Distributor News

Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported daily sales for February increased 2 percent over the same period a year ago. U.S. segment sales were up 4 percent year-over-year and Canadian segment sales were down 10 percent, but up 1 percent in local currency. Other businesses segment sales increased 8 percent compared to February 2014, or 20 percent in local currency. More

Plumbing distributor Ferguson Enterprises Inc., Newport News, VA, has acquired Redlon & Johnson Supply, Portland, ME, a division of The Gage Company. More

Ferguson, Newport News, VA, has acquired Equarius Inc., Torrance, CA. More

France-based electrical distributor Sonepar has agreed to acquire Netherlands-based Van Egmond Group, which employs 100 associates and had sales of €50 million (US$45.9 million) in 2014. More

Sonepar USA, a subsidiary of Sonepar Group, has agreed to acquire Electrical Distributors, Dallas, TX, which also has locations in Irving, TX, and Houston, TX. More

Sonepar USA, has agreed to acquire Denver, CO-based Quality Electrical Distribution, which has 13 locations throughout North Dakota, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. More

St. Louis, MO-based Graybar, a distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products, reported sales for 2014 of $6 billion, a 5.7 percent increase compared to 2013. Profit increased 7.9 percent to $87.4 million. For the fourth quarter, sales were $1.6 billion, up 11 percent over the same period a year ago. Profit fell 26.5 percent to $16.6 million. More

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Herndon, VA, opened a new branch in Ocala, FL. More

Lyon, France-based IPH Group, a distributor of industrial supplies in Europe, has agreed to acquire 50 percent of Italian distributor Minetti Group. More

Interline Brands Inc., Jacksonville, FL, distributor and direct marketer of broad-line maintenance, repair and operations products to the facilities maintenance end-market, has unified five of its brands – AmSan, CleanSource, JanPak, Trayco and Sexauer – into a new national brand called SupplyWorks. More

Houston Wire & Cable Co., Houston, TX, reported sales for 2014 of $390 million, a 1.8 percent increase from 2013. Profit increased 89.5 percent to $15 million. Fourth quarter sales were $89.5 million, a 5.2 percent decrease from the same period the previous year. Profit for the quarter increased 16.5 percent to $3.1 million. More

Park-Ohio Holdings Corp., Cleveland, OH, reported sales for 2014 of $1.4 billion, a 14.6 percent increase from 2013. Profit increased 6.8 percent to $46.9 million. For the fourth quarter, the company reported sales of $373 million, a 20.6 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Profit increased 21.7 percent to $12.4 million. More

Summit Electric Supply, Albuquerque, NM, has hired Paul Jeffries as president and COO, a new position within the company. More

Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, a supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases, has named Matthew B. Whitton president of Airgas Northern California & Nevada Region. More

The newly formed bearings and power transmission division at North American buying group Affiliated Distributors, Wayne, PA, has 27 charter members with combined annual sales of $2.4 billion. More

Economic News

January U.S. cutting tool consumption was $181.9 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the Cutting Tool Market Report collaboration, was up 1.9 percent from January 2014 and down 1.7 percent from December. More

January U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $341.2 million according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 32.9 percent from December and down 4.8 percent compared to January 2014. More

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index edged lower to -0.11 in February from -0.10 in January. The index’s three-month moving average, CFNAI-MA3, declined to -0.08 in February from +0.26 in January. More

Industrial production increased 0.1 percent in February after decreasing 0.3 percent in January, according to the Federal Reserve. In February, manufacturing output declined 0.2 percent, its third straight monthly decrease. Capacity utilization for the industrial sector decreased to 78.9 percent in February. More

The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for January, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,302.5 billion, down 2 percent from December and down 0.3 percent from January 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More

The producer price index for final demand fell 0.5 percent in February, seasonally adjusted, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Final demand prices moved down 0.8 percent in January and 0.2 percent in December. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand decreased 0.6 percent for the 12 months ended in February. More

Privately owned housing starts in February were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 897,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Development. This is 17 percent below the revised January estimate of 1,081,000 and 3.3 percent below the February 2014 rate of 928,000. More

Construction employers added 29,000 jobs in February and 321,000 over the past year, reaching the highest employment total in six years, as the sector’s unemployment rate fell to an eight-year low of 10.6 percent, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. More

Construction firms added jobs in 43 states and the District of Columbia between January 2014 and January 2015 while construction employment increased in 31 states between December and January, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America. More

