Hughes Supply and Newport News, VA-based Ferguson have been holding the top two spots in the Supply House Times' ranking of the Premier 150 wholesalers for years. Supply House Times asked executives from Ferguson to comment on the Hughes acquisition by The Home Depot and what it might mean to the industry. Here is what they said:

John Stegeman, president & CEO, Ferguson: “Home Depot and Hughes are respected companies that strategically understand the benefits of consolidation. I believe in the short term the industry will see very little change. The size of Hughes Supply will dictate business as usual until their executive teams understand synergistic opportunities. In the long term, we should expect efforts to leverage capabilities including logistics, technology, geographic expansion, vendor relations, marketing and the addition of other key wholesale distributors to further entrench Home Depot Supply with the service professional. Ferguson expects that Home Depot will continue to look for opportunities to grow with the professional contractor through additional acquisition. We also realize the importance of sound financial management for a large company and welcome the attention that Home Depot will have to focus on to improve the return on their recent wholesale investments. We expect this to be good for our industry. Our focus will continue to be to provide opportunities for our people and to continue to find ways to serve our customer.”

Frank Roach, chief executive, Wolseley-North America: “We've always competed with Hughes Supply and welcome good competition; we have no plans to conduct business differently. We will continue to find opportunities for our associates and add value for our customers. Home Depot's acquisition of Hughes Supply in no way distracts or detracts from our focus as a company.”