Rexel’s newly-announced GCG acquisition extends a multiyear expansion that has strengthened its North American footprint while adding automation, connectivity and engineered services. Tracing those deals reveals how the company’s growth strategy is evolving — and...
Strategy
Article
ADI’s Next Test: Turning Integration Into Profit and Cash
ADI Global Distribution has outlined an $80 million-plus savings program and a path toward roughly $500 million in standalone adjusted EBITDA by 2030. But gross savings are not incremental profit, and growth does not automatically...
ADI’s standalone strategy is built around more than selling additional products. Its digital platform, exclusive brands, expanding categories and project services are designed to reinforce one another — helping integrators complete more of each job...
Details on the deal are very limited, but directionally meaningful toward adding a new dimension to Fastenal’s AI ambitions among distribution’s greater arms race of AI build-and-buy solutions. Here’s our analysis of what this Fastenal...
Economic Trends
Article
MDM Forecast: September Update
September brought another modest upgrade to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, but broader softening in 2027 projections. Most sectors saw next year’s forecasts trimmed, with an Oil & Gas upgrade cushioning the overall reduction. Get...
Fresh off its Resideo spin-off and NYSE debut, ADI CEO Rob Aarnes laid out the distributor’s next challenge: turn years of acquisitions and systems investment into a simpler, more integrated business. His playbook — consolidate...
Economic Trends
Article
July U.S. Wholesale Sales Rebound Broadly as Inventories Jump
Industry sales rose 0.8% in July after June’s revised large decline, with gains across most product categories. Inventories increased even faster, but remain lean relative to sales compared with a year ago. Get our full...
The first two articles in this series looked at the cost-to-price lag — in isolation. As explained here in the conclusion, the full picture is bigger: a single vendor cost increase actually triggers three separate...
Mergers & Acquisitions
Article
August M&A Roundup: Busy Month Led by Parts Authority, Hillman, SRS and Grainger
We published news about nearly three dozen different deals in August involving at least one industrial distributor. Get our rundown of all of them, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date...
Recent NAW survey results and independent case studies show that understanding the days-long gap between supplier cost increases and pricing response can help distributors feel more confident in protecting margins. The second in this three-part...
AI agents can quickly inflate costs and amplify risk when every task uses the same model. This article shows how intelligent model routing, firm guardrails and human oversight can help distributors scale AI responsibly while...
Mergers & Acquisitions
Article
What Buyers Want in a More Selective Distribution M&A Market
Distribution deal activity remains resilient, but buyers are applying greater scrutiny to margins, recurring revenue and competitive differentiation. PMCF’s Joe Wagner explains which assets are commanding premiums, how acquisition priorities are changing and what prospective...

