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NorthEast Electrical Distributors/Eagle Electric Supply, a subsidiary of Sonepar USA, has agreed to buy Ralph Pill Electric Supply, Boston, MA. RPESCO has 16 locations in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. RPESCO’s 2006 sales rank them as one of the largest independently-owned electrical distributors in New England and among the top 100 in the country.  ; More …
Private equity firm The Carlyle Group has agreed to buy Sequa Corporation, a diversified manufacturer, for $2.7 billion. Sequa Corporation has seven discrete operating units in the following industries: aerospace, automotive, metal coating, specialty chemical, industrial machinery, and other products.  ; More …
SKF, Stockholm, Sweden, reported sales grew 11 percent in the second quarter 2007. Sales were strongest in the Industrial Division and Service Division, as well as strong in the Automotive Division. SKF saw better sales growth in Europe, Asia and Latin America than in North America. More …
Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported sales of $1.6 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, up 8 percent versus the same period a year ago. Profit was up 12 percent. For the six months ended June 30, 2007, sales were $3.1 billion, up 8 percent, and profit up 15 percent. More …
The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, reported sales of $519 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, an increase of 13.3 percent over sales in the second quarter of 2006. Profit increased 17 percent. Sales for the six-month period were $1 billion, an increase of 13.3 percent over the first six months of 2006. Profit increased 15 percent. More …
Genuine Parts Company, Atlanta, GA, reported sales increased 4 percent in the second quarter 2007 to $2.77 billion. Profit was up 8 percent. Motion Industries, GPC’s industrial group, increased sales by 9 percent. EIS, the electrical group, reported a 7 percent jump, and the Automotive Group had a 2 percent increase in sales. Office Products was up 1 percent. For the six months ended June 30, 2007, overall Genuine Parts Company sales were up 4 percent and profit up 7 percent. More …
ACR Group, Inc., Houston, TX, distributor of heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and supplies, reported profit dropped more than 50 percent in the first quarter ended May 31, 2007. Sales were down 4 percent to $59.5 million. More …
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH, reported sales of $3.25 billion in second quarter 2007, up 4 percent over the same period a year ago. Profit was $246 million, a decrease of 3 percent. End markets were reported to have declined by 4 percent, due principally to the anticipated decline in the NAFTA heavy-duty truck market. The manufacturer reported slightly stronger growth in the electrical markets, offset by weaker-than-anticipated conditions in the North American hydraulics markets.
seals. The bulk of AFM’s current sales are to OEM customers in several industrial segments.  ; More …
3M, St. Paul, MN, has created the 3M eStore. At the new site, customers in the 48 contiguous United States can purchase 3M products with a credit card. H.C. Shin, executive vice president, 3M Industrial and Transportation Business said: “We know that our customers aren’t aware of our full product line. By opening the 3M eStore, we are placing our products in more locations where our customers can purchase them. In addition, if they tell us they’re interested, we’ll connect them directly to one of our authorized distributors to set up an ongoing relationship.” More …
May U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $313.74 million, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’Association and the Association For Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 6.5 percent from April, but down 6.5 percent from the total of $335.52 million reported for May 2006. With a year-to-date total of $1,606.13 million, 2007 was up 7.5 percent compared with 2006. More …
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods decreased 0.2 percent in June, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This decline followed advances of 0.9 percent in May and 0.7 percent in April. During the first 6 months of 2007, the finished goods index rose at a 6.4-percent seasonally adjusted annual rate after no change during the latter half of 2006. More …
Industrial production rose 0.5 percent in June after a decrease of 0.1 percent in May. Total industrial production was 1.4 percent above its year-earlier level. Capacity utilization for total industry moved up to 81.7 percent in June; the rate was 0.6 percentage point below its level in June 2006 but 0.7 percentage point above its 1972-2006 average. More …
After a slight decrease in April, manufacturing shipments in Canada remained virtually unchanged in May (-0.1 percent) at  ; $49.7  ; billion. Manufacturing shipments had trended slowly downwards throughout most of  ; 2006, before posting a strong first quarter in  ; 2007. On a sector by sector basis, only 9 of 21 manufacturing industries decreased in May, but they represented about 57 percent of total shipment outputs. More …
May 2007 sales of U.S. wholesalers were $357.2 billion, up 1.3 percent from the revised April level and were up 8.7 percent from the May 2006 level.  ; More …
Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA, has signed a product supply agreement with Kyocera Corporation, Kyoto, Japan. The agreement includes initiatives such as private labeling, cross-licensing and sales and marketing. Te agreement is global in scope and is designed to complement the suppliers’existing product lines. Kennametal and Kyocera plan to grow sales of each others’product lines worldwide. More …
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners has offered to buy Dutch chemicals distributor Univar NVfor US$2.04 billion (1.5 billion euro), a premium of about 37 percent to Univar’s closing price July 6. Univar operates more than 200 distribution centers across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. In 2006, Univar had sales of $8 billion.
