Ewweb 288 Ew250
Ewweb 288 Ew250
Ewweb 288 Ew250
Ewweb 288 Ew250
Ewweb 288 Ew250

The 250 Biggest of 2002

June 1, 2003
Click here to read a copy of this article in a PDF format. Slower growth. Total 2001 sales for the 250 largest electrical distributors decreased by 8.4
Click here to read a copy of this article in a PDF format.

Slower growth. Total 2001 sales for the 250 largest electrical distributors decreased by 8.4 percent to an estimated $36.9 billion. The decrease seems relatively small, compared to some of the year-to-year sales declines that electrical distributors are experiencing in the first half of 2002.

The number of employees in Top 250 companies decreased to 76,781. Of the 194 distributors that supplied employee counts for both 2000 and 2001, the average percentage decline was 3.8 percent, a reflection of the cost-cutting measures that so many companies have had to employ. Surprisingly, the number of branches that the Top 250 distributors operate jumped by 147 locations to 4,846 branches.

For the second year in a row, the Top 250’s market share of total sales through electrical distributors was at the 50 percent mark. This important milestone is a clear indication of the increased pace of consolidation in the electrical wholesaling industry. But it’s important to remember that there are probably at least 4,000 other distributors of electrical supplies that account for at least $36.3 billion in sales. (According to EW’s 2001 Market Planning Guide, electrical distributors forecasted $73.3 billion in total sales for 2001.)

The industry continues to consolidate faster each year, but at the current rate it will take many years to approach the consolidation in the electronics or pharmaceutical distribution industries, where a handful of companies account for the vast majority of sales. Consolidation. When one compares the 2002 Top 250 listing with the Top 250 listing compiled in 1992, the pace of consolidation becomes quickly apparent — at least 52 companies from the 1992 listing have been acquired or merged with other companies.

While consolidation has slowed down in the last year, as you can see in the chart the adjacent page, it’s still reshaping the electrical wholesaling industry. In less than two years, according to reports in Electrical Marketing newsletter, at least 40 companies have been acquired. Many of these companies were 250 Biggest distributors, and most were acquired by the U.S. or North American subsidiaries of Hagemeyer NV, Naarden, Netherlands; Rexel SA, Paris; and Sonepar SA, Paris.

While no market areas are untouched by consolidation, some felt it more than others. During the past year, the Southern California market has seen some big acquisitions, led by San Diego-based OneSource Distributor Inc.’s acquisitions of Argo Electric Supply Co., Downey, Calif.; Orange Coast Electric Supply Co. Inc., Irvine, Calif.; and Pacific Pacific Parts and Controls Inc., Chino, Calif. Since 1998, the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area has seen the acquisitions of the Branch Group, Upper Marlboro, Md.; Capital Lighting and Supply, Alexandria, Va.; Commerce Electric Supply, Linthicum, Md.; Lee Electric Inc., Baltimore; and Tristate Electrical and Electronics Inc., Hagerstown, Md.

The Minneapolis market has a new look, too, with the purchase of Viking Electric Supply Inc., St. Paul, Minn., by Sonepar. Additionally, Northland Electric Supply, Minneapolis, has been acquired in a joint venture by Van Meter Industrial, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Werner Electric Supply, Neenah, Wis. Interestingly, Werner had planned on acquiring Van Meter as well as Northland last year but left a provision in the letter of intent allowing for poor economic conditions. So, instead Werner and Van Meter are 50 percent owners of Northland.

National chains continue to grow. Another measure of industry consolidation is the market share of the national chains. The industry’s national chains, Graybar Electric Co. Inc., St. Louis; WESCO International Inc., Pittsburgh; Consolidated Electrical Distributors Inc., Westlake Village, Calif.; and GE Supply Inc., Shelton, Conn., are the four companies with branches in all regions of the United States. In 2001, their combined sales volume was $13.3 billion, and their combined market share was over 18 percent. That’s up a point from 2001. If one considers Rexel a national distributor and adds its $2 billion in sales to this figure, the market share of national chains tops 20 percent.

Methodology. To qualify for a spot on the 250 Biggest this year, a firm had to have about $16 million in electrical product sales for 2001 at wholesale. That includes sales of products a typical electrical distributor handles, such as lighting fixtures sold at retail in a lighting showroom and voice/data communication products. It does, however, exclude revenues from motor repair, plumbing supplies, mill supplies and the like.

