Stock Building Supply (Finally) Looking Forward

By Lindsay Konzak

November 13, 2009

More about: Building Materials/Construction, MDM Blog, Mergers/Acquisitions, Stock Building Supply

Report: Stock was losing $1 million a business day pre-Ch. 11.

Home Channel News has a good overview today of a speech at the 2009 Building and Infrastructure Conference from Stock Building Supply CEO Joe Appelmann. Two highlights:

After 14 years of 28% annual growth, the sudden shift when the market collapsed challenged Stock's corporate mindset. According to HCN, when the deal was signed to sell Stock Building Supply to the Gores Group, a private equity firm, Stock was losing a million dollars a business day.
Appelmann talks about how the process to find a buyer for the business affected customer and employee relationships. Why? As Wolseley was looking for a new owner for its U.S. building materials subsidiary, customers were left wondering whether Stock would be able to continue serving them or whether they should look to another supplier to support their needs during that time. "Every day was another day that we would lose revenue or customer support," Home Channel News reported Appelmann as saying.

Read Home Channel News' full story.

Update: Here's a followup to HCN's article on the topic from ProSales. Click here for that article, where ProSales talks to Appelmann, who clarifies the $1 million a day loss.

It sounds like Stock Building Supply is looking forward with a tighter, leaner focus on what it will need to succeed in what many are now calling the 'new normal.'

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