Distributor

Anixter International Inc, Glenview, Illinois, has agreed to be acquired by an affiliate of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. The transaction has been valued at $3.8 billion and will result in Anixter becoming a private company. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2020. More.

Martin Supply, a subsidiary of Martin Inc., has announced the sale of Townsend Door Hardware and Systems to Brice Meeks.  More.

Curbell Plastics Inc., Orchard Park, New York, has acquired the plastics business of Great Lakes Plastic Company, Inc., in Buffalo, New York.  More.

Core & Main, St. Louis, has closed on its previously announced agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of J & J Municipal Supply, Inc., and Erosion Resources Supply, Inc.  More.

MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc., Melville, New York, reported fiscal 2019 sales of $3.4 billion, a 5% increase compared to fiscal 2018. Annual profit was $288.8 million, a 12.5% decrease compared with the third quarter last year. For the fourth quarter, the company reported sales of $842.7 million, up 0.6% over the same period in 2018. Profit fell 8.8% to $66.6 million. More.

Lawson Products Inc., Chicago, reported third quarter sales of $94.8 million, up 7.1% compared to the 2018 third quarter. Net income was $4.8 million compared with a loss of $816 thousand in the year-ago period. For the first nine months sales grew 8% to $252.4 million. Profit grew from $3.6 million to $10.2 million. More.

Graybar, St. Louis, reported third quarter sales of $2 billion, a 5.9% increase compared to the same period last year. Profit for the quarter was $48.8 million, down 8.8% from the same period in 2018. More.

Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, reported sales of $856.4 million for its fiscal 2020 first quarter, down 0.9% over the same period in 2019. Profit fell 20.7% to $38.8 million.  More.

WESCO International Inc., Pittsburgh, reported third quarter sales of $2.1 billion, up 3.9% compared with the prior-year period. The distributor reported net income of $64.3 million, down 3.5% compared with the third quarter of 2018. More.

Veritiv Corp., Atlanta, reported sales for the third quarter of $1.9 billion, a 12.2% decrease from the prior year. The company reported a loss of $5.1 million, compared to a profit of $1.4 million the same quarter a year ago. More.

Foundation Building Materials Inc, Tustin, California, reported sales for third quarter of 2019 of $564.9 million, up 4.2% from the same period in 2018. Profit was $12.7 million, up from a loss of $34.8 million the previous year’s quarter. More.

Wajax Corp., reported sales for the third quarter of C$365.1 million (US$277.5 million), a 0.5% increase year-over-year. Profit fell 16.5% to C$7.6 million (US$5.8 million). More.

Sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 11.9% during September, according to its monthly TRENDS report. The average annualized sales growth for the 12 months through September 2019 is 7.4%.  More.

North American buying group AD, Wayne, Pennsylvania, reported a 13% increase in member sales across its 12 divisions, totaling $35 billion in the first nine months of 2019.  More.

Amazon.com, Inc. reported sales of $70 billion in the third quarter, up 24% compared to the same quarter in 2018. Operating income decreased to $3.2 billion in the third quarter, compared with operating income of $3.7 billion in third quarter 2018. Profit decreased to $2.1 billion in the second quarter, compared to $2.9 billion in third quarter 2018. For the first nine months sales grew 20.3% to $193.1 billion. Profit increased 18.2% to $8.3 billion.  More.

Economic

Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.9% in the third quarter of 2019, according to the advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2%. More.

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 128,000 in October, and the unemployment rate showed little changed at 3.6%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Manufacturing employment decreased by 36,000 in October. Within manufacturing, employment in motor vehicles and parts declined by 42,000, reflecting strike activity. Notable job gains occurred in food services and drinking places, social assistance, and financial activities. More.

Economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in October, and the overall economy grew for the 126th consecutive month, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business. More.

The goods and services deficit was $52.5 billion in September, down $2.6 billion from $55.0 billion in August, revised, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. More.

Manufacturer

The Timken Co., Canton, Ohio, has completed the previously announced acquisition of BEKA Lubrication, Pegnitz, Germany, a leading global supplier of automatic lubrication systems, for $165 million.  More.

