November 12, 2008

3M Acquires Italian Manufacturer

Companies, Finance, Free, Mergers & Acquisitions, News, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

3M, St. Paul, MN, has agreed to buy Italian manufacturer Grafoplast S.p.A., which produces wire identification systems for the wire and cable market.

Grafoplast’s range of electrical permanent marking products complements 3M’s existing range of tape marking system products and will help us to better serve the wire and cable markets,”said Paul D. Steece, vice president and general manager, 3M Electrical Markets Division.

The 3M Electrical Markets Division designs, manufactures and markets products for electrical construction, industrial maintenance, utility and industrial power businesses, and electrical/electronic devices produced by original equipment manufacturers. Products include electrical and electronic specialty insulating tapes; power cable splices and …

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Rexel Organic Growth at 1.6% Year-to-Date

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

France-based electrical distributor Rexel reported organic sales growth of 0.4% in the third quarter 2008, with year-to-date organic growth of 1.6%. Profit year-to-date

Rexel recorded year-to-date sales of €9.43 billion (US$11.8 billion).

CEO Jean-Charles Pauze said: Rexel recorded a solid third quarter and year-to-date performance in a challenging environment. Our profitability and cash flow attest to the resilience of Rexel’s business model.

“As we had expected for the second half of the year, our major markets are slowing down. We have continued to implement measures to attain our targeted EBITA margin of around 5.4% in 2008 even if our sales are slightly lower than anticipated due to the deterioration of the economic environment and the …

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Ben E. Keith Foods Acquires Winn Meat

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

According to various news reports, Ben E. Keith Foods, a national foodservice distributor, has acquired Winn Meat Company, Dallas, TX.

Winn Meat will operate as a division of the distributor. Winn sells to restaurants and other foodservice operations. The former owners will stay with the company. …

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Arrow Electronics Agrees To Buy Asian Distributors

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

Arrow Electronics Inc., Melville, NY, has agreed to acquire Excel Tech, Inc. and Eteq Components Pte Ltd. Excel Tech is the sole Broadcom distributor in Korea with strong demand-creation capabilities while Eteq has Broadcom-based franchise agreements in the ASEAN region and China with ties to the ASEAN EMS industry.

These acquisitions will enhance our existing demand-creation capabilities in the high-growth vertical segments as well as allow us to gain strategic customer relationships, which is critical for Arrow to further increase market share in the Asia Pacific region,”said Peter T. Kong, president of Arrow Asia Pacific.

Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products and services to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise …

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Distributors Face Challenges in Adopting Technology

Free, Subscriber Only, Technology / Lindsay Young

Over the past two months, MDM has published several articles on the distribution software industry in its twice-monthly premium content newsletter. The series of articles plus previously unpublished material from interviews with software providers and industry experts is available here.

In a survey of MDM Advisor readers, about 24 percent of respondents said they plan to make an investment in technology in the next year, and another 24 percent are currently researching options to upgrade or buy new technology. A good majority of these are looking at CRM or Warehouse Management Systems. Other technologies mentioned by distributors in the survey included e-commerce and …

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Keeping People in Their Homes: The Potential Impact for Residential Markets

Building Materials/Construction, Free, Subscriber Only, Top Distributor Sectors / Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

On Tuesday, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (along with other mortgage companies) announced some of the first details about how they plan to keep defaulting mortgage holders in their homes. Some critics say the plan to rewrite terms of some of these mortgages to limit payment to 38% of homeowner income doesn’t go far enough.

And maybe it doesn’t. But, according to Hal Look, incoming president of the Specialty Tools and Fasteners Distributors Association and senior vice president of marketing and business development for ORCO Construction Supply, Livermore, CA, the measures announced are a first step toward recovery of the residential construction markets.

Look recently spoke with me about the condition of the construction markets for our Nov. 10 issue of MDM (see

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Bell Microproducts Creates North American Security Division

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

Bell Microproducts Inc., San Jose, CA, distributor of storage and computing technology, has created a security division in North America. Bell Microproducts will utilize its broad reach into the channel to replicate the success of its UK security division in the North American market.

Duncan Hume, who will serve as director of the security division, says that the timing is right for Bell Microproducts to expand its security distribution business. In today’s market, customers buying storage products are looking for the best ways to protect their data, and there is a huge need to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of that data,” he said. “There are a number of compliance issues that must now be taken into consideration, and the technologies Bell …

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Layoffs Not Employers’ Only Option in Tough Economy

Economic Trends, Free, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, Operations, Research & Analytics, Subscriber Only / Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier

Every time we turn around, there’s another sign that the economy is hurting. On Monday, The Conference Board released its Employment Trends Index (ETI). The October index of 105.3 was down 1.8% from September and 12% from a year ago. The ETI has been declining for the past 15 months.

And Gad Levanon, senior economist with The Conference Board, isn’t optimistic about the near future. The sharp decline in the ETI in recent months suggests we will experience even greater deterioration in the labor market in the months ahead.”Demand for goods and services are down, and companies are responding by slashing their workforces, Levanon says. The reductions likely will continue for several quarters until the economy starts to see recovery.

But layoffs don’t have to be the …

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November 12, 2008

3M Acquires Italian Manufacturer

Rexel Organic Growth at 1.6% Year-to-Date

Ben E. Keith Foods Acquires Winn Meat

Arrow Electronics Agrees To Buy Asian Distributors

Distributors Face Challenges in Adopting Technology

Keeping People in Their Homes: The Potential Impact for Residential Markets

Bell Microproducts Creates North American Security Division

Layoffs Not Employers’ Only Option in Tough Economy

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