2007 - Page 5 of 47 - Modern Distribution Management

2007

WESCO Acquires Monti Electric Supply

WESCO International, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, provider of electrical MRO products and construction materials, has acquired Monti Electric Supply Inc., Waveland, MS. Monti Electric has three branch locations and annual sales of $20 million.

The addition of Monti Electric will provide WESCO with a broader market position to benefit from the long-term hurricane-related reconstruction of the Gulf Coast region,” Stephen A. Van Oss, WESCO’s Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer said.

WESCO’s primary operating entity is WESCO Distribution Inc. WESCO Distribution is a distributor of electrical construction products and electrical and industrial maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies, and is a provider of integrated supply …

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October Construction Spending 0.8% Below September

Construction spending during October 2007 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,158.3 billion, 0.8 percent below the revised September estimate of $1,168.0 billion, according to&nbsp ; the U.S. Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce.
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The October figure is 0.6 percent below the October 2006 estimate of $1,164.9 billion. During the first 10 months of this year, construction spending amounted to $977.0 billion, 2.8 percent below the $1,005.3 billion for the same period in 2006.
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Private Construction
Spending on private construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $863.2 billion, 1.4 percent below the revised September estimate of $875.2 billion. Residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of …

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Plumbing/HVAC Distributor Noland Cuts Jobs

Noland Company, Newport News, VA, has cut 45 jobs across the company over the past month due to the national housing downturn, according to the local paper, the Daily Press.
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Noland, bought by WinWholesale, Dayton, OH, in 2005, sells plumbing and HVAC supplies to construction end-markets. According to the article, Noland’s advantage over rival Ferguson is that it is focused in the Southeast, which is generally doing better than the U.S. average.

Noland has about 1,300 employees, and WinWholesale has …

Plumbing/HVAC Distributor Noland Cuts Jobs Read More »

Manufacturing Expands at Slower Rate in November

Manufacturing expanded in November, say the nation’s supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business.
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The rate of growth in the sector however was down slightly compared with October. The PMI registered 50.8%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point. A reading above 50% indicates manufacturing expanded; below 50% indicates a contraction.
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Still, strength in new orders paired with a recovery in production from last month, drove growth. Prices, driven higher by energy prices, are once again the major concern.

Read the full report

Manufacturing Expands at Slower Rate in November Read More »

Cooper Industries Buys S. Korean Supplier

Cooper Industries, Ltd., Houston, TX, has acquired Hyundai Explosion-Proof Electric Company, a South Korea-based manufacturer of explosion-proof electrical equipment.
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HEPEC specializes in explosion-proof Glass Reinforced Plastic lighting, control panels and switchgear and its products are complementary to the current Cooper Crouse-Hinds product offerings.
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The acquisition provides Cooper with increased access to the South Korean market, with its strong shipbuilding industry and where significant investment to upgrade domestic energy and petrochemical infrastructure is underway.
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The HEPEC acquisition is the eighth deal announced by Cooper in 2007.

Cooper Industries is a global manufacturer with 2006 revenues of $5.2 billion, about 85% …

Cooper Industries Buys S. Korean Supplier Read More »

Parker Hannifin Buys Temp. Sensing Eqmt Supplier

Parker Hannifin, Cleveland, OH, motion and control technologies supplier, today announced has acquired the Texas Thermowell Industries, Beaumont, TX, business of Bravura, Ltd., a manufacturer of temperature sensing protection equipment.&nbsp ;
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The anticipated annual revenue of the business for the 2007 fiscal year will be $5 million.
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Texas Thermowell products will give Parker a solid foundation in critical temperature sensing applications within chemical processing and petroleum refining markets,” said John Greco, president of Parker’s Instrumentation Group. “Temperature sensing is among the most commonly required control applications in processing plants which may have dozens of temperature monitoring points using these devices to protect …

Parker Hannifin Buys Temp. Sensing Eqmt Supplier Read More »

Lincoln Electric Acquires Vernon Tool Co.

Lincoln Electric, Cleveland, OH, has acquired Vernon Tool Company Inc., a San Diego, CA-based manufacturer of computer-controlled pipe cutting equipment used for precision fabrication.

Vernon Tool’s annual sales are about $9 million. Its customer base is in industrial construction as well as infrastructure and energy-related segments.

