Wesco tallies $5.5 billion for first quarter
Wesco International, a provider of business-to-business distribution, logistics services and supply chain solutions, reported first quarter net sales of $5.5 billion, up 12% YOY.
"After delivering an exceptional performance in 2022, we're off to a strong start this year and once again set new first quarter company records for sales, backlog, margin and profitability," said Chairman, President and CEO John Engel. "The power of our increased scale, industry-leading positions, and expanded portfolio of products, services and solutions is clearly evident in our continued strong performance.
"Strong secular demand trends and continued execution of our enterprise-wide cross selling and margin improvement programs are driving our sustained growth and market outperformance," Engel continued. "Our dedicated team of colleagues continues to provide resilient and critical supply chain solutions for our customers around the world, capturing the benefits of our exposure to these sustainable secular trends. As our three-year integration program comes to a close this year, our digital transformation is accelerating which will result in an even higher level of performance, operating efficiency, supplier partnership and customer loyalty.
"We are reaffirming our 2023 outlook and remain confident in our ability to drive mid- to high-single digit sales growth this year, along with continued EBITDA margin expansion. We are also reaffirming that we expect to generate approximately $600 to $800 million in free cash flow in support of our growth initiatives and capital allocation priorities. In the near-term, we are focusing our cash generation on debt reduction and expect to reduce our leverage below the midpoint of our target range of 2.0 to 3.5x by year-end. We look forward with greater confidence than ever to a future of market outperformance and value creation."
Organic sales for the first quarter of 2023 grew 10.8% as the acquisition of Rahi Systems, which closed in November of 2022, positively impacted reported net sales by 2.8%, while fluctuations in foreign exchange rates negatively impacted reported net sales by 1.6%. Backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2023 increased 21% compared to the end of the first quarter of 2022. Sequentially, backlog remained flat.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
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