Rexel’s North American group was again the star performer for the company according to their 2026 Q1 earnings call. While the overall business was up only 3.4%, and all regions showed positive growth for the first time in 11 quarters, North America was nearly double the group’s performance, coming in at 5.8%.

Some key highlights from their press release and presentation:

Rexel North America

• Up 5.8% driven by technology / infrastructure defined as data centers and broadband infrastructure which were material contributors to growth in the US (continuing a trend for national chains such as Graybar, Sonepar, and Wesco.)
  • North American sales were €2.08 billion euros for the quarter
    • The US is 83% of this (full year 2025), so Rexel US is €1.73 billion euros or $2.44 billion USD (or a run rate of almost $10 billion!)
      • Datacenters represented 7% of sales, or $171M dollars (data center represents about 18% of Wesco’s sales but a different product mix.)
        • It is unknown what percentage of data center sales Talley (acquired in 2024) represents.
      • Rexel’s proximity sales (local business, mostly stock and flow, grew again at a faster rate than projects, which also could be read that it grew faster than datacenter business as datacenter business would be projects.) The company noted that in Canada, project business grew faster.
      • And don’t forget that they acquired Schwing Electric and Warshauer Electric last year.
      • Residential growth has turned positive, but still growth is no longer a drag. (Residential was a bad year for everyone in 2025, so shouldn’t go lower.)
      • While in the past Rexel commented that growth was stronger in certain areas (Northwest (Platt), California (wildfire area), and Southeast (Carolinas to Florida)), this quarter offered no specific regional insights.
    • The company has a growing 2.8 month backlog in the US
  • Canada’s business was stronger, growing 9.1%, driven by data center projects, and represents about 10% of sales in Canada, benefiting from both domestic colocation contracts and export activity linked to U.S. hyperscalers. Canadian activity remains more project‑driven than the U.S., with non‑residential projects (including data centers, hospital, mining, water, and wastewater) as the main growth drivers.
  • The expansion of Talley into Canada helps build upon Rexel’s infrastructure vertical, specifically wireless infrastructure, in‑building coverage, and private‑LTE/network‑coverage expertise, although data center projects and industrial automation was the primary driver in Q1.

Rexel’s Data Center Initiative

• Rexel reportedly has a more specialized and vertically organized data center business strategy than many other competitors. Rexel has built a national data center team, recognizing that the old regional structure made it hard for national contractors to work with them. Rexel reorganized to serve hyperscalers and national builders with one price list, one logistics model, and centralized account handling. Rexel added about 150,000 square feet of storage capacity and opened or expanded DC-focused facilities in Reno (80,000 sq ft) and Atlanta to support project execution and service levels. Rexel’s goal is to support the entire project lifecycle, including purchase, logistics, and MRO parts/services after buildout

Additional Insights

• AI & Digital

  • Rexel touted that its AI-enabled sales and quoting tools allow Rexel to quote faster, write more orders, and improve customer service, not just cut overhead.
  • Rexel has a company-wide focus to increase “digital penetration” and to promote these services to its customers. Corporate-wide they are at 36% of sales in Q1, up 217 basis points from prior quarter. The US lags this at 28% of sales, but featuring rapid growth, up 500 basis points reflecting strong adoption of digital tools and e-commerce platforms.

• Pricing

  • They passed through much of tariff-related price increases (so, with copper increases plus tariff increases, the company still had some organic growth.)
  • In the US, non-cable pricing Improved slightly, driven by piping/conduits now in positive growth territory

Takeaways

• Overall, decent performance:
  • With Canada up 9.1% representing 17% of North America, the US was up 5.1% since it represented 83% and the weighted average would be the reported 5.8% for North America. This is above the DISC Q1 projection (4% overall) but includes the two aforementioned acquisitions, data center business, and the benefits from Talley.
• It is also notable that the company did not comment about performance in specific regions of the US market. Given macro uncertainties, the company stressed focus on pricing to offset inflation, particularly on copper, aluminum, energy, PVC, and silver. Management stressed the proven ability to actively pass-through supplier price increases and highlighted likely additional price increase to be announced in 2026. (Analysts like hearing this. The reality is everyone does similar unless it is an opportunity to win a project.)
• Rexel is offsetting the impact of higher energy costs on opex (transportation, energy bill) by adding fuel surcharges when possible, increasing usage of green energies and finally, focusing on Gross Margin and SG&A control. (While this was in the report and on the call, it is unknown if this is in the US, Canada, Europe, or multiple geographic areas.)
• The U.S. is still heavily reliant on high‑growth segments (data centers and broadband), and management was careful to note that all three U.S. markets—residential, industrial, and non‑residential—are only “positively oriented,” not on a broad‑based rebound. Competitors with deeper residential exposure could catch up to Rexel if the housing and normal commercial cycle turns up and AI‑related spending cools.

As Al Roker would say “How do you see Rexel in your neck of the woods?”