MRO and industrial distributor DXP Enterprises Inc. (NASDAQ: DXPE), Houston, reported first-quarter sales of $245.6 million, down 18.4% compared to the first quarter of 2020. The company reported a profit of $0.3 million, down from a profit of $5.6 million in the year-ago period.

“As we look ahead to the rest of 2021, we remain optimistic that the global and U.S. economy will recover from the impact of the pandemic, in particularly, oil demand and capital projects spending which typically lags most cycles,” said David R. Little, chairman and CEO. “Thank you to all our customers, vendors and DXPeople for the support and efforts in keeping safety at the forefront.

“We continue to anticipate a better fiscal year 2021. As such, we remain focused on improving our ability to serve existing and new customers, continuing to focus on enhancing and improving our operational execution, investing in products and people and strategically aligning DXP for the future.”