MDM News Digest 3421

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired the assets and operations of A& R Welding Supply, Inc., an industrial gas and welding supply distributor with two locations in San Luis Obispo and Paso Robles, CA. A& R, with $4.5 million in annual sales, now operates as part of Airgas West, one of 13 regional companies within Airgas. It is the sixth acquisition for Airgas in its current fiscal year, including the BOC U.S. packaged gas business at the end of July. Total acquired annual sales are above $250 million for the year. More...

McJunkin Corporation, Charleston, WV, has completed its acquisition of the assets of Envalco Corporation, a Gulf Coast-based provider of specialty valves and valve automation. The management team of Envalco Corp. will stay with the merged business. Envalco will relocate operations to McJunkin's distribution hub in Houston, where renovations are underway for a new automation shop and expanded warehouse space. McJunkin currently operates seven valve automation facilities throughout the U.S., which support their network of 125 branch locations. More...

September U.S. machine tool consumption reached the highest level in four years, totaling $389.20 million, up 89.8% from August and up 74.6% from the total of $222.86 million reported for September 2003, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology. With a year-to-date total of $2,146.95 million, 2004 is up 42.2% compared with 2003. More...

MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc., Melville, NY, reported fiscal 2004 full-year net sales of $955.3 million for the period ended Aug. 28, 2004, an increase of 13.1% over revenues of $844.7 million for the fiscal 2003 full-year period. Net income for fiscal 2004 rose 55.8% to $81.2 million, from net income of $52.1 million in the same period a year ago. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, net sales were $246.7 million, an increase of 18.2% over net sales of $208.8 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2003. Net income increased 62.6% to $22.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2004, compared to net income of $13.7 million in the year-ago period. There was one less day in this year's fourth quarter than in the fourth quarter of last year.

Kaman Industrial Technologies, Windsor, CT, reported third quarter net sales of $149.3 million, up 22% over net sales of $122.6 million the year before. Operating profit was $5.5 million, up 96% from $2.8 million during the 2003 third quarter. For the first nine months of the year, Kaman Industrial Technologies reported net sales of $440.2 million, up 21% from $364.7 million during the first nine months of 2003. The company reported operating profit of $16.3 million, up from $9 million in the same period a year ago.

The Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Economic Forecast predicts inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 3.9% in 2004 and 3.4% in 2005. The new 2004 prediction is down from 4.5% in the August forecast. Manufacturing should continue to grow faster than the general economy, with industrial production growth expected to increase 5.2% in 2004 (down from 6.0% forecast in the August projections) and 4.1% in 2005 (down from 5.7% in the August forecast). More...