The Home Depot 2Q Sales Fall 9.1%
Profit declines 7% over concerns in the housing market and general economy.
The Home Depot 2Q Sales Fall 9.1% Read More »
August 2009
M&A Activity Falls Sharply in First Half
The pace of mergers and acquisitions continued to decline across the industrial products sectors during the first half of 2009 compared to the first half of 2008, according to a series of quarterly M&A reports released by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Deal volume and value in the global transportation and logistics and industrial manufacturing industries slowed significantly in the first half of 2009 as economic uncertainties continued to dominate the global metals economy.
In industrial manufacturing, the pace of deal volume (measures by the number of deals with a disclosed value of at least $50 million) declined 71% to 26 deals in the first-half 2009. Only 12 deals were announced in the second quarter 2009, a steep drop from 47 in the prior year. Large deal activity (defined as deals ...
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Manufacturing Accounts for 31% of Mass Layoffs in 2Q
Mass layoff events reached a record high during the second quarter of 2009 with the manufacturing sector accounting for 31% of the separations, according to preliminary figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers initiated 2,994 mass layoff events in the second quarter of 2009 resulting in the separation of 534,881 workers from their jobs for at least 31 days.
Second quarter program highs in the number of separations were recorded in 7 of 18 major industry sectors, all four geographic regions, and fourteen states. Thirty-eight percent of employers reporting an extended layoff in the second quarter of 2009 indicated they anticipated some type of recall, down from 51% a year earlier, and was the lowest proportion of anticipated recalls for a ...
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Could Destocking Be Near An End?
While most people say that initial rounds of inventory reduction were probably a good thing, bringing on-hand inventories more inline with demand, the question always was how far will it go and for how long.
Recent reports - including the results of the Baird Industrial Distribution Survey - say destocking may be coming to an end in the last half of this year. While that may have some positive implications for sales, the end of destocking likely will not be the magic bullet to ramping up stalled factories soon.
Why? According to the Baird Survey, in the second quarter: "Inventory levels continue to decline with no restock expected in the near-term. Nearly 7 out of 10 ...
Could Destocking Be Near An End? Read More »
Grainger July Sales Down 14%
Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported daily sales results for the month of July 2009 declined 14% versus July 2008, primarily the result of weak demand across all customer end-markets and geographies. Foreign exchange negatively affected sales by approximately one percentage point.
U.S. sales were down 14%; Canadian sales were down 19% (down 10% in local currency). Sales from Other Businesses were up ...
Grainger July Sales Down 14% Read More »
Wholesale Revenues Inch Up in June
Year-over-year, sales are down 21%; inventories are down 10.3%.
Wholesale Revenues Inch Up in June Read More »
Distressed M&A Deals Grow In Volume
Distressed-debt deal values are growing at a pace close to double that in 2008, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Such deals occur when banks exchange debt for ownership in the companies, and according to the article, which cites Dealogic, are happening in all industries. One quote in the article: "The new cliché among restructuring professionals: Bankruptcy is the new M&A."
I recently spoke with a few investment bankers and private equity professionals focused on the distribution industry for the article M&A Market Shows Signs of Life in the latest issue of MDM. ...
Distressed M&A Deals Grow In Volume Read More »
Manufacturing Barometer: Less Pessimism Among Industrial Manufacturers
The latest edition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Manufacturing Barometer reports less pessimism among U.S.-based industrial manufacturers over the US and global economies, according to the second quarter report. While a majority of survey respondents continued to view the U.S. and global economies as declining in the second quarter of 2009, their overall outlook through the second quarter of 2010 shows improvement.
In the prior four quarters, an overwhelming majority of respondents viewed the US and world economies as declining. However, the outlook began to shift in Q2 with a 30 point drop to 63% of industrial manufacturing executives maintaining that the US economy is in decline. Similarly, 66% of respondents doing business abroad continued to view the world economy as declining ...
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Timken India Signs Agreement with Indian Seals Manufacturer
Timken India Ltd., Bangalore, India, a segment of The Timken Company, Canton, OH, has signed a marketing agreement with India's Spareage Seals Limited, allowing Timken to offer Spareage's complete range of oil seals to customers and distributors throughout India.
The oil seals will be used in applications across a range of industries including the metals, energy, cement, mining and geardrive market sectors.
Through the agreement Timken will source a line of oil seals from Spareage to serve the Indian market. The product line complements Timken's existing friction-management solutions and is expected to create value for both ...
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June Machine Tool Consumption Up 22% from May
June U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $135.85 million, according to AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology and AMTDA, the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association. This total was up 22.0% from May but down 69.2% from the total of $440.55 million reported for June 2008. With a year-to-date total of $759.03 million, 2009 is down 70.1% compared with 2008.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
Despite the lack of government programs designed to specifically stimulate smaller manufacturers, the bottom to this business cycle may be in sight," according to Douglas K. Woods, president of AMT. "With total manufacturing technology orders showing positive ...
