Ferguson, Newport News, VA, has acquired Gulf Refrigeration Supply Inc. Gulf is a distributor of HVAC equipment, parts and supplies based in Tampa, Florida. In the year ended June 30, 2006, Gulf had revenue of $54.9 million. Ferguson has also acquired Kandall Fabricating & Supply Corporation KF Industries, LLC. Kandall, Passaic, NJ, is a fabricator and distributor of fire sprinkler systems. In the year ended Dec. 31, 2005, Kandall had revenue of $23.2 million. More …

Stock Building Supply, Raleigh, NC, building materials distributor, has acquired Perfection Truss Company, in Albuquerque, NM; and Lee Window and Door Company, in Sanford, NC. Sales for fiscal year ending March 2006 were $6.4 million. Lee distributes and installs commercial and high-end residential windows and recorded sales in 2005 of $8.3 million.  More

US Electrical Services, LLC, Exton, PA, founded by former Sonepar USA CEO Richard Worthy, has added to its rapidly expanding portfolio of electrical distributors by acquiring Fox Electric Supply Company. Fox is a platform to support USESI’s “aggressive growth strategy” in the Mid-Atlantic region. More

Sonepar USA, Philadelphia, PA, has acquired Friedman Electric Supply, Exeter, PA. According to the regional newspaper covering Exeter, Friedman was started more than 65 years ago and has 12 locations in Pennsylvania and New York and about 275 employees. More

Gases and hardgoods distributor Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, has acquired most of Dallas, TX-based Union Industrial Gas Group, including 14 branches in Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. The acquired operations had annual sales of $38 million. Airgas also reported second-quarter sales of $791 million, up 13 percent. Total same-store sales were up 11 percent, with hardgoods up 10 percent and gas and rent up 11 percent, reflecting pricing and solid demand in industrial production, energy and non-residential construction segments. Profit grew 33 percent to $40 million. More

Electrical distributor Anixter International Inc., Glenview, IL, is paying $58 million in cash and assuming $11 million in debt to private equity investors for MFU Holding S.p.A., Brescia, Italy, fastener distributor to Original Equipment Manufacturers. MFU is expected to have sales of $66 million in 2006. Anixter also reported third-quarter 2006 sales of $1.33 billion, up 32 percent. Profit rose 204 percent. For the nine months ended Sept. 29, 2006, sales were $3.6 billion, up 29 percent, and profit was $156.9 million, up 125 percent. Sales gains were attributed to larger project business, rising copper prices and demand in security and OEM markets. More

ERIKS group nv has agreed to buy WYKO holdings Limited, based near Birmingham, Great Britain. WYKO is a distributor of power transmission, sealing technology, fluid power and maintenance products with expected sales of 240 million GBP, or US$456 million, this year. The company will provide ERIKS with a strong position in a new domestic market, and strengthen its position in existing markets. About 90 percent of WYKO’s sales are in Great Britain. The combined ERIKS/WYKO is expected to produce sales of about 850 million euro, or US$1.1 billion. More

Schneider Electric has agreed to buy American Power Conversion for $6.1 billion. APC and its subsidiary MGE UPS Systems are suppliers in the fast-growing critical power market. APC had sales of about $2 billion in 2005. Schneider Electric reported sales for its third quarter 2006 were up 15.3 percent overall and 5.6 percent in North America. More

Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, CA, has agreed to acquire Crest Steel Corporation, a metals service center in Carson, CA, with facilities in Riverside, CA, and Phoenix, AZ. Crest specializes in the processing and distribution of carbon steel products including flat-rolled, plate, bars and structurals. Crest’s sales for 2005 were $129 million. More

DXP Enterprises, Inc., Houston, TX, has acquired Safety Alliance, a company which provides safety and environmental consulting and training services as well as safety equipment sales, service, and rental, for about $2.5 million. DXP reported a 181 percent increase in profit for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2006. Sales increased 57.2 percent to $68.2 million from $43.4 million for the third quarter of 2005. Excluding sales by the acquired businesses, sales increased 36.2 percent from the third quarter of 2005. More

Houston, TX-based Handy Hardware Wholesale has joined the Charlotte, N.C.-based Distribution America, marketing and merchandising group of wholesalers serving the home improvement industry. Handy Hardware services independent hardware stores, home centers and lumberyards in a 10-state region and reported revenue of more than $225 million last year. Adding Handy Hardware increases Distribution America’s volume by 20 percent. Distribution America’s members represent annual sales of more than $1.2 billion.

