November 1, 2006

BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products in North America, reported a drop of 17% in revenues to $1.2 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. Profit was $2.3 million, compared with $13.9 million in the year-ago period.The revenue decline reflects a 26.8% drop in structural product sales and a 1.1% […]

Electrical distributor Anixter International Inc., Glenview, IL, is paying $58 million in cash and assuming $11 million in debt to private equity investors for MFU Holding S.p.A., Brescia, Italy, fastener distributor to Original Equipment Manufacturers. MFU is expected to have sales of $66 million in 2006. Anixter is a global distributor of communication products, electrical and

Hagemeyer reported revenue of 1,580 million for the third quarter 2006. Organic revenue growth was 12.1%, of which more than 60% resulted from mostly copper-related price increases. The effect of acquisitions and divestments led to an increase of revenue of 12 million, driven by acquisitions of Cardi in Sweden and a fully owned subsidiary in Poland.

Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, CT, reported sales of $307.6 million in the third quarter 2006, up 10% from the prior-year period. Profit was $8.7 million, compared to a loss of $3.6 million in third quarter 2005. For the first nine months of 2006, sales were $897.2 million, up 10% from $812.7 million last year. Profit was $22.1

>The largest public building materials distributors have already been hit by a slowdown in new residential housing. September housing starts were 17.9% below September 2005 levels. Permits were 6.3% below August, and 27.7% below the September 2005 rate. >Some comments from distributors: >’We expect that difficult market conditions affecting our business will continue to have

Gases and hardgoods distributor Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired most of Dallas, TX-based Union Industrial Gas Group, including 14 branches in Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. The operations that were acquired effective November 1 had annual sales of $38 million.  Airgas is integrating most of the operations into two of its regional companies: Airgas Southwest

DXP Enterprises, Inc., Houston, TX, has acquired Safety Alliance, a company which provides safety and environmental consulting and training services as well as safety equipment sales, service, and rental. Safety Alliance has operated in Farmington, NM, since 1995. DXP paid $2.3 million in cash and assumed about $0.2 million in debt. The unaudited sales and

Construction spending during September 2006 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,195.9 billion, 0.3 percent below the revised August estimate of $1,200.0 billion. The September figure is 2.9 percent above the September 2005 estimate of $1,162.1 billion. During the first 9 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $903.2 billion, 6.6