s stock price a beating since its first quarter earnings report in April. The company reported price reductions aimed at helping large customers consolidate purchases, which
lowered margins despite an increase in sales volume in response to the pricing move, and the company lowered its estimates for the year. Investors’ inter-pretation of these developments as signs that Amazon and other sites were forcing a pricing battle dropped GWW’s stock price from above $200 where it has been for the past five years to below $175 at press time.
11. MAYER ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO.
U.S. headquarters: Birmingham, ALSenior executive: Nancy Collat Goedecke2016 sales: $817,000,000Locations: 54Employees: 1,171ERP system: Oracle/JD EdwardsBuying/marketing group: IMARK Group
Mayer Electric Supply rocks steadily along, serving customers from its 54 branches that cover the southeastern United States and a little beyond – their core territories cover markets from Rich-mond, VA, to Tampa, FL, to New Orleans, with outliers in Pittsburgh, Dallas and Houston. It’s the quintessential full-line electrical distributor, being a family-owned business serving electrical and datacom contractors, industrial, com-mercial, government and utility markets.
Chairman and CEO Nancy Collat Goedecke, the third generation of the family to run Mayer Electric Supply, continues the company’s tradition of outreach to the community and the electrical industry established by her grandfather, Ben Weil, who founded the company in 1930, and her parents, Charles and Patsy Collat.
The company has been quiet on the expansion front over the past year with no acquisitions or branch openings but continues to rake in performance awards from IMARK Group and Mayer’s vendors as well as community recognition for the company’s outreach efforts throughout its territories.
THE TOP 200 ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS
Rank Company Name Town/CityState/
Province2016
RevenueNumber of Employees
Number of Locations Senior Executive
1 Sonepar North America Paris France 9,600,000,000* NA 988* Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette
2 WESCO International Inc. Pittsburgh PA 7,030,460,000* 8,400* 475* John Engel
3 Graybar Electric Co. St. Louis MO NA 8,500* 540* Kathleen Mazzarella
4 Rexel Holdings USA (Rexel SA) Dallas TX 4,951,689,600* 8,003* 560* Brian McNally
5 Consolidated Electrical Distributors Inc. (CED) Irving TX NA NA 500 Kurt Lasher
6 Anixter Inc. Glenview IL 3,134,000,000* 8,900** 320** Bob Eck
7 Border States Electric Fargo ND NA 2,200 96 Tammy Miller
8 Crescent Electric Supply East Dubuque IL 1,035,000,000 1,825 143 Martin Burbridge
9 City Electric Supply Co. Dallas TX NA 2,830 434 Thomas Hartland-Mackie
10 W.W. Grainger Inc. Lake Forest IL NA 25,000** 435* Jim Ryan
11 Mayer Electric Supply Co. Inc. Birmingham AL 817,000,000 1,171 54 Nancy Collat Goedecke
12 Elliott Electric Supply Inc. Nacogdoches TX 756,350,195 1,650 146 William Elliott Sr.
13 EIS Inc. (Genuine Parts Co.) Atlanta GA NA NA 38 Larry Griffin
14 McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. Madison Heights MI 692,000,000 760 23 Donald Slominski Jr.
15 Reynolds Co., The Fort Worth TX 535,000,000 440 18 Walt Reynolds
16 Kendall Electric Inc. Portage MI NA 800 43 Martin Ranley
17 State Electric Supply Co. Huntington WV NA 749 43 Clarence Martin
18 North Coast Electric Co. Seattle WA 490,498,000 665 34 Peter Lemman
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(Continued from page 19)held distributors and other companies that make their sales and company data public. This year we got 2016 sales in-formation on more than 130 Top 200 distributors, a nice increase over the response rate last year. Many of these companies ask us to use their sales data confidentially and only for placement on the listing.
In those situations where a distribu-tor is large enough to make the listing but did not respond to our surveys, if we have reliable sales or employee data from the past two years, we will place them on the listing using a sales-per-employee average. However, if we haven’t heard from you for a while and your company is on this year’s listing, there’s no guarantee it will be ranked again next year. We make every effort to make this listing as accurate as possible, and can’t rely on sales estimates or other company data that’s more than a few years old.
We also used Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory to place com-panies in the listing (without using the published D&B sales estimate) and found that D&B had data on quite a few more electrical distributors than in the past. EW’s editors have thought about reduc-ing our annual ranking of the largest electrical distributors from 200 to 150 because so many Top 200 companies have been acquired in the past few years. But after seeing how many distributors of electrical supplies D&B lists with at least $10 million in annual sales, we will continue listing 200 companies, as long as we can keep getting a good response rate to our survey, or enough reliable data on distributors of this size from Dun & Bradstreet, Hoovers and other sources.
Strictly by the numbers. With an estimated $63.27 billion in North American sales, EW estimates the Top 200 distributors controlled approximately 63% of sales through electrical distribu-
tors in North America. According to EW estimates, these 200 companies employ at least 58,000 employees and run at least 6,409 North American branches. The employee and branch data include an estimate for Sonepar’s employee count in North America and do not include employee counts for Anixter, Grainger or Fastenal because these companies do not break out employee data by their electri-cal segments. It’s interesting to note that Fastenal Inc., Winona, WI, which depends on sales of electrical products for 4.7% of its $3.96 billion in 2016 sales, has almost as many branch locations (2,320 loca-tions in North America as the five largest full-line electrical distributors combined (3,063 locations) — Sonepar, WESCO, Graybar, Rexel and Consolidated Electri-cal Distributors. From the 98 full-line distributors that provided both sales and employee data, we estimate that Top 200 full-line distributors averaged $665,428 in sales per employee.