Anixter is the gift that keeps on giving for WESCO International Inc. (NYSE: WCC), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The electrical distribution giant rode its 2020 acquisition of Anixter to first-quarter sales of $4 billion, doubling its revenue from the same period a year ago. On a pro-forma basis, WESCO sales grew 3.2% in the period.

The company reported a profit of $74.1 million, which also roughly doubled its profit of $38.3 million in the year-ago period.

“We’re off to a great start to the year and delivered excellent results across the board that exceeded our expectations,” said John Engel, Chairman, President and CEO. “I am very proud of our team and the work that they are doing in executing our integration plan, delivering the synergies, and capturing the value of the transformational combination of WESCO and Anixter. We’re outperforming our markets, delivering significant margin expansion, and generating very strong free cash flow. With over $500 million of debt reduction over the last three quarters, our financial leverage is now below 5.0X, showing the power of our business model. The first quarter is another strong proof point of the substantial value creation potential of WESCO plus Anixter.”