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Brady Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, has acquired DAWG, Inc.,Terryville, CT, a direct marketer of sorbents, spill-containment products, safety-storage cabinets, first-aid kits, and other safety and cleaning products. More
Swedish manufacturer SKF has acquired QPM Aerospace’s metallic rod business. The acquisition will be a platform for SKF’s growth in the metallic rod business in North America. More
Gates Corp.‘s parent company Tomkins plc has acquired A.E. Hydraulic (Pte) Ltd., a provider of hydraulic and industrial hose for the oil exploration industry in Asia. More
AMETEK, Inc., Paoli, PA, has acquired the Motion Control Group, a manufacturer of customized motors and motion control products. More
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corp., Cleveland, OH, has acquired 91 percent of Phoenixtec Power Company Ltd., a company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Eaton expects to pay a total of $568 million for the company. More
Global distributor Bunzl plc announced its sales for the year ended Dec. 31, 2007, were £3,581.9 million (US$7,061 million at current exchange rates), up 12 percent at constant exchange rates. More
Lawson Products Inc., Des Plaines, IL, distributor of products to the MRO and OEM markets, reported sales in 2007 of $509.7 million, a decrease from $511.4 million in 2006. Profit fell 15.7 percent to $10.6 million. More
DXP Enterprises, Inc. reported sales increased 58.9 percent to $444.5 million for 2007, thanks to its acquisition of Precision Industries earlier in the year. Profit was $17.3 million, up from $11.9 million in 2006. MoreAirgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Northeast Gas Technologies Ltd., Albany, NY-based distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related supplies. The business, with five locations in upstate New York and Vermont, generated $10 million in revenues in 2007. More
Industrial distributor Lewis Goetz and Company Inc., Pittsburg, PA, has acquired JA-MAR Conveyor and Components, a regional conveyor system installation and service company in Bellaire, OH. More
Noland Company, Newport News, VA, has opened a 3,500-square-foot remodeled Bath &Idea Center at the Charleston, SC, for customers of contractors to select premium and luxury plumbing items for their homes. More
ERIKS has sold its Rencol Tolerance Rings activities to Saint-Gobain of France. The sale includes RTR Ltd. in the UK, RTR Japan Ltd. and the 51 percent controlling interest in Rencol MMI Technology Pte in Singapore. More
Industrial Distribution Group,
Alcoa has completed the sale of its packaging and consumer businesses to New Zealand’s Rank Group Limited. Alcoa’s packaging and consumer businesses generated 11 percent of Alcoa 2007 revenues and 4.6 percent of 2007 after-tax operating income. Businesses included in the sale are: Closure Systems International Consumer Products,including Reynolds Wrap branded products; Flexible PackagingReynolds Food Packaging. More
ProBuild Holdings, Denver, CO, supplier of building materials to professional contractors, has purchased Northeast Panel &Truss, LLC and Collins Truss Systems, Inc, manufacturers of roof and floor trusses and wall panels. More
Hardlines distributor Orgill, the Memphis, TN, plans to build two distribution centers to serve the Midwest and Pacific Northwest in the U.S. More
Retailer and distributor of hardware, renovation and gardening products RONA Inc., Boucherville, Quebec, reported sales increased 5.1 percent to $4.8 billion in 2007, and profit was down 2.9 percent to $185.1 million. Growth was from acquisitions and store openings. More
Stock Building Supply, Raleigh, NC, a supplier of building materials and construction services, will open its newest facility in Yorktown, VA, on March 3, 2008. This 10,500 square-foot facility features local inventories of Architectural Doors, Frames and Finish Hardware and a Rated Hollow Metal Shop. More
Electrical distributor Border States, Fargo, ND, will open a branch in Rochester, MN, in April 2008. The new branch will operate out of a 15,000-square-foot facility and initially employ nine employees. The Rochester branch will serve the construction, industrial, utility, and data communications markets. More
U.S. housing starts in January were 0.8 percent above the revised December estimate, but 27.9 percent below the revised January 2007 rate. More
December U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $400.31 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was up 7.5% from November, and up 20.9% from the total of $331.23 million reported for December 2006. With a year-end total of $4,261.47 million, 2007 was up 8.0% compared with 2006. More
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.0 percent in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed a decline of 0.3 percent in December and a 2.6-percent advance in November. More
The Canadian Machinery and Equipment Price Index stood at 83.8 (1997=100) in the fourth quarter, down 3.3 percent from the third quarter. The import component index fell 5.1 percent, while the domestic index edged down 0.5 percent. More
NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index for current North American conditions lagged the 50-point threshold, which is indicative of industry expansion, for a third straight month in February. More
New orders for manufactured durable goods in January decreased $12 billion or 5.3 percent to $212.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This decrease followed two consecutive monthly increases including a 4.4 percent December increase. More
The total value of residential construction investment in Canada for 2007 reached $88.7 billion, an increase of 8.5 percent compared with 2006. More
Manufacturing failed to grow in February, according to the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business. More
Atlanta, GA-based LifeGas, a company of The Linde Group, has acquired Sky Oxygen Inc.‘s medical business. More
U.S. construction spending during January 2008 was 1.7 percent below the revised December estimate. The January figure is 3.3 percent below January 2007. More
Actuant Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, has acquired Superior Plant Services, LLC, Terrytown, LA, for $57 million in cash. More
Dyneon LLC, a 3M company based in Oakdale, MN, has acquired Hitech Polymers Inc., a manufacturer of specialty thermoplastic polymers and provider of toll thermoplastic compounding services based in Hebron, KY.
