August 12, 2008

Atlas Copco Buys Industrial Power Sales

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

Atlas Copco Tools and Assembly Systems LLC, USA, a U.S. arm of Swedish manufacturer Atlas Copco, acquired Industrial Power Sales, Inc., a distributor of tools, assembly systems and material handling equipment. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, NC, and employs 61 people.

The acquisition will give Atlas Copco better geographical coverage, allowing us to meet the needs of our global and regional customers,” says Mats Rahmstrom, President Atlas Copco Industrial Technique.

The company has been a distributor of Atlas Copco’s products in Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

Atlas Copco is a manufacturer of industrial products and services ranging from compressed air and gas equipment, generators, …

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Park-Ohio Holdings Report 2Q Sales Unchanged

Free, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Park-Ohio Holdings Corp., Cleveland, OH, reported second quarter sales of $285.9 million, remaining essentially unchanged from sales for the same period a year ago. Profit was $5.7 million, a 1.7% decrease from second quarter 2007.

For the first six months ended June 30, 2008, sales were $553 million. The company reported profit of $9.2 million, a 17% decrease from the first half of 2007.

Park-Ohio is a provider of supply chain logistics services and a manufacturer of highly engineered …

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Lawson Products Sales Fall 2.2% in 2Q

Companies, Free, News, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Lawson Products, Inc., a Des Plaines, IL-based distributor of services, systems and products to the MRO and OEM marketplaces, reported sales of $126.3 million for its second quarter ended June 30, 2008, a decrease of 2.2% from the prior year quarter. The company reported a loss of $29.7 million, compared with a net loss of $0.3 million in the second quarter of 2007.

Charges of $30.4 million related to the settlement of the investigation of the company by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and $3.6 million related to liabilities for unclaimed property contributed to the reported loss.

For the six months ended June 30, 2008, sales were $251.3 million, 2.9% lower than the six months ended June 30, 2007 due to lower sales in the MRO business. The net loss for first six …

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Applied Industrial: Strengths Offset Weaknesses in its End-Markets

Companies, Free, News, Power Transmission/Motion Control/Fluid Power, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / MDM Staff

Industrial distributor Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, held its fourth-quarter and 2008 year-end earnings conference on Friday. Sales in 2008 increased 3.7% to $2.1 billion from fiscal 2007. Profit rose 11% to $95 million.

End Markets
As CEO David Pugh says, anything related to housing is a problem,” and “anything related to energy is a boom situation.” According to Pugh, about half of the top 30 industries Applied serves were down, and the other half were flat to up in the past year. The distributor is seeing double-digit declines in sales to the lumber and wood products industry (about 15% of sales), as well as in transportation (4% of sales). Pugh says “some, but not all, of that sales decline was countered by strong increases in power generation, …

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NAW Wants to Educate Members on Health Insurance Plan

Free, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, Operations, Subscriber Only / Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

Health insurance through associations seems to be a hot topic lately. The Industrial Supply Association just announced a partnership with the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors to provide health insurance options to its members. The program actually has been in place since January of 2008 but this new initiative creates a co-branding experience that will improve access to information for all members of ISA.

A recent article on WSJ.com points out that many associations are looking for ways to provide this service to their members. The problem in many cases is that the insurance is actually being sold through bogus or phony associations and the …

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Report: Health Care Costs Expect to Increase 10.6% in Next 12 Months

Free, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, News, Operations, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Health care costs are expected to increase on average 10.6% in the next 12 months, according to Aon Consulting Worldwide.

Aon surveyed more than 70 health care insurers and found that health care costs are projected to increase by 10.6% for HMOs, 10.5% for POS plans, 10.7% for PPOs and 10.5% for CDH plans. These represent the lowest trend rate increases since the study began in 2001, and are slightly lower than one year ago, when HMO cost increases were 10.9%, 10.8% for POS plans, 11.2% for PPOs and 10.7% for CDH plans.

Aon Consulting’s U.S. Health &Benefits practice director, John Zern, said of the survey results: While the medical trend rate is still more than twice the consumer price index, it is encouraging to see that health care cost rate increases are …

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Is Economic Confidence Eroding in Canada?

Economic Trends, Free, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / Lindsay Young

It seems like eroded confidence in the economy is seeping into our northern neighbor’s boardrooms. According to the second-quarter CICA/RBC Business Monitor report, only 6% of executives are more confident in the Canadian economy than they were a year ago.

The survey says that 23% of respondents are very optimistic about the economy, compared with 67% a year ago. Just under half of respondents said they had been negatively affected by the U.S. economy.

Respondents in Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan were most optimistic about prospects in their provinces; those in Ontario responded with the least amount of optimism about their province. The province is facing manufacturing losses and impacts from the weak U.S. dollar.

The culprit, at least …

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August 12, 2008

Atlas Copco Buys Industrial Power Sales

Park-Ohio Holdings Report 2Q Sales Unchanged

Lawson Products Sales Fall 2.2% in 2Q

Applied Industrial: Strengths Offset Weaknesses in its End-Markets

NAW Wants to Educate Members on Health Insurance Plan

Report: Health Care Costs Expect to Increase 10.6% in Next 12 Months

Is Economic Confidence Eroding in Canada?

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