Rexel SA reported first-quarter revenue of €4,737 million, a result that missed analyst forecasts by roughly 1%.
The distributor recorded 3.4% organic same-day growth for the period, below the 4.3% consensus. Management quantified the make-up of that increase, noting that pricing accounted for 2.8 percentage points of the growth, up from 1.7% a quarter earlier, while underlying volumes contributed just 0.6 percentage points. Rexel pointed to unfavorable weather patterns and project timing in North America and Europe as the primary drivers of the volume weakness.
Regionally, Europe returned to positive same-day growth of 0.6% following a flat performance in the prior quarter. Within the region, Benelux accelerated to 3.9% growth and France improved to 2.0%. By contrast, the DACH region declined by 1.8%, though the company said both residential and non-residential segments showed sequential improvement. Sweden was unchanged at 0%, while the UK & Ireland fell 5.4%. Rexel noted a net scope impact of -1.9% in the region related to the disposal of its Finnish operations.
North America recorded 5.8% same-day growth, decelerating from 7.9% in the fourth quarter. The company cited material contributions from data centers and broadband, and said those end-markets now represent 10% of sales in Canada. Industrial automation in the United States expanded by 3%. Order backlogs stood at 2.8 months of sales at the end of March, slightly higher than the 2.7 months reported at the end of December.
Asia-Pacific delivered the strongest momentum, with same-day growth rising to 11.4%. Australia accelerated to 16.7%, a performance the company attributed to solar activity and increased battery demand. China grew 4.4%, while India expanded by 14.7%, driven by industrial automation.
Rexel left its full-year guidance intact. The company reiterated expectations for same-day sales growth between 3% and 5%, an adjusted EBITA margin of approximately 6.2%, and free cash flow conversion above 65%.
The quarter highlights a continued reliance on pricing to sustain topline expansion amid uneven volume trends across geographies. Backlogs ticked slightly higher versus December, and pockets of end-market strength - notably in data centers, broadband, solar and batteries - supported growth in select markets.