After more than 35 years in the No. 1 spot, Graybar Electric Co., Clayton, Mo., fell to the No. 2 spot as WESCO Distribution, Pittsburgh, inched ahead with $4.4 billion in 2005 sales, an 18.2 percent upswing. WESCO attributed the increase to market-share growth and acquisitions. Although Graybar declined to disclose revenue in its Top 200 survey, employee-owned Graybar’s 2005 annual report lists sales of $4.3 billion, a 5.5 percent increase over the $4.1 billion in 2004 sales Graybar reported in last year’s Top 200 survey.
In a near repeat performance of 2004, the Top 200 electrical distributors finished 2005 with year-to-year sales up an average of 15.1 percent — 0.2 percentage points higher than 2004’s 14.9 percent gain. Once again, copper and steel commodity-price increases topped the list of reasons electrical distributors’ annual revenue jumped by double digits.
With this 15.1 percent boost for 2005, the Top 200 collectively sold $45 billion of electrical products. Based on an estimated $74.3 billion in total sales through electrical distributors in 2005, the Top 200 account for 60.5 percent of the available market share.
Several full-line electrical distributors climbed the Top 200 ranking this year with incredible year-to-year revenue increases of more than 30 percent. Crawford Electric Supply Co. (CESCO), Dallas, jumped from No. 45 to No. 36; QED Inc., Denver, landed at No. 65 after last year’s No. 79; Crum Electric Supply Co. Inc., Casper, Wyo., leaped from No. 153 to No. 122; and Zeller Corp., Rochester, N.Y., shot from No. 191 to No. 156. Winlectric, Dayton, Ohio, saw the largest increase in sales — a whopping 63 percent — that largely can be attributed to last year’s acquisition of Noland Co., Newport News, Va. Winlectric also credits internal growth of same-store sales, price increases and new locations for the revenue boost, which moved the distributor from No. 36 to No. 28.
In addition to Noland Co., four other distributors said goodbye to their spots on the list as a result of 2005 acquisitions. Nunn Electric Supply, Amarillo, Texas, was purchased by Border States, Fargo, N.D.; Stuart C. Irby, Jackson, Miss., was acquired by Sonepar USA, Philadelphia; Cain Electrical Supply, Big Spring, Texas, joined Consolidated Electrical Distributors (CED), Westlake Village, Calif.; and TVESCO (Tennessee Valley Electric Supply Co.), Memphis, Tenn., was bought by Hughes Supply, Orlando, Fla. Subsequently, Home Depot, Atlanta, acquired Hughes Supply in 2006 for an unprecedented 11.8x EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).
Along with Hughes Supply, five more distributors appearing on this year’s Top 200 list have been acquired in 2006 and will subsequently drop from next year’s list. Richard Worthy, former CEO of Sonepar, is on a buying spree with his newly formed U.S. Electrical Services Inc. (USESI), Chester Springs, Pa. In May, USESI announced it would acquire Electrical Wholesalers Inc., Hartford, Conn.; and Monarch Electric Co., West Caldwell, N.J. U.S. Electrical Services is expected to announce more acquisitions this year.
The three other Top 200 distributors acquired so far this year were Calvert Wire & Cable Corp., Brook Park, Ohio, which was bought by Communications Supply Corp. (CSC), Carol Stream, Ill.; CLS, Hartford, Conn., acquired by Rexel Inc., Dallas; and Boggis-Johnson Electric Co., Milwaukee, which was purchased by Viking Electric Supply/Sonepar, Minneapolis.
For more on this year’s Top 200, please visit Electrical Wholesaling’s Web site at www.ewweb.com. The Top 200 complete analysis and an Excel version of the ranking, which includes the mailing addresses and phone numbers for the listed firms’ headquarters, is available for purchase.