General Cable Corporation, headquartered in Highland Heights, Kentucky, is one of the largest and most diversified wire and cable manufacturers in the world. The company’s communications and electrical products include automotive products for the aftermarket: building wire, cord, cordsets, data communications products, electronic products, fiber optic cables, OEM harnesses, assemblies and custom-molded cordsets and outside voice and data cables. General Cable sells its products worldwide through electrical distributors, hardware and home center retailers, automotive retailers, original equipment manufacturers and telephone operating companies.

Originally incorporated in 1927, General Cable at that time brought together the plant facilities and manufacturing experience of several older companies founded in the 1800s, including Phillips Wire and Safety Cable Company and Standard Underground Cable, founded by George Westinghouse. For more than 70 years, General Cable has been engaged in one primary business -- the manufacture and sale of wire and cable used in the distribution of electric energy and voice and data communications signals. General Cable went public in May 1997 and now has 17 manufacturing facilities and five regional distribution centers.

In 1998, General Cable’s sales on a constant copper-basis increased 12 percent and growth with General Cable’s top 20 customers increased 23 percent. Some of the entities that compose General Cable’s customer list include Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, who awarded the company with a major share of their sales of residential sound, security and data networking cable in addition to a major share of their cordset business; Romex Brand building wire products, whose products include copper building wire and aluminum conductor cable; Carol Brand portable cord products and Graybar Electric, the largest electrical/communications-data distributor in the United States. This increase represents the company’s fourth consecutive year of 20 percent-plus growth with premier customers, who now comprise approximately 60 percent of the company’s revenues. General Cable’s sales to Home Depot rose 108 percent in 1998; the company expects another 40 percent to 50 percent increase in this area via growth through merchandising and new store openings.

In 1998, General Cable invested more than $75 million (four times 1998 depreciation) in capital spending for new capacity, new products and ongoing productivity, up from about $43 million the previous year. Operating cash flows of nearly $75 million fueled this aggressive, sustained investment in the company’s future.