National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV), Houston, TX, reported sales for the third quarter of $5.7 billion, an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Profit increased 4.4 percent to $636 million.

In September, NOV authorized management to move forward with exploration of a plan to spin-off NOV’s distribution business from the remainder of the company, creating two stand-alone, publicly traded corporations. The distribution & transmission segment had third-quarter revenues of $1.3 billion, up 2 percent from the third quarter of 2012. Third-quarter operating profit was $78 million (5.8 percent of sales).

Pete Miller, CEO, said all three segments – rig technology, petroleum services & supplies and distribution & transmission – posted higher sequential revenues and margins during the quarter. "We also added significant new bookings to our capital equipment backlog for the rig technology segment during the third quarter."

For the first nine months, sales for National Oilwell Varco were $16.6 billion, an increase of 15.6 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Profit decreased 8.2 percent to $1.7 billion.