Distribution Solutions Group Inc

Board of Directors and Shareholders

Opinion on the financial statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Distribution Solutions Group, Inc., (a Delaware corporation) and subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023, and the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss), changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in the 2013 Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), and our report dated March 7, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion.

Basis for opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical audit matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Business Acquisition – HIS Company, Inc. – Valuation of acquired Intangible Assets

As described further in Note 3 to the financial statements, the Company acquired HIS Company, Inc. on June 8, 2023, for a total purchase price of approximately $267.3 million, net of cash acquired. The Company allocated the purchase price, on a preliminary basis, to the assets acquired and liabilities assumed based on their respective fair values, including identified intangible assets of $65.3 million.

The principal considerations for our determination that the valuation of acquired customer relationships and trade names is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management when determining assumptions used in the fair value measurement of acquired intangible assets and (ii) the high degree of auditor judgment and subjectivity in performing procedures and evaluating management’s significant assumptions relating to the projected forecasted information including revenue growth rate, weighted average cost of capital (WACC), royalty rate, and customer attrition rate.

Our audit procedures related to the valuation of the acquired intangible assets included the following, among others:

(i) we tested the design and operating effectiveness of the controls over the Company’s acquisition and valuation process, including review of the valuation model, significant assumptions used, and the completeness and accuracy of the underlying data used

(ii) we reviewed the projected forecasted information including forecasted revenue growth rate by assessing the reasonableness of management’s forecasts compared to historical results and forecasted industry trends

(iii) with the assistance of our valuation specialists, we assessed the assumptions and methodologies used in developing the WACC, royalty rates, and customer attrition rates by developing a range of independent estimates and comparing those to the rates selected by management. We also involved our valuation specialists to validate the assumptions and methodologies used in valuing the intangible assets.

/s/ GRANT THORNTON LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2023.

Los Angeles, California

March 7, 2024

Shareholders and Board of Directors

Chicago, Illinois

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheet of Distribution Solutions Group, Inc. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2022, the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for the year then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audit included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audit also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

/s/ BDO USA, P.C.

We served as the Company's auditor from 2022 to 2023.

Chicago, Illinois

March 14, 2023, except for effects of the Stock Split described in Notes 1 and 11, as to which the date is March 7, 2024