I interviewed Applied Industrial Technologies CEO David Pugh at the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors annual meeting this year. (Part 1 of that interview can be read here.) During our talk, he addressed economic recovery – saying that improvements we have seen so far do not necessarily mean "recovery."
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Pugh said: "I’d like to see it get to at least 5% before I say things are recovering. Recovering and recovery are two different things. We will start recovering, but I think full recovery in my mind is getting back to 2001 levels, not 2006 or 2007."
He said he expects "recovering" to start to happen – maybe – at the end of 2010. "Noticeable recovering" will start in 2011.
Pugh also addressed the impact of government stimulus spending in the interview: "It’s transient spending. I don’t consider that to be anything sustainable. It’s tough to forecast when you have transient spending skewing the metrics … I think (in the first quarter 2010) you’ll see some stabilization, and that will give us a clearer picture of what’s ahead."
The second part of the interview will appear in the Feb. 25 issue of MDM Premium.
