Home Depot will consider strategic alternatives for its HD Supply unit, including a sale, spinoff or initial public offering. Nothing is definite. Today’s announcement is a continuation of the strategic review we did in November,” said CEO Frank Blake. “We are undertaking this action today because of our desire to increase our focus on our retail business. With annual revenues of $12 billion, HD Supply is a healthy, growing and vibrant business and we are undertaking this evaluation to determine whether there are strategic alternatives with respect to HD Supply that would optimize shareholder value.” HD said it would not announce updates to its review unless the board of directors approves a definite transaction. More …
W.W. Grainger, Chicago, IL, distributor of facilities maintenance supplies, has released its updated 2007 catalog with more than 138,000 MRO products, an increase of 23,000 over last year. Last year, the distributor increased its catalog by 40 percent, adding 39,000 new products. As planned, for 2007 Grainger has added more than 7,000 plumbing products, including high-grade pipes, valves and fittings; 4,000 material handling supplies such as conveyors, hoists and casters; 5,000 fasteners including nuts, bolts and screws; as well as 1,600 security products including locks and hinges. More …
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in January after a one-month expansion, while the overall economy grew for the 63rd month, according to the latest manufacturing ISM Report on Business. After a slight rebound in December, the manufacturing sector did not grow in January. In overall terms, manufacturing lost momentum in the second half of 2006 and is starting 2007 in a “less than robust” fashion, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Results show a decline in the Inventories Index to the lowest level since February 2002, indicating a significant liquidation is taking place in many supply chains. More …
The value of construction spending put in place in 2006 was $1,198.0 billion, 4.8 percent above the $1,143.7 billion spent in 2005. The value of private construction in 2006 was $928.7 billion, 3.3 percent above the $899.0 billion spent in 2005. Residential construction in 2006 was down 1.9 percentfrom 2005 and nonresidential construction was $298.4 billion, 16.2 percent above the $256.7 billion in 2005. The value of public construction in 2006 was $269.3 billion, 10.1 percent above the $244.7 billion spent in 2005. Educational construction in 2006 was 6.4 percent above the 2005 figure, and highway construction was 14.8 percent above 2005’s value. More …
Building Materials Holding Corporation, San Francisco, CA, provider of construction services and building materials to professional residential builders and contractors, reported sales for the fourth quarter of 2006 decreased 26 percent to $608 million from $818 million in the same quarter a year ago. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, sales increased 11 percent to $3.2 billion from $2.9 billion in 2005. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2006 was $4.5 million compared to $33.5 million in the same quarter a year ago. For the year, net income was $102.1 million compared to $129.5 million in the same period of 2005.  ; More …
Roofing and building product distributor Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc. reported sales in the first quarter 2007 increased 11.9 percent to $380.2 million in 2007 from the same period a year ago. Organic sales declined 5.5 percent in 2007 but increased 2.3 percent on a per business day basis. The company’s net income for the first quarter was $8.8 million compared to $12.9 million in 2006. More …
U.S. Electrical Services, LLC, Exton, PA, has agreed to buy the electrical supply business of Max Goldman, Inc. Max Goldman, Inc., New Rochelle, NY, has maintained a presence in the Westchester County market for more than 100 years, supplying electrical supplies and lighting fixtures. More …
Bunzl plc has acquired the business of Tec Products Co. Inc., a private company based in New Jersey. Tec Products is a supplier of jan/san and associated products through redistributors. Revenue in 2006 was $14 million. Bunzl has also purchased Westgate Sales Corporation and Westgate Canada Ltd., also based in New Jersey with facilities in Ontario and Alberta, Canada. Westgate supplies personal protection equipment through redistributors in the eastern U.S. and Canada. Revenue for 2006 was $18 million. More …
WESCO International Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, reports sales increased 20.3 percent to $5.32 billion, compared with $4.4 billion in 2005. Profit for the year was $217 million, double the profit of last year. The electrical distributor reported sales of $1.37 billion for the fourth quarter 2006, an increase of 11.3 percent over the same period last year. Profit was $58 million versus $40 million in the prior-year quarter. More …
Anixter International Inc., Glenview, IL, distributor of communication products, electrical and electronic wire & cable and fasteners, reported sales of $4.94 billion in the year ended Dec. 29, 2006, up from $3.85 billion last year. Profit was $209.3 million in 2006. Sales in the fourth quarter were up 27 percent. Profit increased 160 percent to $52.4 million. Organic growth was 22 percent in the fourth quarter. Anixter reported it saw strong large-project business, related to data center builds in the enterprise cabling market and energy and natural resources customers in the electrical wire and cable market.  ; More …
Huttig Building Products, Inc., St. Louis, MO, distributor of millwork, building materials and wood products, reported sales were $1.103 billion in 2006, up slightly from 2005. A 9 percent increase in the first half of the year offset the 7 percent decline in sales in the second half of the year when the housing market began to decline. Huttig had an operating loss of $4.1 million for the year. Overall in 2006, sales to national accounts represented 33.4 percent of sales in 2006 as compared to 31.9 percent in 2005.  ; More …
Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in January after a one-month expansion, while the overall economy grew for the 63rd month, according to the latest manufacturing ISM Report on Business. After a slight rebound in December, the manufacturing sector did not grow in January. New Orders remained positive, but little change has taken place as the PMI has averaged 50.5% in the past four months. In overall terms, manufacturing lost momentum in the second half of 2006 and is starting 2007 in a “less than robust” fashion, according to the Institute for Supply Management. Results show a decline in the Inventories Index to the lowest level since February 2002, indicating a significant liquidation is taking place in many supply chains. This is the largest month-to-month decrease since July/August 1984.
