October 29, 2008

Owens & Minor 3Q Sales Improve 7.3%

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, Pharmaceutical & Health Care, News, Free / MDM Staff

Owens & Minor, Richmond, VA, reported sales of $1.81 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, up 7.3% from the third quarter of 2007. Profit increased 19.4% to $25.3 million.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, sales were $5.36 billion, an increase of 6.1% in a year-over-year comparison. Profit improves 45.5% to $73.1 million.

Owens &Minor, Inc., is a distributor of national name-brand medical and surgical supplies and a healthcare supply-chain management company. ...

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United Rentals Sales, Profit Drop in 3Q

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, News, Free / MDM Staff

United Rentals, Inc., Greenwich, CT, reported third quarter sales of $873 million, down 11.8% from the third quarter 2007. Rental revenue accounted for $677 million. Profit declined 33.9% to $74 million. Continued softness in the company's end market were the primary factor in the decline.

For the first nine months, the company reported sales of $2.5 billion, down 11.3% from the prior year. Profit was down 28.7% to $149 million. The decline primarily reflects a softening construction environment as well as the previously announced second quarter $14 million after-tax charge in anticipation of the September SEC settlement. ...

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Cardinal Health Sales Up 11% in 1Q

Leave a Comment / Free, Top Distributor Sectors, News, Pharmaceutical & Health Care, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Cardinal Health, Dublin, OH, drug and medical products distributor, reported an 11% increase in revenue to $24 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, driven by strong sales in the Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment and continued growth within Clinical and Medical Products.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment achieved double-digit revenue growth, which helped partially offset the expected year-over-year profit decline from previously disclosed contract re-pricings and anti-diversion efforts for controlled substances.

The company performed as expected with double-digit revenue and profit performance from Clinical and Medical Products, and I am encouraged by continued signs of early progress in the pharmaceutical supply chain business,"said ...

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Praxair Sales Increase 16%

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, News, Gases & Welding Equipment, Free, Companies / MDM Staff

Industrial gases provider Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, reported third quarter profit of $355 million, an increase of 16% over the third quarter of 2007. Sales were $2.9 billion, up 20% from the prior-year quarter.

Year-to-date, the company reported sales of $8.4 billion, up 22% from the same period a year ago. Profit improved 17.4% to $1 billion.

Praxair achieved strong sales growth in every geographic region, led by South America and Asia.

In North America, third-quarter sales were $1.6 billion, 19% above the prior year. Excluding the effect of higher natural gas prices passed through to customers in hydrogen prices, sales growth was 14%. Acquisitions of U.S. packaged gas distributors contributed 4% to sales growth.

In Europe, sales ...

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Sealed Air Sales Up 5% in 3Q

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, News, Gases & Welding Equipment, Free / MDM Staff

Sealed Air Corp., Elmwood Park, NJ, sales for the third quarter of 2008 increased 5% to $1.22 billion. Sales for the nine-month period increased 8% to $3.68 billion, compared with $3.4 billion for the same period in 2007.

In the third quarter, resin costs peaked and the North American and European economic environment deteriorated," said William V. Hickey, president and CEO. "Despite these conditions, our food packaging and medical businesses continued to show stable sales performance in the third quarter and year-to-date. Our protective packaging business was more affected by the economy, and unit volumes declined in the quarter, consistent with manufacturing output, shipments and retail sales.

"To offset peak resin costs, we continued to implement price ...

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Translating New Sales Incentive Plans Into Practice

Leave a Comment / Sales & Marketing, Free, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

In this era of uncertainty, how to best incentivize a sales force is likely top of mind for many distributors. A recent article at inc.com talks about the sins of commissions," and how sometimes, incentive plans devised in the corporate office don't always translate on the ground floor level.

Here's the link to that article.

The author quotes Harvard Business School professor Robert Austin, author of Measuring and Managing Performance in Organizations. He says that when you try to measure people's performance, you must take into account how they will react. A quote from ...

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HD Supply Facilities Maintenance: Switch to a New Technology Platform

Leave a Comment / Technology, Subscriber Only, Free, Companies / Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

What happens when a company operating on a customized legacy system sells part of the business?

HD Supply Facilities Maintenance learned the answer quickly after being sold by The Home Depot last year. In a recent article from Supply Chain Management Review, HD Supply Facilities Maintenance's director of e-business Mark Linder writes about how the company had six months to set up its own system and transition customers to the new format.

The HD Supply case study shows how having the right partners -in this case, technology company Hubspan -can help foster success in such a transition. The two companies worked together to identify HD Supply's needs and how Hubspan could meet those needs in ...

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Grainger Taps New President of Grainger Industrial Supply

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, News, Free, Companies / MDM Staff

Chicago, IL-based W. W. Grainger, Inc. has appointed Michael A. Pulick, Senior Vice President for Customer Service, to Senior Vice President and President, Grainger Industrial Supply, effective Nov. 1, 2008.

Pulick is replacing Y.C. Chen, 61, who will stay on in a special advisory role with the company. Pulick joined Grainger in 1999 from General Electric.

Grainger will also establish a global supply chain function under Senior Vice President D.G. Macpherson, effective immediately. This new function will provide global planning, coordination and specialized expertise to the supply chain organizations in all of Grainger's business units. The initial focus will be on global supply chain architecture, procurement and supply chain talent management. Reporting to ...

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October 29, 2008

Owens & Minor 3Q Sales Improve 7.3%

United Rentals Sales, Profit Drop in 3Q

Cardinal Health Sales Up 11% in 1Q

Praxair Sales Increase 16%

Sealed Air Sales Up 5% in 3Q

Translating New Sales Incentive Plans Into Practice

HD Supply Facilities Maintenance: Switch to a New Technology Platform

Grainger Taps New President of Grainger Industrial Supply

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