Recession talk. Consolidation. Inflation. Wild copper and steel pricing. Skyrocketing fuel and health-care costs. With these headaches pounding on the electrical wholesaling industry, one might expect this year's Top 200 companies not to be the most optimistic bunch of electrical distributors.

That's not the case. This year's Top 200 electrical distributors reported a solid 2007 and are surprisingly optimistic for 2008, despite all the talk of a recession.

One wire and cable specialist that had a 34-percent sales increase in 2007 is expecting another solid year in 2008. Priority Wire and Cable, North Little Rock, Ark., expects to increase its $186,113,860 in 2007 sales by 22.5 percent this year. The company plans to nail its aggressive target by “expanding its distribution base by supplying a diverse offering of wire and cable at market-level price,” the company said. “We have expanded the breadth of this offering in 2007 to include a full line of aluminum products.

“Our wire and cable package, known as our ‘combination program,’ allows customers to better control their metal risk and increase their inventory turns by buying fewer items of each product line.”

As a whole, the average growth rate in 2007 for the more than 130 distributors that supplied sales data was 8.2 percent, a healthy growth rate that's at the upper end of the electrical wholesaling's historical annual sales growth range of 4 percent to 8 percent. Interestingly, many distributors are forecasting growth of approximately 8 percent in 2008, too. As you can see in the chart on page 28, more Top 200 distributors expect 2008 sales growth of 6 percent to 10 percent, than any other growth rate.

Bill Elliott, president, Elliott Electric Supply, Nacogdoches, Texas, is one of the more optimistic distributors for 2008. After a somewhat slower year of sales in 2007 in which Elliott Electric Supply's sales grew approximately 5 percent, he expects his company's business to be up 15 percent in 2008. Helping to fuel growth this year will be the 12 new branches he opened in 2007.

Other distributors were busy opening new branches, too. Fromm Electric Supply Corp., Reading, Pa., opened a new branch in Scranton, Pa., and two trade-only design centers that focus on lighting and appliances. Hill Country Electric Supply, Austin, Texas, opened branches in College Station and Round Rock, Texas. Schaedler Yesco Distribution Inc., Harrisburg, Pa., also opened two new branches. Jim Schaedler, the company's CEO, said his firm also formed an Energy Saving Solutions (ESS) group, hired two certified lighting designers and expanded its marketing team. He said his biggest challenge for the future is developing the proper corporate structure to handle the 65 percent growth he anticipates for Schaedler Yesco over the next five years.

Another company that's gunning for big growth is Utility Supply and Service, Georgetown, Texas. Johnny Andrews, the company's senior vice president, is looking for a 30 percent increase in sales. He says the biggest puzzle that Utility Supply and Service is trying to solve is managing the growth that the company has had in six years, when it climbed from a start-up to $100 million in 2007 sales, and the double-digit growth it expects over the next few years.

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