Kaman Corp.’s industrial distribution segment had sales of $166.7 million in the third quarter 2006, compared with $156.5 million in the 2005 period, a 6 percent increase. For the 2006 nine-month period, sales were $507.8 million, up 8 percent. More

Myers Industries, Inc., Akron, OH, has agreed to sell its European Material Handling Group to the UK-based LINPAC Materials Handling. The group includes the Allibert-Buckhorn and raaco brands, which are manufacturers of returnable plastic containers, pallets, and storage systems used across many industries.  More

A pullback in the automotive sector was not enough to dampen Canadian wholesale sales in August, as wide ranging gains in other sectors led the wholesale industry to its third increase in four months. Wholesale sales rose 0.5 percent to $42.6 billion, following a 2.2 percent rise in July. The increase came despite a large drop (-7.4 percent) in automotive product sales, which returned to more normal levels after posting strong growth in July. This sector accounts for approximately one-fifth of all wholesale sales. More

Construction spending during September 2006 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,195.9 billion, 0.3 percent below the revised August estimate of $1,200.0 billion. The September figure is 2.9 percent above the September 2005 estimate of $1,162.1 billion. During the first nine months of this year, construction spending amounted to $903.2 billion, 6.6 percent above the $847.1 billion for the same period in 2005. More

Real gross domestic product the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the third quarter of 2006, according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent.  More

Kennametal has selected Hagemeyer North America as a strategic partner to promote the Cle-Line brand of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) cutting tools in North America. This decision provides customers in every major market in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico with access to the Cle-Line brand. Kennametal also reported first quarter 2007 sales of $543 million. This represents 6 percent organic sales growth. Profit for the first quarter was $30.3 million, up from $28 million in the same period a year ago.

Hagemeyer reported organic revenue growth was 12.1 percent in the third quarter, of which more than 60 percent resulted from mostly copper-related price increases. In North America, organic growth was 5.2 percent. More

Metals service center Ryerson Inc., Chicago, IL, reported sales of $1.5 billion in the third quarter 2006, up 8.6 percent from the prior-year period. Profit was $21.6 million, compared with $30.7 million last year. Ryerson reported that market demand remained solid and prices continued to rise, especially in stainless. Executives said: “However, inventory management was unsatisfactory and our level is too high relative to market demand.” More

Interline Brands, Jacksonville, FL, distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products, reported sales increased 39.1 percent in the third quarter 2006 to $314.2 million. Average organic daily sales growth was 8.9 percent. Profit for the third quarter was $14.2 million, compared with $9.7 million in the prior-year period. Sales for the first nine months were up 23.7 percent, and profit was up slightly to $19.7 million. Revenue growth was driven by Interline’s acquisition of AmSan and strong organic growth in facilities maintenance market. More

Danaher Corp., Washington, D.C., sales for the third quarter were $2,443 million, 24 percent higher than the same period last year. Profit was 17 percent higher at $268 million. Sales for the first nine months of 2006 were $6,936 million, an increase of 21 percent, and profit was $798 million, an increase of 24 percent. More

Building Materials Holding Corp., San Francisco, CA, provider of construction services and building materials to professional residential builders and contractors, reported sales for the third quarter increased just 1 percent to $831 million. Profit for the third quarter was $35.3 million compared to $41.6 million in the same quarter a year ago, For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2006, sales increased 26 percent to $2.6 billion from $2.1 billion in the same period of 2005. Profit was $97.6 million compared to $96.0 million in the same period of 2005. More

Applied Industrial Technologies, Cleveland, OH, first quarter 2007 sales grew 11 percent to $492.5 million. Profit rose by 25.3 percent to $21.1 million. More