3M, St. Paul, Minnesota, reported third quarter sales of $8 billion, down 2% compared to the third quarter of 2018. Net income was $1.6 billion, down 3.2% compared to a year ago. Organic local-currency sales declined 1.3% year-on-year. For the first nine months sales fell 3.2% to $24 million. Profit fell 10% to $3.6 billion. More.

ABB reported sales for the third quarter of $6.9 billion, a 3% decrease compared to the same period a year ago and a 1% decrease on a like-for-like basis in local currencies. Profit decreased 6% to $515 million. Year-to-date sales were $20.9 billion, up 3% from the prior-year period and up 2% on a like-for-like basis in local currencies. Profit was down 34% at $1.3 billion. More.

Fortive Corp., Everett, Washington, reported sales for the second quarter of $1.9 billion, a 16.2% increase over the same period a year ago. Profit decreased 15.6% to $207.1 million. For the first half, sales were $5.3 billion, up 13.2% year-over-year. Profit decreased 19.4% to $546.1 million. More.

Park-Ohio Holdings Corp., Cleveland, reported sales for the third quarter of $403.4 million, a 2.6% decrease compared to the same period a year ago. Profit was $12.4 million, down 15.6% from the third quarter of 2018. More.

Packaging Corp. of America, Lake Forest, Illinois, reported third quarter sales of $1.8 billion, down 2.8% compared with the 2018 third quarter. The company reported net income of $179.8 million for the quarter, a 13% decrease over the prior-year period. For the first nine months sales fell 0.5% to $5.2 billion. Profit rose 5% to $560.2 million.  More.

Barnes Group Inc., Bristol, Connecticut, an international industrial and aerospace manufacturer and service provider, reported sales of $373 million for the third quarter of 2019, up 1% compared to the prior-year period. Organic sales were down 1%. The company reported net income of $45.8 million for the quarter, up 17% over last year. For the first nine months sales grew 0.8% to $1.1 billion. Profit fell 7.8% to $117.4 million. More.

Eaton Corp., Dublin, Ireland, reported sales for the third quarter of $5.3 billion, a 1.8% decrease over the same period a year ago. Profit increased from $416 million to $602 million. For the first nine months, sales were $16.2 billion, up slightly over the same period a year ago. Profit increased 16.6% to $1.8 billion. More.

Ingersoll-Rand plc reported third quarter sales of $4.2 billion, up 3% from the same period in 2018. Organic sales were up 1% year over year. Profit was down 10.8% to $463.4 million. For the first nine months sales were $12.4 billions, up 6% over 2018. Profit was $1.1 billion, up 2.8%. More.

Gardner Denver reported $597 million in revenues for the third quarter of 2019, down 11% over the prior-year period. Net income was $41 million, down 43% from a year ago. More.

Rexnord Corp., Milwaukee, reported sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 of $521 million, a decrease of 1% year-over-year. Profit for the quarter was $50.8 million compared to a loss of $43.4 million the previous year’s quarter. For the first six months of the fiscal year sales were $1 billion, up slightly from the previous year. Profit for the period was $91.5 million, compared to a loss of $49.9 million the previous year. More.

AMETEK Inc., Berwyn, Pennsylvania, a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices, reported third quarter sales of $1.3 billion, up 7% compared to the third quarter of 2018. The company reported net income of $220.7 million for the quarter. More.

The Timken Co., Canton, Ohio, reported third quarter sales of $914 million, up 3.7% from the same period a year ago. The company posted net income of $66.7 million compared with net income of $72.3 million in the year-ago period. More.

Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, Pennsylvania, reported sales for fiscal first quarter of $518.1 million, an 11.7% decrease over the same period in fiscal 2019. The company posted a profit of $7.4 million for the year, down from $58.4 million the previous year’s quarter. More.

Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Connecticut, reported sales for the third quarter sales of $182.7 million, up 16.9% year-over-year. Profit grew from $1.4 million to $142.8 million. For the first nine months, sales were $523.8 million, up 1.7% year-over-year. Profit grew from $30.6 million to $170.4 million. More.

Allied Motion Technologies Inc., Amherst, New York, has named Robert B. Engel to its Board of Directors. More.