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Breaking news in Wholesale Distribution
Rexnord LLC reported sales for the first quarter ended June 30, 2007, were $448.2 million, an increase of 55.2% thanks to acquisitions over the same period a year ago. Power Transmission sales were $309.8 million, up 7.4%, and Water Management sales were $138.4 million.
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Core sales growth was 9.2% on a pro-forma basis.
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Rexnord reported that the end markets in both Power Transmission and Water Management have held up well in the first quarter.
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Rexnord ended the quarter with a backlog in Power Transmission of $430 million, an increase of 7% from March 2007, and 23% compared with a year ago. In the Water Management platform, Rexnord saw strength in the end-markets of commercial construction as well as civil/municipal …
Motion Industries, distributor of industrial maintenance, repair and operation replacement parts, has acquired Gerrish Bearing Company. Gerrish has locations in Seattle and Tacoma, WA, and is a distributor of bearings, power transmission and industrial products.
The acquisition of Gerrish Bearing Company will allow Motion Industries to continue our penetration of the market with bearings and power transmission products as well as industrial products throughout the area,” said Bill Stevens, Motion Industries president and CEO.
With 2006 sales of $3.1 billion, Motion Industries is a distributor of bearings, power transmission, electrical and industrial automation, hydraulic and industrial hose, hydraulic and pneumatic components, industrial supply products, and …
Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc., Peabody, MA, reported sales increased 19.1% to $484.9 million in the third quarter 2007 from the same period a year ago. The increase was primarily due to acquisitions.
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Organic growth was down 2.1% due to an 8.1% decline in residential roofing sales. There have been continued lower levels of new home construction activities in most markets and flat-to-declining prices. In addition, there has been a significant slowdown in reconstruction and reroofing activities in the markets that experienced damages from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
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Non-residential roofing and complementary product sales in existing markets increased 5.2% and 1.7%, respectively. There have been continued high levels of commercial construction activities in most …
June 2007 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes, were $359.5, up 0.6 percent from the revised May level and were up 8.1 percent from the June 2006 level. The May preliminary estimate was revised upward $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent. June sales of durable goods were up 0.7 percent from last month and were up 4.9 percent from a year ago.
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Compared to last month, sales of computer and computer peripheral equipment and supplies were up 5.4 percent. June sales of nondurable goods were up 0.5 percent from last month and were up 11.1 percent from last year.
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Total inventories of merchant wholesalers were $398.5 billion at the end of …
Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, CT, has tapped Neal J. Keating as the next president and chief operating officer of the company, effective Sept. 17, 2007. Keating will assume the additional role of CEO on or before Jan. 1, 2008.
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Keating, 51, will succeed Paul R. Kuhn, currently chairman, president and CEO. He is scheduled to retire on Feb. 21, 2008. Kuhn will retain the title of chairman until the date of his retirement.
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Keating was recently COO of Hughes Supply, a $5.4 billion industrial distributor that was sold to HD Supply in January 2006. He started his career with Rockwell Automation, rising over a 24-year period to executive vice president and COO of Rockwell Collins Commercial …
BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products in North America, reported profit in the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, of $5.4 million, compared with profit of $9.6 million in the prior-year period.
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Sales fell 21.5% to $1.08 billion in the second quarter. The decline reflects a 25.1% drop in structural product sales and a 17% sales decline in specialty products. About two-thirds of the sales decline in structural products resulted from unit volume, which fell 17.1% from a year ago. The specialty products sales decrease was largely due to unit volume, which declined 15.3%.
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Overall second-quarter unit volume for the company’s estimated weighted end-use markets fell 12.8% from the prior year, driven by a 21.8% decline in housing …
Milacron Inc., Cincinnati, OH, supplier of plastics-processing technologies and industrial fluids, reported a net loss for the second quarter ended June 30, 2007, of $0.1 million. Sales were $197 million.
CEO Ronald D. Brown said: We continue to achieve positive results from our key sales growth initiatives: expanding our presence in emerging markets, while focusing more attention on aftermarket services in our traditional markets of North America and Western Europe. Milacron’s orders from emerging markets are up 23% over last year and now constitute nearly one-quarter of our total business.  ; And our aftermarket sales have grown another 6% so far this year.”
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Sales and earnings growth in overseas markets continued to offset the ongoing weakness in the …
Emerson, St. Louis, MO, reported sales for the third quarter ended June 30, 2007, were $5.9 billion, an increase of 13% from the same period a year ago. Organic growth was 9%. Four of Emerson’s five business segments reported double-digit sales growth in the quarter.
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Profits were up 18% to $574 million.
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For the nine months ended June 30, 2007, sales were $16.4 billion, an increase of 12% over the same period last year. Profit increased about 18% over the prior-year period. …
Hexcel Corporation, Stamford, CT, has completed the sale of its remaining assets of U.S. Electronics, Ballistics & General Industrial reinforcement product lines to JPS Industries Inc.
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JPS has paid $62.5 million in cash to Hexcel and may make an additional $12.5 million in payments dependent upon future sales of the Ballistics product line.
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Hexcel Corporation is an advanced structural materials manufacturer. It develops, manufactures and markets lightweight, high-performance structural materials, including carbon fibers, reinforcements, prepregs, honeycomb, matrix systems, adhesives and composite structures for use in commercial aerospace, space and defense, and industrial …
Saint-Gobain has acquired the Maxit group, a manufacturer of industrial mortars, from HeidelbergCement. Maxit reported sales of & euro; 1,237 million in 2006 (US$1.7 billion).  ;
With this transaction, Saint-Gobain builds its presence in Construction Markets, doubling its size in industrial mortars (which, in 2006, represented & euro; 1 billion (US$1.37B) in products sold under the Weber trademark) and in particular strengthens its ETICS (External Thermal Insulation Composite System) solutions.
The companies complement each other geographically -Weber is strong in and Southern Europe, and well established inEastern Europe . Maxit group is a player in and inScandinavia . In addition, the two groups …
