Anixter International Inc. (NYSE: AXE), Glenview, IL, No. 6 on MDM’s list of the top 25 electrical distributors, reported sales for the third quarter of $1.6 billion, flat to the prior year period. Organic sales increased 0.4 percent excluding the impact of the acquisition of Jorvex, unfavorable copper pricing and foreign exchange. Profit fell 68 percent to $19.8 million.

Download a Free Chapter: The Little Black Book of Strategic Planning for Distributors Submit your email address below to receive a chapter of Brent Grover’s new book. When you submit your email you will be signed up to receive weekly distribution news updates.

For the first nine months, sales for Anixter, a distributor of electrical and electronic wire and cable, were $4.7 billion. This marks an increase of 1 percent over the same period a year ago. Profit decreased 21 percent to $119.4 million.

"While the quarter was challenging from a macroeconomic perspective, which is reflected in lower sales in our Europe segment and our OEM Supply end market, we remain confident in the underlying health of our business and our ability to capitalize on a variety of opportunities throughout our business,” Robert Eck, president and CEO said.

“The strength of our global natural resource development and power generation markets helped to fuel 8 percent organic growth in our global Electrical and Electronic Wire & Cable end market. This strong performance included a record quarter for our Canadian wire and cable business and 29 percent organic growth for our Emerging Markets wire and cable business," he said.