Two major distributors of industrial and oilfield PVF supplies, McJunkin Corporation, with nearly $2 billion in annual revenues,  ; and Red Man Pipe and Supply Company, nearly $1 billion in annual sales, have announced a merger of equals.” Charleston, WV, and Tulsa, OK , will serve as co-headquarters for the new company. McJunkin Corporation CEO and President H.B. Wehrle III and Red Man Pipe and Supply Company President and CEO Craig Ketchum will serve as Co-CEOs for the new company.  ; More …
Wolseley plc has reported it will close 24 more Stock Building Supply branches, primarily in the Midwest. The closures include a 370 headcount reduction. The announcement comes after closing 22 branches and reducing headcount by about 4,500 in the past year, or a quarter of total employees. More …
Lewis-Goetz and Company, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, has acquired Samson Industrial, expanding its reach further into the Southeast and solidifying its presence in the Gulf Coast.  ; Samson is a distributor and fabricator of specialty industrial supplies specializing in fluid and material conveyance, fluid sealing, vibration and dampening, fastening, personal safety and industrial tools. Samson has 15 locations, including its headquarters in Tulsa, OK. Lewis-Goetz has more than $200 million in annual sales. More …
Kendall Electric has purchased Roden Electric, an electrical distributor in the South Central U.S. with more than $120 million in annual sales. Kendall has more than $400 million in annual sales. It serves the industrial, OEM, and construction markets. More …
Shareholders of Myers Industries, Inc., Akron, OH, have approved the plan of merger, where Myers Holdings Corp., controlled by GS Capital Partners, would acquire the polymer product manufacturer and distributor of tools, equipment and supplies for $1.1 billion, including the assumption of debt. The company had sales of $780 million in 2006. More …
Womack Machine Supply Company has acquired Birmingham, AL-based FPS Technologies. FPS distributes many of the same product lines as Womack and operates a hydraulic repair center near Birmingham. The combination of both companies allows Womack Machine Supply to expand distribution and service of fluid power and automation products into Alabama, Mississippi, and the Florida panhandle. More …
Saint-Gobain has acquired the Norandex group from Owens Corning. Norandex group is split into two units: building materials distribution and vinyl siding manufacturing. The deal values Norandex at $343 million. Norandex had sales of $866 million in 2006. More …
Pearlman Industries, Inc., Commerce, CA, a Harbour Group company and the parent of Pearl Abrasive Co. and Keystone Tools, has acquired Stone Tool Supply, Inc., Atlanta, GA. Stone Tool Supply is a distributor of tools, equipment and accessories to the stone fabrication market.  ; More …
Through its Trelleborg Sealing Solutions business unit, Sweden-based Trelleborg has acquired distributor AFM Inc., Portland, OR, which has 45 employees and sales of US$12.8 million. AFM is a distributor of hydraulic seals and customized rubber components. Products include dynamic seals, static seals and rotary
