Rexel opened the second half of 2026 with a clear message: North America—especially the U.S.—is the company’s growth engine, even as tariffs, commodity inflation, and macro uncertainty pressure margins and demand across the broader distribution landscape.

Some key highlights from their press release and presentation:

North America Carries the Day for Rexel in 1H as Tariffs, Inflation Test Distribution Margins

Rexel reported first-half 2026 sales of €9.989 billion, or about $11 billion, up +2.2% on a reported basis and +5.1% on a same-day basis, with growth accelerating sequentially from Q1’s +3.4% same-day increase. The company attributes this acceleration to strong performance in high-growth segments and continued pricing discipline.

North America

• Q1 2026 same-day sales increased +5.8%, with sales of €2.082 billion, or about $2.44 billion
• For H1 2026, North America continued to drive group results, with same-day sales growth well above the group average, totaling of €4.59 billion, or about $5.37 billion, and a double-digit backlog progression y-o-y. North America is now 47% of Rexel’s sales and is its largest geographic region.
• Within North America, the US grew roughly +5.1% in Q1 (weighted from Canada’s +9.1% and the U.S.’s larger share), putting Rexel’s U.S. performance above the broader distribution market’s early-2026 trend (according to Rexel).
  • Data centers and broadband infrastructure were the primary growth engines, with data centers alone representing about 7% of Rexel’s North American sales in Q1 (~$171 million).
  • Proximity (local, stock-and-flow) business in the U.S. grew faster than project work overall, although Canada remains more project-driven.
  • Residential has turned positive again after a weak 2025, though management framed all three U.S. end markets—residential, industrial, and non-residential—as only “positively oriented,” not in a broad-based rebound.
  • Acquisitions – Rexel US benefited from last year’s acquisitions of Warshauer and Schwing. This year it has acquired Revere Electric ($330M in sales) and most recently Dee Electronics ($50 million in sales).
• Rexel’s U.S. backlog stood at roughly 2.8 months of sales at the end of March 2026, up double digits year over year, underscoring strong project pipelines especially in data centers and related infrastructure. For the broader distribution industry, this underscores the importance of long-term contractor and OEM relationships in high-growth verticals, early involvement in project design to lock in specs and capture more of the value chain and geographic and vertical diversification to avoid over-reliance on any single cycle. Distributors with shallow project pipelines or heavy exposure to spot-buy, price-sensitive segments may find 2026–2027 more challenging as tariffs and inflation persist.
  • Canada was a clear outperformer within Rexel’s North American group in the first half of 2026, growing faster than both the U.S. and the consolidated group and reinforcing the company’s bet on large, infrastructure-heavy projects.  Canada posted high single-digit same-day sales growth of +9.1%, well ahead of both the group (+3.4%) and North America (+5.8%).  Canada represents roughly 17% of North American sales.  Rexel’s Canadian business is more project-driven than its U.S. counterpart, with non-residential projects (data centers, hospitals, mining, water, and wastewater) as the primary growth engines.  Data center–related sales in Canada are now about 10% of Canadian sales and management expects that to double in 2026 and are driven by domestic colocation projects and export-linked activity tied to U.S. hyperscalers sourcing Canadian contractors and equipment for cross-border projects.  Alongside data centers, industrial automation was a key growth pillar in Q1, reflecting investment in process industries and manufacturing, in addition to strong non-residential activity from hospitals, mining, and water/wastewater projects.
  • Management confirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, estimating same-day sales growth of 3% to 5%, signaling confidence that North American momentum and pricing actions can offset macro headwinds. Rexel believes its mix shift toward high-growth verticals, digital penetration, and disciplined cost control can sustain profitability even if volume growth is uneven.

• Rexel did not report Europe or Asia figures for 1H, but management commentary indicates Europe continued its sequential improvement from Q1, supported by a rebound in electrification demand and gradual stabilization in residential and industrial markets and recovery in non-residential, offsetting weakness in several mature markets, notably Germany and UK/Ireland.  Asia continues to outperform with double-digit sales growth, led by solar and battery projects, particularly in Australia, complemented by industrial automation strength in China and India.

• The company explicitly cited a “higher-than-anticipated price effect” in Q1 linked to Middle East tensions and a “second wave” of U.S. tariffs, which pushed up input costs for metal-intensive products.
• In April 2026, the U.S. expanded and tightened Section 232 tariffs on steel, aluminum, and copper, including derivative products containing more than 15% of these metals, with rates as high as 50% on some categories.
• These measures directly affect electrical distributors’ cost bases for conduit, cable, enclosures, and other metal-heavy SKUs, forcing repeated price updates and creating margin risk if pass-through lags.

Rexel management emphasized that it has successfully passed through tariff-related and commodity-driven price increases, particularly in cable and metal products, and flagged the likelihood of additional price increases in 2026 to keep pace with copper, aluminum, energy, PVC, and silver inflation.

Beyond product costs, Rexel cited rising energy and transportation costs impacting operating expenses.  Rexel is using fuel surcharges, greater adoption of green energy, and tighter SG&A control to offset these pressures.

This mirrors broader industry concerns: distributors are fighting inflation on two fronts—higher product costs squeezing gross margin if not fully passed through, and higher logistics/energy costs pressuring operating margin.

The Middle East conflict increased macro uncertainty, affecting project timing and some regional demand, though Rexel argued its transformation has made it more agile in capturing electrification opportunities stemming from higher energy costs.

What Rexel’s Results Suggest for Distributors

Rexel’s 1H 2026 results tell a clear story for North American distribution, namely that:

• Growth is real but narrow – high growth verticals such as data centers, broadband, renewables and infrastructure/grid modernization are carrying the load; broader industrial and residential recovery is still tentative and uneven.  This mirrors what other large distributors (e.g., Sonepar, Graybar, Wesco) have shareed.
• Tariffs and inflation are structural. The April 2026 tariff expansion on steel, aluminum, and copper, combined with ongoing commodity inflation, means distributors must treat cost volatility as a permanent feature, not a temporary shock.  Tariff management has become a core competency for distributors and analytics-driven pricing, rapid cost file updates, and customer communication to manage pushback.  Distributors that can institutionalize fast, data-driven pricing and diversify supply sources will be better positioned than those relying on ad-hoc price hikes.
• Pricing, digital (27% of US sales for Rexel), and mix are the levers and Rexel’s ability to confirm 2026 guidance rests on continued price pass-through, rising digital penetration, and a favorable mix shift toward higher-value solutions and services. For smaller and mid-sized distributors, the gap in digital and service capabilities versus large players like Rexel could widen, pressuring margins and share in competitive segments.
• Winners will be agile and differentiated.  Distributors that can rapidly update prices, manage complex projects, and offer technical and digital services will outperform those competing mainly on product availability and price.

For the U.S. distribution industry, Rexel’s 1H 2026 performance is both a validation of the high-growth infrastructure thesis and a warning: in a tariff-heavy, inflationary environment, operational excellence and strategic focus are no longer optional—they’re the difference between margin expansion and erosion.