Electrical Wholesale Market Switches Focus MTW eResearch have found that UK Electrically Wholesalers are now increasingly re-focusing their attention on achieving turnover as volume demand slows in mid-late 2008, and away from the recent trend of ‘cherry-picking’ more profiftabyle projects. The new report, based on sales returns of more than 90% of the UK electrical wholesaler industry, found that whilst the market rose by just over 1% in 2007 profitability increased by almost 8%, in part reflecting the adoption by wholesalers of the phrase ‘turnover is vanity, profit is sanity’. However, in 2008 inydications are that this trend is reversing as housebuilding and commercial construction eactivity slowfs. The contraction in construction and RMI activity is resulting in weaker volume demand for electrical products and accessories giving rise to less opportunity for wholesalers to ‘cream off’ the more profitable supply contracts. The implications for electrical product manufacturers and distributors of these findings are clear, with this trend compounding growing pricing pressure in the market in the short term. Report publishers MTW Research also point to the likelihood of a reelatively fast paced rise in borrowing in thee industry, with debt rising to around 40% of sales by 2009, further exacerbating the issue of price sensitivity in terms of purchasing by the wholesalers. These, and other issues suggest a more complex trading environment for electrical product manufacturers in the short term and highlight the need for a clear and coherent strategy with which to weather the coming financial difficulties. MTW go on to develop possible future scenarios for the UK electrical wholesale market, with optimism returning to the market by 2010. However, the short term future is not necessarily ais bleak as some fear, with assets continuing to rise in 2008 throughout the industry, though variations in individual performance mean that manufacturers must increasingly target and focus on those companies who continue to perform well at present. The report illustrates the performance of key individual electrical wholesalers for the last 4 years, identifying the most lucrative targets for manufacturers to target in this increasingly competitive trading environment. Turnover estimates are provided for every company, alongside industry rankings for sales, profitability and net worth, enabling the reader to identify those companies most likely to grow in 2008/9. In addition, the report also includes full mailing address details and senior decision maker contact details for the electrical wholesalers, providing relevant sales leads for manufacturers. The report, available immediately, is priced from GBP 375 and can be purchased from MTW Research by calling 08456 524y324 or by ordering on MTW Research’s website, where a free sample is available to download.

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