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Little Rock Company Priority Growing Under the Wire

5 min read

Ken Hamilton made the right first call.

More than 20 years ago, Hamilton decided to go into business for himself as a wholesale wire and cable distributor. He needed a partner; he called Jim Newman.

The two formed Priority Wire & Cable of Little Rock in April 1993. Hamilton’s background in manufacturing and Newman’s expertise in distribution combined to make a perfect pairing.

This past year, Priority Wire & Cable had sales of more than $324 million, and expectations are to hit close to $400 million this year.

“He has been a great partner to be in business with,” Hamilton said of Newman. “He was the first guy I called. I’m glad that was the first call I made.”

PWC buys and inventories 100 different kinds of wire and cable from manufacturers in China, Poland and Ecuador. PWC has sales offices and distribution warehouses scattered across the country and Canada so that when a customer orders a certain wire, it can be shipped quickly.

PWC sells to a wide variety of industries, ranging from commercial and industrial builders to telecommunications companies to mining corporations. Hamilton said the company has more than $110 million in inventory in warehouses and can deliver 85 percent of its orders the next day.

“We’re not a huge name in Little Rock, but we are a huge name in our industry,” Hamilton said, helping explain why the company is making its first appearance on Arkansas Business’ annual list of the state’s largest private companies. “Seventy-five percent of what we do, we considered ourselves a manufacturer. We do not have the brick and mortar of a manufacturer, but what we do is we have the wire and cable manufactured in our name overseas.

“We’re in so many different markets. Part of what we do is take away market share by having all of this distribution and inventory. That’s more of what we’re doing than just regular growth.”

Even Priority Wire & Cable’s offshoots are finding success. Priority1, its logistics subsidiary, uses Web-based software to help companies more efficiently schedule their shipments. It reported revenue of $75 million in 2014.

Starting From Zero

Hamilton, 57, originally wanted to base the business in Chicago but couldn’t arrange financing there. When he showed bankers his business plan and revenue forecasts, well, it was a hard sell.

“They said, ‘The numbers you have here, we don’t feel they are attainable,’” Hamilton said. “Jim said, ‘Why don’t you come down here?’ and that’s what I did. I’ve been hitting the numbers I forecast in the plan. Did I expect to be at $400 million by the end of this year? No. But I’ll take it.

“Jim and I started this from zero dollars. It has been a good ride.”

Newman, 69, serves as the company president and Hamilton as CEO. The two-man ownership group, supported by a seven-member management team, keeps the business running smoothly.

“It makes a hell of a difference,” Newman said of being a private company. “We don’t have to put up with a bunch of bull. We’ve both been in this business. If I disagree with what his thinking is or he disagrees with mine, hey, we talk it over. We don’t normally try to cram anything down either one of our throats. We’re in business to make money.”

Publicity Shy

Hamilton and Newman share one trait in particular: an antipathy toward publicity. The company hired a marketing director just in the past year; it’s previously been content to concentrate on doing business with its wholesale customers.

“We aren’t publicity hounds,” Hamilton said. “Jim and I aren’t in it to brag to a newspaper about it. That’s not who we are. We’re hardworking people who try to do things right.”

Newman said he just bought a beach house in Florida and when asked when he would like to retire, he joked, “In about five minutes.”

“I never did intend to work this damn late in life,” Newman said, blaming Hamilton, who he said was “full of piss and vinegar.”

“If it was up to me, I would have slowed this sucker down a long time ago. He’s doing a good job. He knows I’m not going to get too dang involved anymore.

“I wanted to call it quits at 66 but, hell, we have too much going on.”

‘We Run Extremely Lean’

Company CFO Candice Hill said the way Hamilton and Newman run the business is one of the biggest reasons for PWC’s success. PWC has more than 200 employees in the United States and Canada, including almost 100 in Arkansas, and the company pays 100 percent of family health insurance premiums and contributes 15 percent annually to each qualified employee’s profit-sharing plan.

“We run extremely lean,” said Hill, who has been with PWC since 1999. “We have a relatively small number of employees, considering the dollar number of our sales. Everyone in this company is very passionate about the company. The benefits are phenomenal. If you talked to anyone, they would say you would have to take their fingers and pry them off the door to get them out the door.”

Hamilton said PWC’s success has been buoyed by its sales and management teams. He said many important decisions are made in faraway sales offices without the micromanaging input of headquarters.

“There’s no way you have growth like this without good people,” Hamilton said. “Obviously, we have good people.”

Hill said PWC was a $20 million company when she joined, but a good product sold by good people with good service kept the revenue growing. Like most everyone else in business, the recession of 2007-08 hit PWC hard, but its diversification and inventory surplus helped it weather the storm.

“Hard work is the bottom line; you have to stay active to overcome all problems that come up and move on,” Newman said. “We took a hell of a beating. We made the decision that we were going to take every order. We were going to move product.

“We could weather that again pretty easy. I really don’t want to do that again. It’s scary.”

Hill said cable and wire isn’t a recession-proof industry, but the sheer number and variety of customers lessen the risk of a crash.

“Fortunately, we’re diverse enough that usually one or two marketplaces we sell to don’t feel the burn the rest of the market feels,” Hill said. “The diversification is everything.”

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