January 18, 2008

Canadian Manufacturing: Slight Uptick in November

Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Source: Statistics Canada

After holding steady in October, manufacturing sales increased by 1.1% in November. Sales improved by $573 million to $50.6 billion. Almost all of the increase in manufacturing was the result of a surge in petroleum and coal product sales during the month, which benefited from sharply rising prices.

Using constant dollars, the volume of manufacturing sales remained largely unchanged in November, edging down 0.1% compared with October. Rising prices played a significant role in increasing the total value of sales, as the Industrial Product Price Index rose for the first time in seven months (+0.6%). Constant dollar measurements take price fluctuations into account, providing an indicator of the volume …

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2007 Housing Starts Down Nearly 25%

Building Materials/Construction, Economic Trends, Free, News, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Building Permits
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in December were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,068,000. This is 8.1 percent below the revised November rate of 1,162,000 and is 34.4 percent below the revised December 2006 estimate.

Single-family authorizations in December were at a rate of 692,000; this is 10.1 percent below the November figure of 770,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 322,000 in December.

An estimated 1,376,100 housing units were authorized by building permits in 2007. This is 25.3 percent below the 2006 figure.

Housing Starts
Privately-owned housing starts in December …

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Windsor Factory Supply to Buy Keep Industrial Supply

Facilities Maintenance (MRO), Finance, Free, HVACR, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Plumbing Products & PVF Distribution, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Employee-owned Windsor Factory Supply Ltd., Windsor, ON, Canada, have agreed to acquire Keep Industrial Supply Ltd., also based in Ontario.

Keep has locations in Woodstock, Brantford and Stratford, ON. The business will continue to operate as Keep Industrial Supply Ltd.

Windsor Factory Supply is a provider of industrial, construction, plumbing, safety and MRO products in markets throughout Ontario.

Windsor Factory Supply is a logical fit to enhance our reputation of community involvement, quality customer service and excellent product mix”, says Sam Keeping, president of Keep Industrial …

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Great Northern Lumber Buys Service Lumber

Building Materials/Construction, Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Great Northern Lumber, Inc., Chicago, IL-based lumber products wholesaler and manufacturer, has acquired Service Lumber Company, which operates in Northwest Indiana as an industrial hardwood lumber distributor.

Great Northern Lumber, Inc. will continue to distribute SLC’s previous growing lineup of hardwood products throughout the Upper Midwest market.

We are looking forward to new opportunities to grow in the industrial hardwood market from SLC’s previous successes,” said Jeff Currier, president of Great Northern …

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Salem Tools, Now ST Solutions, to Acquire Regal Industries

Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

ST Solutions’s Regal Industries, LLC has agreed to buy Regal Industries, Louisville, KY.

Regal Industries supplies cutting tools, as well as bonded, coated and superabrasive products to industries in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Regal also offers inventory management solutions to manufacturing facilities.

Key benefits of the acquisition include broadening the service footprint, combining purchases to strengthen buying power, reducing backroom costs and freeing up Regal management to pursue sales growth.

We are excited about combining our experienced, valued workforce and services and expanding our geographic footprint,”explained William N. Powell, president and CEO of ST Solutions.

Salem Tools, Salem, VA, is now operating …

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Home Depot Hangover: An Update on Distribution M&A Activity

Companies, Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, Subscriber Only / Tom Gale

Distribution M&A markets have changed significantly in the past six months. Deals, especially in the last quarter, have started to dry up and valuations are dropping fast. Yet there is still a lot of private equity money looking for a place to land. Yesterday I had the pleasure of moderating a discussion with Brent Grover of Evergreen Consulting and Jim Miller of Supply Chain Equity Partners. These two gentlemen have complementary perspectives with strong distribution expertise, but they did not bear much good news.

We clearly are on the back side of the peak of valuations. With tighter debt markets, financial buyers won’t be driving the market the way they have the past few years, but they will be a factor, Miller noted. His take is that there will still be add-on …

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January 18, 2008

Canadian Manufacturing: Slight Uptick in November

2007 Housing Starts Down Nearly 25%

Windsor Factory Supply to Buy Keep Industrial Supply

Great Northern Lumber Buys Service Lumber

Salem Tools, Now ST Solutions, to Acquire Regal Industries

Home Depot Hangover: An Update on Distribution M&A Activity

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