August 2008

Five Star Products, Inc., New York, NY, distributor of paint sundry and hardware products in the Northeast and Middle-Atlantic states, reported revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2008, were down 12.5% to $31.4 million. Profit was $98,000, compared with profit of $567,000 in the prior-year period.
 
The distributor reported sales of $62.9 million for the first six months of 2008, a 4.4% decrease. The net loss was $609,000.
 
John Belknap, Five Star CEO, said: Challenging market conditions in our industry obviously have impacted Five Star’s second quarter. Neither Five Star nor its customers are immune from negative economic factors affecting, in particular, the housing and home improvement industries.”
 
As previously announced, National Patent …

RONA Inc., Boucherville, Quebec, reported sales of $1.47 billion for the second quarter, a slight increase from the same quarter 2007. Profit was $80.1 million, a 7% decrease from the prior year. Same-store sales for the period were down 4.4%.
 
For the first half of 2008, sales were $2.38 billion, a 1.6% increase over the first half of 2007. Profit dropped 14.8% to $81.1 million. The decline is attributable in part to downward pressure of sales in the construction and renovation industry due to lower consumer confidence levels.
 
Results for the second quarter of 2008 clearly show that the efficiency improvement measures we introduced at the beginning of the year are producing gains and have helped mitigate the downward pressure on sales stemming from the current …

San Francisco, CA-based Building Materials Holding Corp., a provider of building materials and construction services to professional residential builders and contractors, has obtained a temporary waiver of certain conditions to borrowing under its credit facility. The company previously announced that its second quarter financial results were out of compliance with certain financial covenants.
 
The waiver allows BMHC to borrow up to $60 million, through Sept. 30, while it works to finalize a permanent amendment to the credit facility to better reflect current market conditions. The company expects to reach an agreement with lenders without impacting business operations.
 
The company will release details of the second quarter financial results on August …