Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), Columbus, Ohio, this week released its monthly TRENDS report, showing the average sales performance by HARDI distributors was an increase of 13.9% during September.

The average annual sales growth for the 12 months through September is 3.3%.

“Sales growth during September was helped by an extra billing day and challenged by difficult comparisons and heavy rains in the Southwest and Southeast,” said HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “HARDI members see the supply chain challenges this summer in the elevated sales-to-inventory ratio per region. This insight each month is another benefit for participants.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now at 41 days. “DSO ticked-up from 40 last month. The normal level for September is closer to 45 days so this was another unusually brisk report,” said Loftus. “Customers who participated in the economic relief programs are paying their bills quicker than normal, while the inventory shortages and search for scarce product increased the share of cash transactions.”

“Weather did not help this month. Besides the heavy rain in the Southwest and Southeast, cooling degree days during September 2020 were down by -30% to -50% versus September 2019 in five of our seven economic regions,” said Loftus. “Distributor sales growth was helped by the housing market that is getting a boost from the historically low mortgage rates, and consumer confidence that is getting its own boost from the employment recovery