Distributor News

Grainger, Chicago, IL, reported daily sales for May were flat compared to the same period a year ago. U.S. segment sales were up 1 percent year-over-year and Canadian segment sales were down 11 percent. Other businesses segment sales increased 11 percent compared to May 2014. More

UK-based Wolseley plc, parent company of Ferguson Enterprises, reported third quarter sales of £3.3 billion (US$5.1 billion), up 16.6 percent. On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 7.5 percent. Fiscal year-to-date sales were £9.7 billion (US$14.9 billion), up 11.5 percent year-over-year and up 7.8 percent on a like-for-like basis. More

HD Supply Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, reported sales for the fiscal first quarter of $2.2 billion, an increase of 6 percent year-over-year. Profit was $242 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of $12 million in the first quarter the previous year. More

Graybar, St. Louis, MO, has moved its Raleigh, NC, branch to a larger facility to better serve its customers. More

Graybar opened a new location in Watford City, ND. More

United Stationers Inc., Deerfield, IL, officially brought together several of its primary operating companies under the name Essendant on June 1. More

Houston-based GHX Industrial LLC, a subsidiary of The United Distribution Group, has acquired Pelham, AL-based Valley of Birmingham. More

The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, reported sales for May of $314.4 million, a 0.3 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Daily sales increased 5.3 percent to an average of $15.7 million. More

FCX Performance Inc., Columbus, OH, has acquired Process Control Services Inc., Plymouth, MI. More

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Herndon, VA, has acquired ProCoat Systems Inc., with branches in Denver and Ft. Collins, CO. More

Building materials distributor Huttig Building Products Inc., St. Louis, MO, has sold its Southwest Roofing Supply branch in Farmers Branch, TX, to Pacific Coast Supply LLC, North Highlands, CA. More

Stock Building Supply Holdings Inc., Raleigh, NC, and Building Materials Holding Corp., Boise, ID, have agreed to merge. More

RelaDyne, Cincinnati, OH, has acquired Illinois-based Palatine Oil Company. More

Tech Air, Danbury, CT,has acquired Los Angeles-based Geneva Gas & Supply Inc. More

Singer Equities, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBP Holdings, Pearland, TX, has acquired Unisource Manufacturing Inc., Portland, OR, and its subsidiaries. More

SRS Distribution, McKinney, TX, has agreed to acquire Advanced Building Products, Harahan, LA. More

KODA Distribution Group, Stamford, CT, has acquired Colonial Specialty Chemicals and plans to merge it with Monson Companies. More

Economic News

April U.S. cutting tool consumption totaled $183.5 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 down 4.6 percent from April 2014 and down 7.9 percent from March. More

April U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $384.8 million according to AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTO program, was down 8.1 percent from March’s $418.7 million and down 1 percent when compared to April 2014. More

The Producer Price Index for final demand rose 0.5 percent in May, seasonally adjusted, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index declined 1.1 percent for the 12 months ended in May, the fourth straight 12-month decrease. More

Real gross domestic product for the U.S. decreased at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the first quarter, according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. More

New orders for manufactured durable goods in April decreased 0.5 percent to $235.5 billion, according to an advance report from the U.S. Census Bureau. More

New orders for manufactured goods in April, down eight of the last nine months, decreased $1.8 billion or 0.4 percent to $476.7 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More

Privately owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,036,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Development. This is 11.1 percent below the revised April estimate, but 5.1 percent above the May 2014 rate. More

The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,318.8 billion, up 0.6 percent from March and down 2.3 percent from April 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More

Prices for U.S. imports increased 1.3 percent in May following declines in each of the previous 10 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price index for U.S. exports rose 0.6 percent in May, after a 0.7 percent decrease in April. More

April construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,006.1 billion, 2.2 percent above the revised March estimate of $984 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. The April figure is 4.8 percent above the April 2014 estimate of $960.3 billion. More

Construction employers added 17,000 jobs in May and 273,000 over the past year, as the sector’s unemployment rate fell to 6.7 percent, the lowest May rate since 2006, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. More

Construction firms added jobs in 40 states and the District of Columbia between May 2014 and May 2015 and in 28 states and D.C. between April and May, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Associated General Contractors of America. More

The May PMI was 52.8 percent in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business, an increase of 1.3 percentage points over the April reading of 51.5 percent. The New Orders Index registered 55.8 percent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points from the reading of 53.5 percent in April. More

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.7 percent in May to 123.1, following a 0.7 percent increase in April, and a 0.4 percent increase in March. The Coincident Economic Index and the Lagging Economic Index increased 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. More

The MAPI Foundation, the research affiliate of the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, released its quarterly economic forecast, predicting that inflation-adjusted gross domestic product will expand 2.4 percent in 2015, down from 3 percent in the February 2015 report, before rebounding to 3 percent in 2016, an increase from 2.7 percent in the previous forecast. More

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in June rose five points to a level of 59 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index. More

Canadian residential construction investment totaled C$25billion (US$20.1 billion) in the first quarter, up 8.8 percent from the same quarter in 2014. More

Canadian manufacturing sales fell 2.1 percent to $49.8 billion in April, the third decline in four months, according to Statistics Canada. More

Canadian municipalities issued building permits worth C$7.8 billion (US$6.3 billion) in April, up 11.6 percent from March, the second consecutive monthly advance. More

Canadian industries operated at 82.7 percent of their production capacity in the first quarter, down from 83.5 percent in the previous quarter. More

The Canadian Industrial Product Price Index declined 0.9 percent in April, mainly because of lower prices for energy and petroleum products. The Raw Materials Price Index increased 3.8 percent in April, largely as a result of higher prices for crude energy products. More

Canadian wholesale sales rose 1.9 percent to $55.2 billion in April, a second consecutive increase. More

Compared with March 2015, April industrial producer prices in Europe fell by 0.1 percent in the euro area (EA19) and remained stable in the EU28, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. More

Compared with March, seasonally adjusted industrial production in April rose by 0.1 percent in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. More

Manufacturer News

AMETEK Inc. Berwyn, PA, has agreed to acquire the surface inspection systems division of Cognex Corp., Hayward, CA, for $160 million. More

Gibraltar Industries Inc., Buffalo, NY, has acquired RBI Solar Inc., Rough Brothers Manufacturing Inc. and affiliates for $130 million. More

Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc., Cleveland, OH, has acquired all intellectual property related to laser welding and marking systems produced by Process Equipment Co., Tipp City, OH. More