Edmundson Electrical

Edmundson Electrical Ltd

Type	Private
Industry	Electrical supplies
Headquarters	Knutsford, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Area served	United Kingdom Ireland
Key people	D. T. McNair
Revenue	£1,268.4 million (2015)
Operating income	£71.5 million (2015)
Owner	Blackfriars Corporation Marshire Holdings Corp
Parent	Marlowe Holdings Investments Ltd
Divisions	Electric Centre Lockwell Electrical Distributors

Edmundson Electrical Ltd is a privately held electrical distribution company headquartered in Knutsford, Cheshire, incorporated in 1991.^[1] It is the largest electrical distributor in the United Kingdom^[2] and serves both to the trade and to the public from over 300 locations.^[3] The company also serves Ireland through a subsidiary, EWL Electric Ltd,^[4] as well as through mainland Europe via its sister company, Vink Holdings.

Edmundson also has significant presence in the Middle East through its associate company, Sentor Electrical,^[5][6] which operates in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Ajman and agents in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.^[7]

Through a number of holding and investment companies, it is directly controlled by the Delaware registered Blackfriars Corporation (now Marshire Holdings Corporation), controlled in turn by the Colburn family as part of their global electrical and prefabricated plastics organisation.^[8][9] The company also holds a Royal Warrant.^[10]

History

The company was founded in the early 19th century by Joshua Edmundson, with the company developing into one of the first suppliers of electricity to being a major distributor of electrical equipment. The company serves the United Kingdom through more than 320 branches, supplying a range of electrical items.

Acquisitions have accelerated the company's growth. The largest of these came in 2011, when the company acquired Electric Center from Wolseley plc for £40.6m.^[11][12] This added a further 90 branches to the existing Edmundson network of 250 branches, giving it significant control over the market. The deal was cleared by the Office of Fair Trading in 2012^[13] after the company agreed to sell a number of branches to Abbey Cross Trading Ltd.^[11]

Prior to being acquired, Electric Center achieved sales of £130m earning profits of £1.5m.^[14] The company has also expanded through several smaller acquisitions, including Cable Management Centre (2008),^[15] Western Electrical for £3.2m (2014),^[16] and Lockwell Electrical £8.8m (2015)^[17][18] as well as Bennett & Fountain, Walsall, GA Nicholas and Specialist Lamp Distributors^[19]

According to a filing with Companies House, in October 2016, Marlow Investments Ltd changed the name to Plumbing And Heating Investments Ltd.^[20][21] In the end of 2016, the company acquired East Anglia's leading plumbing wholesaler, Plumbcity Ltd^[22][23] parent of Gallery Bathrooms Ltd, Plumbclick Ltd and Plumbclick.co.uk Ltd.

In the financial year of 2015, Plumbcity recorded revenues of £26 million. In the same month the company acquired the leading plumbers merchant in the South of England, Heating Plumbing Supplies Group Ltd^[24] and its subsidiary Heating Plumbing Supplies Ltd.^[24] The transaction significantly expanded the groups influence, with over 30 branches gained and revenue of more than £53 million in 2015, and adding to the pre existing presence through the East Midlands based merchant, G.B Willbond Limited.^[25]

During the 2016 financial year the group acquired Cheshire Electrical Supplies Ltd, Novoplast Kunstoffen, Deutsche ADP and Oak Electrical Ltd^[26] for a combined total of £83.8 million.^[27]

Ownership

The company is controlled by Blackfriars Corporation, a Delaware based holding company run by the Colburn family. Most notably, Keith W. Colburn who is CEO of Consolidated Electrical Distributors, which in 2010 was the fifth largest private company by revenue ($3.4 billion in 2009, $3.9 billion in 2008).^[28]

Through a number of companies, the Colburn family own a global network of manufacturers, distributors and general purpose retail outlets. Whilst Edmunson Electrical primarily serves the United Kingdom and Ireland, the parent organisation, Marlowe Holdings Investments has an 80.1% stake in the Mainland Europe based preformed plastics distributor, Vink Holdings.

See also

• Wolseley plc
• Wolseley UK

References

External links

• Documents and clippings about Edmundson Electrical in the 20th Century Press Archives of the German National Library of Economics (ZBW)