MDM News Digest 3809

Atlanta, GA-based Industrial Distribution Group, Inc., will move forward with a plan to be acquired by Luther King Capital Management, accepting the private equity firm's $12.10 per share offer -close to $136 million. Platinum Equity notified IDG that it will not match or beat LKCM's bid. LKCM said it would reimburse IDG for the 3 percent break-up fee required when IDG breaks the Platinum merger agreement. More
HD Supply White Cap, Costa Mesa, CA, distributor of specialty hardware, tools and materials for large and medium-sized contractors, has entered the Minneapolis-St. Paul market with the opening of a 6,000-square-foot warehouse.  More
The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, home improvement retailer, announced it would no longer pursue the opening of 50 U.S. stores in the pipeline -some will be delayed by as much as 10 years. The company also reported it would close 15 underperforming U.S. stores, representing less than 1 percent of the company's store portfolio. More
Illinois Tool Works Inc., Glenview, IL, has agreed to buy commercial foodservice equipment supplier Enodis for $2.1 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt, bringing the market value to $2.3 billion. Enodis had reported revenues of $1.6 billion for fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2007. The company's product line includes food equipment mainly for fast food restaurants, institutions and supermarket/grocery stores. More
The Timken Company, Canton, OH, will increase base prices on hot-rolled, cold-finished and thermal-treated special bar products by up to $50 per ton, based on size. This price increase is effective with shipments beginning on July 1, 2008. More

Timken also reported sales of $1.43 billion during the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 12 percent over the same period a year ago. The increase was driven by strong sales in global industrial markets, as the company benefited from its capacity-expansion initiatives, as well as the favorable impact of pricing, surcharges and currency. More
3M plans to build a new facility in Singapore to produce coatings for film-based products used in commercial, electronic and automotive applications. By establishing a local film coating center, the facility will help the company better serve the Asia market. More

Waterbury, CT-based Haydon Enterprises, a Harbour Group company, has acquired Kerk Motion Products, Inc. Kerk, Hollis, NH, designs and manufactures a line of high-precision motion control products that include lead-screw assemblies, slides, linear rails, and actuators. Haydon is a designer and manufacturer of fractional horsepower linear actuators, lead screw assemblies, rotary stepper motors and hermetically sealed switches for niche- market applications.  More
Construction spending during March 2008 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,123.5 billion, 1.1 percent below the revised February estimate. The March figure is 3.4 percent below March 2007. During the first three months of the year, construction spending was $241.6 billion, 2.4 percent below same period in 2007. More

The majority of U.S.-based industrial manufacturers said they are pessimistic about the prospects for the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, and most of the others said they are uncertain, according to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Only 12% remain optimistic. Their

overall uncertainty now includes the world economy where 21% say they are pessimistic and 41% say they are uncertain about the next 12 months. More

Airgas, Inc., distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases, welding, safety, and related products, reported sales in its fiscal 2008 were up 25 percent to $4 billion, with same-store sales growth of 7 percent. Airgas made 18 acquisitions in fiscal 2008. More
Interline Brands, Inc., Jacksonville, FL, distributor and direct marketer of maintenance, repair and operations products, reported sales for the first quarter 2008 were down 2.1 percent from the prior-year period. "The current market environment has proven to be one of the more challenging in recent memory,"said Michael Grebe, Interline's CEO. "Revenues in March took an unexpected downturn in all three of our major end-markets. April results have improved, but market visibility still remains at a low level."More
United Stationers Inc., Deerfield, IL, reported first quarter 2008 sales were up 5 percent to $1.25 billion. The December 2007 acquisition of ORS Nasco added $74 million. Excluding acquisitions, sales were down 1.2 percent. More
BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products, reported a net loss of $10.6 million for 1Q 2008, compared with a net loss of $189,000 in the year-ago period. Sales fell 25.1 percent to $716.8 million. The drop reflects a 28.1 percent decline in structural product sales and a 22.5 percent sales decline in specialty products. More
Lawson Products, Inc., Des Plaines, IL, a distributor of services, systems and products to the maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) marketplaces, reported sales for the first quarter 2008 were $125 million, a decrease of 3.6 percent from the prior-year quarter. More
Platinum Equity has completed the acquisition of Owens Corning's composite manufacturing plants in Battice, Belgium and Birkeland, Norway. More
Sandvik has sold its diamond tools unit to Husqvarna. The acquired operation comprises production and sales of diamond tools and related machines for sawing, drilling and grinding. More
Emerson, St. Louis, MO, reported sales for the second quarter ended March 31, 2008 of $6 billion, an increase of 12 percent. Underlying sales increased 6 percent in the quarter, which excludes the impact of favorable foreign currency exchange rates (4 percent) and impact from acquisitions, net of divestitures (2 percent). Strong international results led the growth, where sales increased by 10 percent on an underlying basis. Organic sales in the U.S. softened, up 1 percent. More
Milacron Inc., Cincinnati, OH, supplier of plastics-processing technologies and industrial fluids, reported a net loss of $6.9 million in the first quarter ended March 31. Sales in the quarter were $203 million, up from $190 million. The increase was due almost entirely to favorable currency translation effects. More