MDM News Digest 3912

Chicago, IL-based Grainger, broad line distributor of facilities maintenance products, said it plans to become a 53% majority owner of MonotaRO, a direct marketer of MRO supplies in Japan. Grainger expects to invest $4 million through a tender offer bid process later this summer. MonotaRO started as a joint venture between Grainger and Sumitomo Corp. in 2000. The business offers more than 110,000 products to more than 320,000 customers. In 2008, MonotaRO had revenues of $136 million and operating earnings of $11 million. More

Industrial distributor DGI Supply, a DoAll company, has agreed to acquire Tool Crib Supply, an industrial distributor based in Bensenville, IL, according to a report by Quality Magazine. DGI's plan is to combine Tool Crib Supply's inventory with its own and move order fulfillment to Wheeling, IL, its home base. More

Order intake volume at Swedish manufacturer Sandvik gradually declined in April and May to a level 40% to 50% lower than last year. As a result, the company has reduced staff by 6,000 since October, and work hours will be reduced by 15% to 20% for about 12,000 to 14,000 workers beginning in June. Ten production sites will be permanently closed. More

Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has acquired the wire harness and electrical distribution business of Alcoa, Pittsburgh, PA. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The sale includes operations in 13 countries and involves approximately 17,500 employees. More

Canadian wholesale sales in current dollars fell 0.6% to $40.3 billion in April. In terms of the volume of sales, wholesale sales were up 0.5%. This was the first increase since September 2008. In April, four of the seven sectors, accounting for two-thirds of total wholesale sales, declined. Sales in the building materials sector fell 2.9% in April. More

Global manufacturers shipping to the U.S. market increased 2% in May, according to Panjiva, a firm that tracks overseas suppliers. It is the third monthly increase in a row. According to Panjiva, the number of significant manufacturers appearing on its Watch List fell from 31% to 30% in May. The percentage of significant buyers doing business with a Watch List supplier in the preceding three months fell from 41% to 40% in May. More

Wholesale prices moved up 0.2% in May, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 0.3% following a 0.5% decline a month earlier, and the crude goods index climbed 3.6% after rising 3% in April.Before seasonal adjustment, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.5% in May to 170.8 (1982 = 100). More

Industrial production decreased 1.1% in May after having fallen a downward-revised 0.7% in April, according to the Federal Reserve. The average decrease in industrial production during the first three months of the year was 1.6%. Manufacturing output moved down 1.0% in May with broad-based declines across industries. More

Housing starts went up 17.2% in May to an annual rate of 518,000, compared with April, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The number is 45.2% below May 2008. More

Canadian manufacturing sales edged down 0.1% to $41 billion in April, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada. Sizable gains in the transportation equipment industry were offset by weakness in other industries. Excluding the transportation equipment industry, manufacturing sales decreased by 2.8%. Constant dollar manufacturing sales gained 0.4% in April. Although manufacturing sales remaining largely unchanged in April, sales decreased in 16 of 21 manufacturing industries. More

Canadian industries operated at 69.3% of production capacity, down 5.6 percentage points from the previous quarter. It was the first time that industrial capacity use fell below the 70% level since the start of the data series in 1987. Of the 21 major industries in the manufacturing group,18 registered lower rates. More

Both U.S. and Canadian manufacturers experienced a drop in sales in April 2009 according to sales data released by the Power Transmission Distributors Association . U.S. manufacturers' sales were down 11.0% in April 2009 when compared to March 2009. Canadian manufacturers' sales were down 3.0% compared to March 2009. Confidence in the market remained the same this month, holding a current negative position between 4.6 and 4.9. More

Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL, reported operating revenue decreased 26% for the three months ended May 31, 2009, due to a 23% decrease in base revenues and a 9% decline in contributions from currency translation. Acquisitions contributed 6% to revenues in the three month period. More

Actuant Corp., Milwaukee, WI, reported sales for the third quarter ended May 31, 2009, were $290 million, down 35% from the prior year. Core sales declined 33%. The diversified industrial company recorded a loss of $17.6 million for the term. Year to date, sales declined 23% to $970 million. The net loss for the nine months was $2.8 million. More

The Canadian economy shrank at an annualized rate of 3.4% in the fourth quarter, while the U.S. economy contracted by 6.2%. The wholesale sector posted strong growth in the first half of 2008. The decline started in October. A fourth-quarter slump in Canada's exports (-4.7%), imports (-6.4%) and retail sales were reflected in wholesale sales, which were down 6.3% in December compared with September. Most sectors experienced declining sales in the final months of 2008, including the other products sector and the automotive products sector, whose sales were down 18.9% and 11.1% in December compared with September.