Praxair, Inc., Danbury, CT, third-quarter sales rose 11 percent to $2,099 million. Profit rose to $247 million. The industrial gases and hardgoods distributor reported strong activity in the industrial sector and no “meaningful decline” in demand. North America sales rose 9 percent from the year-ago quarter. More

HVAC distributor Watsco Inc., Coconut Grove, FL, revenues grew 6 percent in the third quarter 2006, to $507 million. Same-store sales grew 5 percent. Profit was up 19 percent to $29.1 million. For the first nine months of 2006, sales grew 12 percent to $1.41 billion. Same-store sales were up 11 percent. For the first nine months, profit was up 26 percent. More

Hardware distributor Orgill, Inc., Memphis, TN, will begin construction on its sixth distribution center during the second quarter of 2007. The facility will serve Orgill’s customers in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Southern Arkansas. The facility will also take some of the distribution burden off of Orgill’s facilities in Memphis and Tifton, GA. More

Builders FirstSource, Inc., Dallas, TX, a supplier and manufacturer of structural and related building products for residential new construction, reported third-quarter sales declined 11.5 percent to $569.9 million, and profit was $17.3 million, down from $27.8 million in the same period last year. More

Huttig Building Products Inc., St. Louis, MO, distributor of millwork, building materials and wood products, reported sales declined 3 percent in the third quarter 2006 to $294.2 million. Three of Huttig’s four regions experienced sales declines. Sales for the first nine months were $871.6 million, a 4.6 percent increase from the same period a year ago. More

BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products, reported a drop of 17 percent in revenues to $1.2 billion for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. Profit was $2.3 million, compared with $13.9 million in the year-ago period. The revenue decline reflects a 26.8 percent drop in structural product sales and a 1.1 percent sales decline in specialty products. More

Sterling Construction Company, Inc., Houston, TX, has sold its Pittsburgh, PA-based distribution business, Steel City Products, to The Bostwick-Braun Company of Toledo, OH, a privately-owned distributor of hardware and related items.  More

Rockwell Automation, Inc., Milwaukee, WI, provider of industrial automation power, control and information solutions, reported sales for fiscal 2006 were $5,561.4 million, up 11 percent compared to 2005. Profit was $607 million, compared with $540 million in 2005. More

Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc., Cleveland, OH, has acquired Metrode Products Limited, London, England, a manufacturer of specialty consumables focused on the process and power generation industries. Metrode’s annual sales are US$24 million. Lincoln Electric is a manufacturer of arc welding products, robotic arc-welding systems, plasma and oxyfuel cutting equipment and has a global position in the brazing and soldering alloys market. It has 33 manufacturing locations in 19 countries, and sales offices and distributors in more than 160 countries. More

The Timken Company, Canton, OH, reported sales of $1.27 billion in the third quarter, up slightly from the same period a year ago. Strong sales in industrial markets were largely offset by significant declines in automotive markets. For the first nine months of 2006, sales were $4 billion, an increase of 3 percent from the prior-year period, driven by strong industrial markets. Timken also announced plans to build a new plant in India, which will produce antifriction bearings for global markets. More

The Black & Decker Corp., Towson, MD, reported sales of $1.6 billion in the third quarter 2006, up from $1.5 billion in the same period last year. Profit grew 3 percent to $125.1 million. Power Tools and Accessories sales increased 1 percent. Sales in the U.S. Industrial Products Group decreased at a low single-digit rate due to a decline in generator orders. Other key industrial product lines, including cordless tools and accessories, posted sales increases. More

Star Cutter Co., Farmington Hills, MI, has acquired Northern Tool Sales & Service, Warren, MI. Northern Tool Sales & Service is a design and build manufacturer of special drills, reamers, step drills, form tools and solid carbide tooling to about 170 customers in the ABS systems, cylinder head and engine block manufacturing industries. Star Cutter Company manufactures gear hobbing and shaping cutting tools, milling cutters, gundrills and reamers, carbide tools, PCD tools, and drills. More