Construction employment expanded in 247 metro areas, declined in 56 and was stagnant in 55 between January 2014 and January 2015, according to a new analysis of federal employment data by the Associated General Contractors of America. More

Prices for U.S. imports increased 0.4 percent in February following declines of 3.1 percent in January and 2.5 percent in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. An upturn in fuel prices led the February rise. U.S. export prices edged down 0.1 percent in February, after a 1.9 percent drop the previous month. More

Total January exports were $189.4 billion and imports were $231.2 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce. This resulted in a goods and services deficit of $41.8 billion, down from $45.6 billion in December. January exports were down $5.6 billion from December, and January imports were down $9.4 billion from December. More

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.2 percent in February. The Coincident Economic Index increased 0.2 percent, and the Lagging Economic Index increased 0.3 percent. More

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in February to 127.8, up from 127.6 in January. This represents a 6.7 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago. More

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.1 points to 98 in February. NFIB owners increased employment by an average of 0.16 workers per firm in February (seasonally adjusted), unchanged from January. Twenty-nine percent of all owners reported job openings they could not fill in the current period, up 3 points and the highest reading since April 2006. Fourteen percent cited the availability of qualified labor as their top business problem, the highest since September 2007. More

Canadian wholesale sales decreased 3.1 percent to $53.7 billion in January, which more than offset the gain in December, according to Statistics Canada. Sales were down in four of seven subsectors, led by motor vehicle and parts. In volume terms, wholesale sales fell 3.3 percent. More

Canadian manufacturing sales decreased 1.7 percent in January as declining prices for petroleum and coal products led to an 11.9 percent drop in sales in the industry, according to Statistics Canada. Lower sales of machinery, chemicals and primary metals also contributed to the decline. Excluding petroleum and coal products, manufacturing sales fell 0.5 percent. Sales were down in 14 of 21 industries, representing just under half of all Canadian manufacturing. More

Canadian industries operated at 83.6 percent of theirproduction capacity in the fourth quarter, up slightly from 83.2 percent in the previous quarter, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada. Mining and quarrying and oil and gas extraction industries as well as manufacturing industries were the main sources of the gain in the fourth quarter. More

Canadian investment in new housing construction rose 4.6 percent to C$3.5 billion (US$2.8 billion) in January compared with the same month in 2014. Spending in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction led the advance, up 6.4 percent to $1.1 billion (US$0.9 billion). More

Canadian municipalities issued building permits worth C$6.1 billion (US$4.8 billion) in January, down 12.9 percent from December. The increase in January resulted mostly from lower construction intentions for non-residential buildings in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. More

Compared with December 2014, January seasonally adjusted production in the construction sector grew by 1.9 percent in the euro area (EA19) and by 1 percent in the EU28, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Compared with January 2014, production in construction grew by 3 percent in the euro area and by 1.4 percent in the EU28. More

Compared with December 2014, seasonally adjusted industrial production in January decreased 0.1 percent in the euro area (EA18) and remained stable in the EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat. More

The ISA Manufacturer Index increased from 58.9 in January to 62.5 in February. The ISA Distributor Index rose from 57.8 in January to 63.4. The increases indicate accelerating growth for both member segments. More

Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International reported 2.3 percent sales growth for January. The annualized growth through January is 5.9 percent, just under the lower edge of the 2014 range of between 6 and 7. More

Annual production in commercial printing production is 2.3 percent above the year-ago level, although internal trends suggest slower growth will persist in the near term, according to the Quarterly Paper Industry Economic Outlook Report from the National Paper Trade Association in partnership with the Institute for Trend Research. More

Manufacturer News

Motion control manufacturer Allied Motion Technologies Inc., Amherst, NY, reported 2014 sales of $249.7 million, a 99 percent increase from 2013. Profit increased to $13.9 million, compared to $4 million the previous year. Sales for the fourth quarter were $61.9 million, a 23 percent increase year-over-year. Profit increased 266 percent to $4.9 million, compared to $1.3 million in the same period a year ago. More

Actuant Corp., Milwaukee, WI, reported sales for the second quarter of $301 million, an 8.2 percent decrease from the same period a year ago. The company posted a net loss of $64.8 million, down from a profit of $41.4 million a year ago. For the first six months, the company reported sales of $628.8 million, a 5.8 percent decrease from the same period a year ago. The company posted a net loss of $40.2 million, down from a profit of $77.4 million a year ago. More