Distributor News
The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, reported sales for May of $313.5 million, an increase of 8.3 percent from the previous year. Daily sales increased 13.5 percent to an average of $14.9 million. More
UK-based Wolseley plc, parent company of Ferguson Enterprises, reported third-quarter sales of £3.1 billion (US$5.2 billion), down 0.8 percent. On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 5.1 percent. Fiscal year-to-date, sales were £9.6 billion (US$16 billion), up 1.3 percent from the year-ago period. More
HD Supply Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, reported sales for the first quarter ended May 4 were $2.2 billion, an increase of 5.5 percent year-over-year. The company reported a loss of $12 million for the quarter, compared to net loss of $131 million in the first quarter the previous year. More
HD Supply Facilities Maintenance opened a new distribution center in Tampa, FL. More
Industrial distributor Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, has agreed to acquire Knox Oil Field Supply, San Angelo, TX. More
France-based electrical distributor Sonepar has entered into a majority partnership with Sun Power in Malaysia and acquired VaP in the Czech Republic. More
Sonepar has acquired IESA and Melexa, based in Costa Rica and Colombia respectively. More
Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Team Welding, Ltd., Houston, TX, which does business as Technical Alloy & Industrial Gas. More
Airgas announced a price increase on bulk and packaged industrial, medical and specialty gases beginning July 1, 2014, or as contracts permit. More
Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported sales for May increased 6 percent year-over-year. Results for the month included a 2 percent increase from acquisitions and a 1 percent decline from unfavorable foreign exchange. More
Grainger plans to build a 1.3 million square-foot distribution center in Bordentown Township, NJ. More
Air Products, Lehigh Valley, PA, named Seifi Ghasemi president and CEO, effective July 1. More
Genuine Parts Company, Atlanta, GA, announced that S. P. Richards Company, the company’s office products group, has agreed to acquire Impact Products, LLC, a provider of facility, janitorial and safety supplies. More
Praxair Inc., Danbury, CT, started up a new packaged gas fill plant in Bismarck, ND, increasing its cylinder gases capacity in the Bakken shale oil formation region. More
Praxair opened a new 600 tons-per-day air separation unit in Memphis, TN, expanding the company’s ability to supply gaseous and liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon in the southeastern U.S. More
Houston-based GHX Industrial, LLC, a subsidiary of The United Distribution Group, has acquired Harvey, LA-based Hose Specialty & Supply Co., LLC. More
National Oilwell Varco Inc., Houston, TX, has completed the spinoff to its stockholders of its distribution business as an independent public company, NOW Inc., operating as DistributionNOW. More
Pipe, valves and fittings distributor MRC Global Inc., Houston, TX, has acquired MSD Engineering Limited, a distributor of valve and valve automation solutions to Southeast Asia. More
MRC Global has agreed to acquire Metron Holding AS, the parent holding company of Hypteck AS. More
Graybar, St. Louis, MO, a distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, has opened a new service center in Dallas, TX. More
United Stationers Supply Co., a subsidiary of United Stationers, Deerfield, IL, has agreed to acquire CPO Commerce Inc., Pasadena, CA, an e-retailer of power tools and equipment. More
HVACR/plumbing distributor F.W. Webb Co., Bedford, MA, will open a new location in Allentown, PA, in May. More
VEC, LLC, Charlottesville, VA, a distributor of datacom and security supplies, has agreed to acquire Connect-It, a datacom products and custom cable provider in Raleigh, NC. More
Plastics distributor Curbell Plastics Inc., Orchard Park, NY, has appointed Gerry Helbig as president. More
Economic News
Wholesale prices decreased 0.2 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The 0.2 percent decrease in prices for final demand can be traced to the indexes for final demand services and final demand goods, both of which also declined 0.2 percent. More
Real gross domestic product for the U.S. decreased at an annual rate of 1 percent in the first quarter according to the second estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent. More
Manufacturing industrial production increased at a 2.1 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2014 and is expected to grow 3.2 percent in 2014 and 4 percent in 2015, according to the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation U.S. Industrial Outlook. More
New orders for manufactured durable goods in April increased 0.8 percent to $239.9 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase, up three consecutive months, followed a 3.6 percent March increase. More
April U.S. cutting tool consumption was $175 million, according to the U.S. Cutting Tool Institute and the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was up 2.1 percent from March and down 3.3 percent from April 2013. More
March U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $391.5 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was down 20.4 percent from March but up 9.8 percent when compared with April 2013. More
Industrial production increased 0.6 percent in May after having declined 0.3 percent in April, according to the Federal Reserve. Capacity utilization for total industry increased in May to 78.6 percent. More
The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.5 percent in May to 101.7. The coincident economic index increased 0.3 percent, and the lagging economic index increased 0.4 percent. More
Privately-owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,001,000. This is 6.5 percent below the revised April estimate of 1,071,000, but is 9.4 percent above the May 2013 rate of 915,000. More
Construction spending in April 2014 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $953.5 billion, 0.2 percent above March and 8.6 percent above April 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. More
In the May Manufacturing ISM Report on Business, the purchasing managers index was 55.4 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from April’s reading of 54.9 percent, indicating expansion in manufacturing for the twelfth consecutive month. More
Manufacturer News
European building materials supplier Saint-Gobain has acquired Phoenix Coating Resources Inc., an aeronautic parts manufacturer in Mulberry, FL. More
Diversified manufacturer Actuant Corp., Milwaukee, WI, has acquired Hayes Industries Ltd., Sugar Land, TX. More
Actuant sales for the third quarter ended May 31 were $378.2 million, up 9.9 year-over-year. Profit was $50.6 million the previous year. More