Lincoln Electric is a manufacturer of arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment and has a leading global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. It has 36 manufacturing locations and operations in 19 countries with distributors and sales offices in more than 160 …

Lincoln Electric Acquires Vernon Tool Co. Read More »

Airgas Makes Three Acquisitions

Airgas, Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired Wright Welding Supply, Inc., an industrial gas and welding supply distributor in Des Moines, IA, and two other distributors in Texas and British Columbia. Together, the three transactions add $22 million in acquired annual sales.
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Wright Welding Supply, Inc. operates in Iowa and eastern Nebraska from five locations in Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Oskaloosa, and Council Bluffs, IA; and Omaha, NE, with an industrial and specialty gas fill plant in Des Moines. The operations, with about 40 employees, have been integrated into Airgas North Central, one of the regional companies within Airgas.
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In Texas, Airgas has acquired Basin Welding Supply in Odessa, TX. Basin’s new fill plant in Odessa, which opened in February 2007, will …

Airgas Makes Three Acquisitions Read More »

Suncoast Files for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Suncoast Roofers Supply Inc., Tampa, FL, has filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection. In its bankruptcy filings, the roofing supplies distributor reported a 57% decline in sales over 2006 due to the decline in housing and related markets.
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For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2007, sales were about $100 million. By comparison, sales for the distributor during fiscal 2006 were $209.6 million.
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At the same time the distributor was hit with the housing slump, it embarked on an ambitious expansion campaign to vertically integrate” its manufacturing and distributing processes to improve product availability and delivery, and “capture a larger share of supply chain profits.”
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In 2006, Suncoast acquired 80% of American Concrete Tile Inc., a …

Suncoast Files for Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Protection Read More »

Beacon Roofing Organic Sales Decline in 2007

Beacon Roofing Supply Inc., Peabody, MA, reported sales grew 9.7% to $1.65 billion in fiscal 2007, reflecting acquisitions made during the year. Existing market sales fell 4.8%, with decreases in residential roofing and complementary building product sales.

Existing market non-residential sales were up 2.7%.
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Profit was $25.3 million in 2007, down from $49.3 million in 2006.

In the fourth quarter 2007, sales were up 14.% to $493.8 million from the same period a year ago.
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The increase was due to the acquisitions completed since last year’s fourth quarter, including North Coast Commercial Roofing Systems. The positive impact from the acquisitions was offset by a decline of 8.3% in existing market sales caused by a 16.4% decline in …

Beacon Roofing Organic Sales Decline in 2007 Read More »

Zep Inc. Plans Sales Through Industrial Distribution

Atlanta-based Zep Inc. says it is looking for opportunities in independent distribution channels to grow its core business in industrial and institutional cleaning and maintenance chemicals. The company named HD Supply and Grainger as examples of distributors they could sell through.
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Zep had fiscal 2007 sales of more than $565 million. It is a producer of cleaning and maintenance products for commercial, industrial, institutional and consumer end-markets. Brand names includes Zep, Zep Commercial, Enforcer, National Chemical and …

Zep Inc. Plans Sales Through Industrial Distribution Read More »

Report: HD Supply to Sell LBM Assets

The Home Channel News is reporting that HD Supply has agreed to sell its Lumber and Building Materials unit to Pro-Build Holdings Inc. The unit includes 19 lumberyards in the Atlanta area and 20 in Florida.

The assets are part of Williams Bros. Lumber and Cox Lumber, which HD Supply bought in 2005 and 2006, respectively. At the time of acquisition, Atlanta-based Williams Bros. had sales of $400 million, and the Florida-based Cox had sales of $396 million. The unit also includes Forest Products Supply in Sarasota, FL.

HD Supply was split off Home Depot in August and sold to a trio of private equity firms for $8.5 billion. This is the first news of a change in HD Supply’s makeup since the …

Report: HD Supply to Sell LBM Assets Read More »

3Q GDP Growth Stronger Than Advance Estimates Suggested

Real gross domestic product -the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. -increased at an annual rate of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2007, according to preliminary estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.&nbsp ; In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.8%.
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These GDP estimates are based on more complete source data than were available for the advance estimates issued last month.&nbsp ; In the advance estimates, the increase in real GDP was 3.9%.
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The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from exports, personal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, equipment and software, federal government spending, nonresidential structures, and state and …

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Wolseley to Lay Off 1,300 More Workers in U.S.

