Lawson Products Inc. (NASDAQ: LAWS), Chicago, IL, reported third-quarter sales of $70.2 million, a year-over-year decrease of 5.2 percent. Profit more than quadrupled to $2.4 million.

The company attributed about 70 percent of the quarterly sales decline to a $1.5 million decrease in sales to direct oil and gas customers and a $1.2 million impact from the decline in the Canadian dollar.

For the first nine months, sales were $210.9 million, down 2.1 percent over the same period a year ago. Profit was $4 million, up from a loss of $1.7 million a year ago.

"Like the rest of the MRO industry and the broader manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy, our sales continue to be affected by challenges in the macro-economic environment, ongoing weakness in the oil and gas sector, and the negative impact of exchange rates," said Michael DeCata, president and CEO. "However, we were able to significantly increase our operating income from a year ago driven in large part by our improving gross margins along with our continued expense management and Lean/Six Sigma efforts.”