Electrical Wholesaling's annual listing of the Top 200 electrical distributors provides a fascinating snapshot of the largest distributors in the land. It's much more than just a listing of the largest companies because these companies provide some fascinating insight into their toughest challenges and growth plans for the future.

While it's always been hard to define the “average” Top 200 electrical distributor, this year's respondents were particularly difficult to categorize. For one thing, the economic fortunes of this year's Top 200 distributors varied wildly. The average sales change between 2007 and 2008 for the 107 companies that provided sales data for the past two years was an increase of 4.9 percent, but 14 of those respondents enjoyed sales increases of more than 15 percent, and four companies saw their sales spike by more than 30 percent in 2008 — Argo International Corp., New York; Wholesale Electric Supply Co. of Houston Inc., Houston; A.E. Petsche Co. Inc., Arlington, Texas; and Shepherd Electric Supply, Baltimore — saw their sales increase by 30 percent or more. Argo International had the largest increase, with a 65.8 percent spike in its U.S. sales, and a 17-percent increase in total company sales, which includes revenues from its 11 branches outside the United States. Rory Toohey, the company's sales and marketing analyst, said large projects in oil well drilling and mining markets fueled its 2008 sales increase.

Elliott Electric Supply, Nacogdoches, Texas, which opened up 14 new branches last year, enjoyed a 20-percent sales increase in its 2008 sales. James Rudd, product manager, said a strong construction market up until last November and high commodity prices sparked growth last year. Another Texas-based distributor, Wholesale Electric Supply Co. of Houston, Houston, said large projects and repair work related to damage from Hurricane Ike helped support a whopping 37-percent sales increase.

Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, also had a solid year and established new record highs for sales ($5.4 billion) and net income ($87.4 million) in 2008. According to Timothy Sommer, the company's manager of corporate communications, “Significant cash flows from operations allowed the company to reduce year-end short- and long-term debt to its lowest level since 1993 and finish the year with a substantial cash balance. The company experienced modest sales growth in both the electrical and comm/data market sectors for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared to the same period in 2007.”

Distributors also had a wide range of 2009 sales forecasts (see chart on page 22), although the majority were expecting a historically bad year in sales. Of the 123 distributors who responded to this survey question, 70 percent were expecting a sales decline in 2009 of at least 10 percent, and 36 percent of respondents expect their sales to drop by at least 20 percent. Continue reading...

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