medical, specialty gases and related welding equipment and supplies, operating in Indiana, Michigan and Illinois. Mittler had sales of $73 million in 2006 and has 210 employees. More …
Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA, reported sales for the first six months of fiscal 2007 were $1.1 billion, level with the same period last year. Sales grew 6 percent on an organic basis, offset by the impact of acquisitions and divestiture of J & L Industrial Supply. Sales for the quarter were $569 million compared with $563 million in the same quarter last year. Second-quarter sales grew 6 percent on an organic basis. More …
SKF has acquired the Preventive Maintenance Company Inc., Elk Grove Village, IL. PMCI has 70 employees with annual sales of about $10 million. PMCI is in Predictive Maintenance services for industrial customers in the pulp and paper, metals, food, automotive and other industries. The PMCI acquisition strengthens SKF in reliability services, condition monitoring products and maintenance strategies. More …
Burmeister is a full-line stocking distributor and manufacturers’agent offering products to the electric utilities for transmission and distribution requirements. HVTL is a testing laboratory offering high voltage testing services and sales of PPE (personal protective equipment) safety products, used by electric utility lineman and field service personnel in the contractor and industrial markets.
ElkCorp, Dallas, TX, manufacturer of roofing and building products, has received another offer to purchase all of ElkCorp’s outstanding shares for $43.50 a share by an affiliate of Building Materials Corporation of America. The special committee and board of directors, consistent with its recently announced merger agreement with The Carlyle Group, will review the offer and make a recommendation. The Carlyle Group recently agreed to increase its offer from $40.50 to $42 a share in cash. More …
electric utilities for transmission and distribution requirements. HVTL is a testing laboratory offering high voltage testing services and sales of PPE (personal protective equipment) safety products, used by electric utility lineman and field service personnel in the contractor and industrial markets. More …
In November, U.S. distributors’year-to-date sales of power transmission/motion control products climbed 10.7 percent as compared to sales for January through November 2005, according to the latest November trend data released by the Power Transmission Distributors Association. Sales fell 3.6 percent over the previous month and were up 7.8 percent as compared to November 2005. More …
Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, reported sales increased 4 percent in the second quarter 2007 to $472.36 million. Profit grew 21 percent to $18.5 million. For the six months ended Dec. 31, 2006, sales increased 7 percent to $964.9 million from $899.3 million in the same period last year. Profit was up 23 percent to $39.7 million. More …
The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, reported sales for the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, were $1.8 billion, an increased of 18.8 percent over 2005. Profit increased 19.3 percent to $199,038. Sales for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2006, were $448,729, an increase of 16.8 percent over the same period last year. Profit increased 16.4 percent to $45,570. In 2006, Fastenal opened 245 new sites. More …
Industrial production rose 0.4 percent in December after a decrease of 0.1 percent in November. Output in November was previously estimated to have advanced; weaker data for a number of industries, particularly steel, led to the downward revision. For the fourth quarter as a whole, industrial production decreased 0.5 percent (annual rate). In the manufacturing sector, output increased 0.7 percent in December, and most major industry groups registered gains. The output of utilities fell 2.6 percent, the result of relatively mild temperatures during the month.  ; More …
UK-based Wolseley plc, global distributor of plumbing and heating products and supplier of building materials, reported it continues to be affected by the slowdown in housing and lower lumber prices in the U.S. For the first five months to Dec. 31, 2006, Wolseley sales increased 15 percent, with 3 percent organic growth. Profit was slightly lower. Wolseley says the housing slowdown effect was offset by “good organic growth in the U.S. plumbing and heating business (Ferguson), an improved performance in continental Europe” and contributions from acquisitions. Organic sales at Stock Building Supply fell about 9 percent, and profit was down about 45 percent. Wolseley has cut about 4,000 jobs in the U.S., mostly at Stock. More …
Rexelreported sales for fiscal 2006 at 9.3 billion euro, or $12.1 billion, up 26 percent from 2005, and up 11.1 percent on a comparable basis (same scope of consolidation, exchange rates and business days). In North America, Rexel sales reached $5.2 billion, up 12.2 percent on a comparable basis from last year. Sales for the fourth quarter were $1.62 billion, up 4 percent from the same period a year ago. More …
Praxair Distribution, Inc., Danbury, CT, has agreed to buy Mittler Supply Inc., distributor of industrial,
Apollo Management, which also recently invested in Rexnord, has made an investment in Bradco Supply Corp., a roofing distributor based in Avenel, NJ. Bradco has more than 150 branches in the U.S. Bradco founder Barry Segal says the investment is a great opportunity to significantly grow the company.” More …
Global fastener distributor The Wurth Group, based in Germany, recorded 12 percent sales growth in fiscal 2006 to 7.74 billion euro, or US$9.9 billion. Outside of Germany, sales increased by 11.8 percent to 4.62 billion euro, or US$5.96 billion. Profit grew by 16.5 percent overall. More …
Wholesale prices rose 1.1 percent in all of 2006, in contrast to the 5.4 percent rise in 2005, the Department of Labor reported. The government attributed the slower rate of advance to the index for finished energy goods, which fell 2 percent in 2006 after climbing 23.9 percent a year earlier. Otherwise, wholesale prices except foods and energy moved up 2 percent in 2006 following a 1.4 percent gain in 2005.  ; More …
The overall  ; U.S. economy is expected to experience some moderation in the first half of 2007, and manufacturing production will likely play its part in a slowdown, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Survey on the Business Outlook. The December 2006 composite index of 54 is down from 64 reported in the September 2006 survey and breaks an impressive streak of 16 consecutive quarters of 60 or above. The number is the lowest since an index of 52 was recorded in the March 2002 survey, yet continues to indicate that the industrial component of the economy remains on a growth trajectory. The composite business index above 50 indicates that overall manufacturing activity is expected to increase over the next three months to six months. The index measures the direction of change rather than the absolute strength of activity in manufacturing.   ; Seven of the 10 factors measured by the quarterly survey were lower than the previous report, in line with the downward trend of other recent economic indicators, but three indexes did show increases.  ;
As expected, 2006 figures for housing starts and building permits were down from 2005. Housing starts were 12.9 percent below the 2005 figure and building permits were 14.9 percent down from 2005. However, 2.4 percent more housing units were completed in 2006 than in 2005. More …
BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products, reported revenue for the fourth quarter 2006 declined 29 percent to $945 million from the same period a year ago. The company’s business that is tied to new home construction was negatively impacted by the slowdown and depressed wood-based structural product prices. BlueLinx also reported a net loss for the quarter. The company’s other end-use markets sectors experienced mixed results. Manufactured housing declined significantly from Katrina-inflated levels a year ago, and industrial applications and non-residential construction showed growth. Repair and remodeling weakened. More …
Jackson, MS-based Stuart C. Irby Co., a subsidiary of Sonepar USA, has acquired Burmeister Electric Company, Minneapolis, MN, and High Voltage Testing Laboratories, Fargo, ND. Burmeister was established in 1919 to serve utility companies in the Upper Midwest. Burmeister is a full-line stocking distributor and manufacturers’agent offering products to the
