Sonepar Continues to Grow

Sonepar, one of the largest global electrical distributors, recently released some information about its 2010 results, and they are very encouraging.  Enough so that the company, globally, intends to grow organically as well as through acquisition (as it recently did with its acquisition of a division of HD Supply in Canada).

According to the release:

• Sonepar did not close locations in 2009 or 2010
• Sales grew 8% globally on a “like to like” (exchange rate) basis
• The U.S. market was up 4%, and represents 30% of the world market.
• Comment:  From this, and the fact that Sonepar was up 8% globally, one can infer that Sonepar grew last year (which is interesting in contrast to Rexel and Graybar stated performance.)
• Moving forward, Sonepar expects double digit growth, globally.
• Comment:  From a U.S. perspective this probably means that the plan to continue to take share in their selected markets (probably diversification through market / application specialists and increase focus in industrial) plus they’re back on the acquisition travel.  From an acquisition viewpoint, it is logical to assume that they’ll use the same model they did before … seek strong companies that can essentially be CDC’s and then fill-in around them; and for existing operating companies, either open new locations or look for profitable small distributors as fill-ins.

Any insights re: Sonepar USA?