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Sysco FY09 Sales Down 1.8%
Sysco Corp., Houston, TX, reported sales for fiscal year end 2009 of $36.9 billion, down 1.8% from the prior year. Profit decreased 4.6% to $1.06 billion.
Fourth quarter sales were $9.1 billion, down 6.6% compared to the same period last year. Profit declined 5.6% to $315.3 ...
Sysco FY09 Sales Down 1.8% Read More »
U.S. Power Transmission/Motion Control Manufacturer Sales Fall 2.8% in June
Canadian manufacturers experienced an increase in sales while U.S. manufacturers had a drop in sales in June 2009 according to sales data released by the Power Transmission Distributors Association. Confidence in the Canadian market (as measured on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being most optimistic) rose slightly by 0.1% from last month to 4.4, while U.S. confidence is holding at a current negative position of 4.8 for the third consecutive month.
U.S. manufacturers' sales fell by 2.8% in June 2009 when compared to May 2009. Sales in June 2009 fell 32.9% compared to the same period last year. Orders in June 2009 decreased by 5.3% over May 2009 orders.
Canadian manufacturers' sales increased 7.6% compared to May 2009. Sales were down 25.5% when compared to the same period last year. ...
U.S. Power Transmission/Motion Control Manufacturer Sales Fall 2.8% in June Read More »
M&A Market Shows Signs of Life
The mergers and acquisitions market in distribution has changed dramatically in the past 24 months. While several deals were announced weekly in 2006 and 2007, the market flow today has slowed to a trickle. MDM spoke with distribution M&A experts about current conditions, and when they believe the market could turn around.
M&A Market Shows Signs of Life Read More »
Commentary: Beware the Next Enemy of Profitability
As difficult as it may be in current conditions, scenario planning has to be given more time in distribution executive team meetings, as well as distributor-manufacturer planning meetings. The worst reaction today is to say there is too much uncertainty to plan, so let's just focus on the next three months. The vast majority of conversations I've had with executives have often included the observation that revenues dropped by more than double what the company was using as its worst-case scenario. Based on second-quarter results, distributors are hoping the trough is behind them.
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MDM Interview: Border States’ Approach to the Market
Border States Electric CEO Tammy Miller recently spoke with MDM Associate Editor Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier about how the electrical distributor is adapting to the current economy. In part II of this interview, she also addresses the company's plans for expansion by 2014. (Part I was published in the July 10, 2009, issue of MDM.)
MDM Interview: Border States’ Approach to the Market Read More »
MDM News Digest 3915
UK-based Wolseley plc announced it would be continuing to cut costs across the company, as sales continued to decline. In its pre-close period trading statement for the 11 months ended June 30, revenues from continuing operations were down 1.5% to £13.25 billion (US$21.86 billion). Profit from continuing operations was down 47%. More
While average revenues were down 16% in the second quarter year-over-year, respondents to the second-quarter Baird Industrial Distribution Survey expect to see some improvement in the third quarter, with revenues down and average of 11.6% year-over-year. ...
MDM News Digest 3915 Read More »
MDM August 10, 2009
This is the pdf of this issue of Modern Distribution Management. Apply the full $24.95 pay-per-view cost toward an annual subscription (within 30 days of purchase), which includes two issues a month plus access to more than seven years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email info@mdm.com to ...
MDM August 10, 2009 Read More »
Second Quarter 2009 Public Distributor Report
About this report: This is the MDM Public Distributor Report, provided on a quarterly basis to subscribers of Modern Distribution Management. The report is available online only.
Click here to download this report in pdf.
Not surprisingly, distributors continue to cut costs and work to improve efficiencies. Some are looking to new markets and expanding their reach to offset weaknesses in their traditional end-markets. In their quarterly earnings calls, distributors in diverse sectors say they have yet to see an increase in underlying demand in many end-markets. Here is a look at three distributors in different sectors and what they are seeing in the market.
Beacon Roofing ...
Second Quarter 2009 Public Distributor Report Read More »
General Bearing 2Q Sales Down 40.3%
General Bearing Corp., West Nyack, NY, reported second-quarter sales of $41.3 million, a decrease of 40.3% from the prior year same period. Profit was $92,000, compared to $2.7 million a year ago.
For the six months ended July 4, 2009, sales were $21.5 million, down 38.7% from the first half of 2008. The manufacturer of bearings and bearing components recorded a loss of $180,000 for the term, compared to profit of $1.5 million the prior ...
General Bearing 2Q Sales Down 40.3% Read More »
Fluor 2Q Sales Down 8%
Fluor Corp., Irving, TX, reported second quarter sales of $5.3 billion, down 8% from second quarter 2008. Profit declined 19% to $169 million.
For the first six months, sales were $11.1 billion, up 5% from the first half of 2008. Profit increased 8.5% to $374 million.
Fluor's Industrial & Infrastructure segment reported sales of $998 million, up 9% from the prior year. ...
Fluor 2Q Sales Down 8% Read More »
