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THE FIVE LARGEST ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORSTop 200 of 2012
Company Name | Town/City | 2011 Revenue | Electrical employees | Number of locations: |
Rexel (*All data for North America) | Dallas | 4,984,300,000 | 7,175 | 504 |
Graybar Electric Co. | St. Louis | 5,395,239,000* | 7,380 | 245 |
WESCO International Inc. | Pittsburgh | 5,980,063,000* | 7,300** | 400** |
Sonepar North America* | Philadelphia | 6,749,000,000* | NA | 629 |
In 2011, the five largest full-line distributors in North America had and estimated $26.9 billion in combined revenue, operated 2,322 branches and had more than 35,355 employees. These five companies account for no less than 30% of all industry sales, according Electrical Wholesaling's sales data. (*Data reported for North America ** Worldwide)
THE WORLD'S TWO LARGEST ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTORS
Company Name | Town/City | 2011 Revenue | Electrical employees | Number of locations: |
Rexel SA, Paris | Paris, France | $16.45 billion28,0002,100 | ||
Sonepar SA | Paris, France | $19.04 billion33,0002,090 |
The two largest electrical distributors in the world operated more than 4,000 locations and did an estimated $35.9 billion in sales (EW sales estimated converted to U.S. dollars from Euros using the 12/31/2011 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 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 information on the some of the largest distributors in North America. Check out www.ewweb.com for additional profiles and links.
1. Sonepar North America
Town/City: Philadelphia
Parent: Sonepar SA, Paris
2011 North American sales: $6.74 billion; parent company's sales up 10% from 2010.
2011 was a big year for acquisitions by the North American market's largest electrical distribution company. Sonepar, privately held and based in Paris, France, bagged two trophy operations in southern California for its North American subsidiary, with back-to-back acquisitions of Independent Electric Supply, San Carlos, Calif., (#18 on last year's Top 200 list) and OneSource Distributors, Oceanside, Calif., (#23 last year). With its model of acquiring strong independent regional distributors and keeping their identities and often...