Stock Building Supply Holdings, LLC, Raleigh, NC, an affiliate of The Gores Group, has agreed to purchase the assets of Bison Building Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries. Bison is a distributor of building materials with six facilities in the greater Houston area. More

UK-based Wolseley reported sales for the third quarter ended April 30 were £3.25 billion (US$4.72 billion), a decline of 7 percent over the same period a year ago. Organically, sales declined 2 percent. Trading profit improved 112 percent to £101 million (US$146.8 million). Fiscal year to date, sales were £9.58 billion (US$13.9 billion), down 13 percent from the prior year period. Trading profit declined 10 percent to £268 million (US$389.4 million). More

ABC Supply Co. Inc., Beloit, WI, has agreed to acquire Bradco Supply Corp., Avenel, NJ. The combined building materials distribution company will operate 479 locations in 45 states and the District of Columbia with combined sales of over $4 billion. More

Enough indicators are now emerging to reflect that the U.S. economy is poised to trend upward in the next two years, reversing the 2.4 percent decline in 2009, according to the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Quarterly Economic Forecast. The report predicts that inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) will expand by 3.3 percent in 2010, followed by 2.9 percent growth in 2011. More

March U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $258.00 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 58.1 percent from February and up 49.5 percent from the total of $172.59 million reported for March 2009. With a year-to-date total of $548.53 million, 2010 is up 33.7 percent compared with 2009. More

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) declined 0.1 percent in April, its first decline since March 2009. The Coincident Economic Index (CEI) rose 0.3 percent and the Lagging Economic Index (LAG) rose 0.1 percent. “These latest results suggest a recovery that will continue through the summer, although it could lose a little steam,” said Ken Goldstein, economist at The Conference Board. More

Privately owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 672,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 5.8 percent above the revised March estimate of 635,000 and 40.9 percent above the revised April 2009 rate of 477,000. More

Wholesale prices declined 0.1 percent in April, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This decrease followed a 0.7-percent advance in March and a 0.6-percent decrease in February. At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods moved up 0.8 percent and the crude goods index fell 1.2 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods advanced 5.5 percent for the 12 months ended April 2010, their sixth consecutive 12-month increase. More

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index rose three points in May to 22, its highest level since August of 2007. More

Industrial production increased 0.8 percent in April, after edging up slightly in March. Manufacturing output rose 1 percent and was 6 percent higher that its year-earlier level, which broadly based gains across industries. More

Following four months of decline, the value of building permits in Canada increased 12.2 percent in March to $6.3 billion, according to Statistics Canada. This was 38.9 percent higher than the level in March 2009. The increase came mainly from multi-family and industrial building permits. More

Canadian manufacturing sales advanced 1.2 percent to $44.5 billion in March, according to Statistics Canada. Food and motor vehicle manufacturers were the largest contributors to the gains. Manufacturing sales have been trending upward since the low point reached in May 2009. More

Graybar, St. Louis, MO, reported a 42% increase in profit for the first quarter of 2010. Sales declined slightly for the quarter in line with expectations, according to the distributor of electrical and communications products. More

Chicago-based Grainger (NYSE: GWW) reported sales for the month of April 2010 were up 16 percent from April 2009. Results for the month included a 5 percentage point positive contribution from acquisitions and a 3 percentage point contribution from foreign exchange. More

Paris-based electrical supplied distributor Rexel reported sales for the first quarter 2010 were €2.7 billion (US$3.4 billion), a decline of 4 percent from first quarter 2009. On a same-day organic basis, sales were down 5.7 percent. Profit was €29.3 million (US$37 million), compared to €0.8 million (US$1 million) a year ago. More

Brady Corp. (NYSE: BRC), Milwaukee, WI, reported sales for the third quarter ended April 30 were $321.9 million, up 16.3 percent from third quarter 2009. Profit increased 31.9 precent to $23.7 million. Organic sales improved 8.5 percent. Sales for the nine-month period ended April 30 were $936.2 million, up 1.6 percent from the prior year period. More

Cutting tools manufacturer Kennametal Inc. (NYSE: KMT), Latrobe, PA, announced the appointment of Gary W. Weismann to the post of President, Business Groups; he is assuming responsibility for Kennametal’s two business units – Advanced Materials Solutions Group and the Metalworking Solutions and Services Group – globally. More

Allied Motion Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: AMOT), Denver, CO, reported sales for the first quarter were $17.4 million, an increase of 14 percent compared to first quarter 2009. Profit was $734,000 compared to a year ago loss of $730,000. More

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR), Irving, TX, reported sales for the first quarter was $4.9 billion, down 15.5 percent from a year ago. Profit attributable to Fluor declined 33.2 percent to $137 million. More

General Bearing Corp. (OTC: GNRL.PK), West Nyack, NY, reported sales for the first quarter were $32.7 million, an increase of 64.8 percent from first quarter 2009. Profit attributable to the bearing manufacturer increased 285% to $1.0 million. More

Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. (Nasdaq: BECN), Peabody, MA, reported sales for the second quarter ended March 31, 2010, were $285.4 million, a decline of 10.6 percent from second quarter 2009. The distributor recorded a loss of $6.5 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $2.4 million in the prior year period. Fiscal year to date, sales were $653.1 million, down 16.6 percent from a year ago. Profit was $1.4 million, compared to year ago profit of $16.2 million. More

Kaman Corp. (Nasdaq: KAMN), Bloomfield, CT, reported sales of $276.7 million in the first quarter 2010, down 6 percent from the prior-year period. Industrial Distribution segment sales were $179.3 million in the first quarter, up 1.3 percent from the prior-year period. More