Anixter International Inc. is a leading global distributor of communications and security products, electrical and electronic wire and cable, fasteners and other small parts. The company adds value to the distribution process by providing its customers access to 1) innovative inventory management programs; 2) more than 450,000 products and more than $900 million in inventory; 3) 223 warehouses with more than 7 million square feet of space; and 4) locations in 265 cities in 51 countries. Founded in 1957 and headquartered near Chicago, Anixter trades on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AXE.

Anixter's operating philosophy is built on the idea that our customers and the suppliers we represent in the marketplace value a partner with consistent global product offerings, technical product and application support and supply chain service offerings that are supported by a common operating system and business practices that insures the "same look, touch and feel" to doing business with Anixter wherever we support them in the world.

The company's growth strategy is built on a foundation of organic growth driven by constant refresh and expansion of our product offering to meet changing marketplace needs. This organic growth approach extends to a constantly evolving set of supply chain services that are designed to lower the customer's total cost of procuring, owning and deploying the products we sell. Organic growth will periodically be supplemented with acquisitions where the benefits associated with geographic expansion, market penetration or new product line additions are weighted in favor of "buying versus building."

As the company looks to recover from the reduction in sales that occurred in 2009 as the result of the global recession, it will seek to drive near term growth in three key areas. First, as we have always done we will continue to focus on product line expansion especially in foreign markets where there are opportunities to expand and localize the product offering to create larger addressable market opportunities. Secondly, we will work to drive international expansion through the development of sales locations in additional cities within countries where we have an established presence. Lastly, we will seek to expand the geographic footprint of our presence in the electrical and electronic wire & cable market and OEM supply market beyond the limited number of countries in which we operate in those markets to include more countries where we have an established country presence in the enterprise cabling market. These efforts are anticipated to provide additional growth over and above the growth that is expected to come from a recovering global economy.

Anixter has historically used a shareholder friendly approach to capitalizing its business and supporting the capital requirements for growth. With a target debt-to-total capital ratio of 45 to 50 percent that seeks to optimize the weighted average cost of capital the company has balanced the needs for working capital investment to support organic growth, invest in acquisitions and when appropriate return capital to shareholders by way of share repurchases and special dividends. As a result of the decline in sales associated with the recession Anixter generated record cash flow from operations of $441 million, including over $300 million in working capital reductions related to the decline in sales. This cash flow has been used to reduce financial leverage to the low end of our target range. In 2009 and again in early 2010 the company repurchased and retired a total of 2 million of its outstanding shares in an effort to reduce excess liquidity in the business and maintain reasonable levels of financial leverage to support efficient costs of capital.

Click here to open or download the Anixter International Inc. Second Quarter 2010 Presentation.