UK-based Wolseley plc will be laying off 1,300 more workers in the U.S. in its second quarter; the global building materials and plumbing distributor reduced headcount by 1,700 in the three months ended Oct. 31, 2007.
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In total to date, layoffs represent a third of Stock Building Supply workforce and 10% of the Ferguson work force.
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Globally, the company is also working to reduce indirect costs, is realigning its management structure and reestablishing priorities in the businesses for the current year.” The roles of Chief Business Development Officer and Chief Operations Officer are being eliminated.&nbsp ;
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North American revenue was down 10% (3% in constant currency), and profit was down 30% (25% in constant currency).
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Overall …

Wolseley to Lay Off 1,300 More Workers in U.S. Read More »

Electroindustry Business Confidence Index Rebounds

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index for current North American conditions rebounded sharply in November, rising by more than 15 points from a month earlier.
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At 52.2, the index signaled the first month-to-month improvement in business conditions since April. By contrast, the future conditions index for North America lost ground on the month, slipping to 40 from 42.6 a month ago.
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The Electroindustry Business Confidence Index gauges the business confidence of the electroindustry in Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America, and is based on the results of a monthly survey of senior managers at NEMA member companies. Those companies represent more than 80 percent of the …

Electroindustry Business Confidence Index Rebounds Read More »

Redwood Plastics Acquires Canadian Supplier

Industrial rubber and elastomer product supplier Redwood Plastics Corp., a division of The Redco Group, has acquired BC Rubber Supply Ltd., Langley, BC.

Redwood Plastics has seven branches and two manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and in Canada. Redwood Plastics is also a partner of Prisma Plastics International Inc. with Warehoused Plastics Inc. and Plastics Alto/Polyfab …

Redwood Plastics Acquires Canadian Supplier Read More »

U.S. PT/MC Sales Drop from Aug. to Sept.

U.S. distributors’sales of Power Transmission/Motion Control products continue to fluctuate, dropping 5.5 percent from August to September after a 9.9 percent increase in sales the prior month, according to the September 2007 month-end trend data from the Power Transmission Distributors Association. Year-to-year comparisons remain positive with sales in September 2007 coming in 1.8 percent higher than in September 2006. Accounts receivable collection days increased 9 percent over August 2007.&nbsp ; The September 2007 confidence index for U.S. distributors remained unchanged for the seventh month in a row at 6.6 (on a 10-point scale).
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Canadian distributors’sales in PT/MC products on a month-to-month comparison matched the performance of their U.S. counterparts. After last …

U.S. PT/MC Sales Drop from Aug. to Sept. Read More »

ERIKS Expands in the Netherlands

The ERIKS group has agreed to buy Wielens Beheer B.V. in Groningen, the Netherlands.
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Wielens sells electromechanical power transmission equipment parts and services. Wielens serves mainly the industrial maintenance market (MRO) and has annual sales of & euro; 22 million.
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ERIKS says that the acquisition fits in its strategy of aiming at the top three” position in each core activity in all countries in which ERIKS is present to grow local presence.
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With the acquisition, ERIKS gains nine branches including a central warehouse.


ERIKS Expands in the Netherlands Read More »

Rexel, Hagemeyer Reach Agreement for Sale

Rexel and Hagemeyer have reached an agreement on Rexel’s all-cash offer of & euro; 4.85 for Hagemeyer’s assets, valuing the company at & euro; 3.1 billion (US$4.5 billion).
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The offer was approved by the boards of Rexel, Sonepar and Hagemeyer.
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Rexel has secured committed debt financing.
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As previously announced, Rexel has agreed to sell Hagemeyer’s North American, Asian-Pacific and selected European businesses to Sonepar after completion of the sale.
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The overall transaction will combine the strengths of three major players in the distribution of electrical supplies. The transaction will broaden Rexel’s footprint across Europe, while significantly consolidating Sonepar’s positions in North America and Asia-Pacific.
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Philips to Buy Genlyte for $2.7B

Philips Holding USA Inc., a subsidiary of Royal Philips Electronics, has agreed to acquire Genlyte Group Inc., a manufacturer of lighting fixtures, controls, and related products for the commercial, industrial and residential markets, for $2.7 billion in cash.

The acquisition allows Philips to expand in the green-lighting business in North America and to introduce Genlyte’s products to the international market. About 90% of Genly’tes 2006 revenues were in commercial and industrial applications in 2006. The rest are focused on high-end residential applications.

Genlyte sells to distributors and electrical wholesalers. The company’s products are also promoted through architects, engineers, contractors, and building owners.

Besides growing our …

Philips to Buy Genlyte for $2.7B Read More »

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