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Watsco sales pass $5bn

USA: Watsco, the largest HVAC distributor, reports that its 2020 annual sales have surpassed $5bn for the first time.

Last year, the company achieved sales of $4.77bn, up from $4.546bn in 2018.

In a note to Watsco’s 5,700 employees and 1,000 supplier partners, chairman and CEO Albert H Nahmad, wrote: “This week Watsco hit an incredible milestone with annual sales passing the $5bn mark. We started this journey in 1972 building on a $5m manufacturing business in Hialeah, Florida. Then in 1989, we changed course and acquired our first HVAC distributor. We liked the distribution business, sold the manufacturing business and went to work.”

Under Nahmad’s leadership, Watsco saw sales grow to $25m by 1988. In 1989, the company shifted its focus from manufacturing to distribution by acquiring Gemaire Distributors Inc, a South Florida-based Rheem distributor.

Watsco operates from 603 locations in the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and exports to Latin America and the Caribbean.

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