Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) shared its monthly TRENDS report on Aug. 1, showing that June sales by distributors increased by 1.9% year-over-year.

June had two fewer billing days vs. a year earlier, and HARDI estimated that sales growth would have been closer to 12% with an equal number of billing days.

On an annual basis, the growth rate for the 12 months through June 2024 was 2.5%, an increase from the 0.2% through January.

“It was warmer than normal in all seven of our regions during June, and there were twice as many cooling degree days than the prior year in four of our regions,” HARDI Macroeconomic & Residential Market Analyst Brian Loftus said.

The Days Sales Outstanding — which measures how quickly customers pay their bills — was near 38 days during June.

“The 38-day DSO for June was a bit better than recent results,” Loftus added. “June of 2021, 2022, and 2023 was near 39 days. Softer demand has not been a noticeable drag on customer’s abilities to pay their bills.”

“That annual rate is showing some life after being about flat during the first calendar quarter,” Loftus continued. “We hope that will continue with easy comps during the back half of the year, steady or improving economic conditions in most of our seven economic regions, and it starts with two extra billing days this July versus last year.”