Grainger (NYSE: GWW), Chicago, reported first quarter sales of $2.8 billion, up 1% over the previous year’s first quarter. The company reported a profit of $253 million, up 9% over 2018. On a constant currency basis, daily sales were up 4%t and up 4.5% after normalizing for the impact of a prior year change in accounting estimate.

"In the first quarter of 2019, we continued to demonstrate our ability to drive profitable growth. While our sales performance was softer than expected, largely due to a weaker demand environment, our SG&A leverage helped drive strong earnings growth in the quarter," said DG Macpherson, chairman and CEO. "We remain confident in our ability to gain share and generate SG&A leverage in 2019. We are reiterating our 2019 total company guidance ranges, including sales growth of 4 to 8.5% and operating margin of 12.2% to 13%."