The firms in the listing are ranked by dollar sales volume insofar as possible. To place a firm on the list, we estimate its sales if the distributor did not provide it, using publicly available information and our own records of comparable company and geographic area data. Both full-line and specialized electrical distributors qualify for ranking, as well as companies that have multiple types of businesses. The numbers provided for houses and employee counts are for all locations in the United States, North America and internationally. The electrical distributors who provided both a sales figure and a total number of employees had a sales per employee figure of $523,765, a big increase over the $421,000 sales per employee in last year’s listing.

The Top 250 provides an overview of activity among the companies at the top of the electrical distribution industry. It also serves as a guide to the entire industry’s size and structure. Most important in this time of industry change, it provides a reality check on the status of the electrical distribution industry’s consolidation. The business remains highly fragmented, with some movement toward consolidation.
LARGEST ACQUISITIONS OF
ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS IN 2000-2002
Company Headquarters Acquirer Briggs-Weaver (industrial distributor)** Coppell, Texas CamBar/Hagemeyer Dauphin Associates Inc.* Harrisburg, Pa. CED Inc. Seamans Supply Co.*** Manchester, N.H. CLS Inc. Questron Technology Inc.*** Dallas, Texas GE Supply Commonwealth Controls Corp.** Richmond, Va. Graybar Electric Co. Cameron & Barkley Co.* Charleston, S.C. Hagemeyer, N.V. RERO Distribution Companies Inc.* Rochester, N.Y. Merged into Horizon Solutions Inc. Holmes Distributors Inc.* Portland, Maine Merged into Horizon Solutions Inc. Oakes Electrical Supply Co.* Holyoke, Mass. Merged into Horizon Solutions Inc. Futronix Systems* Houston, Texas Houston Wire and Cable Gaines Electric*** Signal Hill, Calif. Independent Electric Supply Cummins Utility Supply (certain assets)** Fort Worth, Texas Irby Utility Supply LLC Fitzpatrick Electric Supply Co.** Muskegon, Mich. Kendall Electric Grand Eagle Motor Repair*** Utica, N.Y. K.J. Electric Corp. Fairmont Supply Co. (certain branches)* Canonsburg, Pa. McBar joint venture McJunkin Corp. (electrical operations)* Charleston, W. Va. McBar joint venture Kiemle Hankins Co. (supply division)*** Toledo, Ohio McNaughton-McKay Electric Co. Orange Coast Electric Supply Inc.** Irvine, Calif. One Source Distributors Inc. Argo Electric Supply Co.*** Downey, Calif. One Source Distributors Inc. Pacific Parts and Controls Inc. *** Chino, Calif. One Source Distributors Inc. Intec Automation & Supply** Toledo, Ohio Professional Electrical Products Co. (PEPCO) Branch Electric Supply Co.* Upper Marlboro, Md. Rexel Inc. Commerce Electric Supply** Linthicum, Md. Rexel Inc. Electric Supply of Asheville** Asheville, N.C. Rexel Inc. Active Electric Supply Inc.** Orlando, Fla. Rexel Inc. Quality Supply Co.** Poteau, Okla. Rexel Inc. Maverick Electric Supply Inc.* Dallas Rexel Inc. Westburne Inc.* St. Laurent, Quebec Rexel Inc. Ryall Electric Supply** Denver Rexel Inc. Del Electric Supply** Gaithersburg, Md. Sonepar USA Richards Electric Supply** Miami, Fla. Sonepar USA Viking Electric Supply Inc.* St. Paul, Minn. Sonepar USA Capital Lighting & Supply Inc.* Alexandria, Va. Sonepar USA Brook Electrical Distribution Co.* Lincolnshire, Ill. Sonepar USA Elite Electric & Utility Supply** Charlottesville, Va. Sonepar USA (Capital Lighting) Dixie Electric Supply Corp.* Richmond, Va. Sonepar USA (Capital Lighting) Davis Electric Supply Inc.* Clearwater, Fla. Sonepar USA (World Electric Supply) B&B Electrical Supply*** Putnam, Conn. Standard Electric Supply Tri-Electric Supply (DXP)** San Antonio, Texas Summit Electric Supply, Inc. Franklin & Smith Inc.*** West Paterson, N.J. Turtle & Hughes Inc. Northland Electric Supply** Minneapolis, Minn. Werner/VanMeter Control Corporation of America* Richmond, Va. WESCO International Inc. Herning Enterprises Inc.** Hayward, Calif. WESCO International Inc. United Electric Supply Co.* St. Louis Westburne Supply Inc. U.S. ANESCO* Kingston, Pa. Westburne Supply Inc. U.S. SPT Electric Group* Belle Mead, N.J. Westburne Supply Inc. U.S. *Acquired in 2000
**Acquired in 2001
***Acquired in 2002