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The final leg of this three-part series examines the HVACR supplier’s perception of being a technology company that happens to distribute products, and how it’s followed through on it.
Paris-based Rexel, a global electrical distributor, has filed regulatory documents with France’s market regulator,  ; AMF,  ; in the first step towards a possible listing of Rexel on Euronext Paris. (The filing, found here by MDM on AMF’s Web site, is in French.)
Netherlands-based diversified distributor Hagemeyer NV reported sales of 6.22 billion euros (US$8.17 billion) in 2006. Organic growth was 11.5%. Profit for the year was 140 million euros (US$183.8 million), compared with a net loss of 58 million euros (US$76.1 million) last year.
HD Supply reported sales of $12.07 billion in fiscal 2006, an increase of 161.6% over 2005. Most of that growth was driven by the almost $4 billion in acquisitions made in the past year.
Huttig Building Products, St. Louis, MO, distributor of millwork, building materials and wood products, has closed its distribution facility in Hauppauge, NY, as part of the company’s effort to downsize in response to the recent downturn in the housing market.
Lone Star Fasteners, Houston, TX, has acquired LWD Precision Engineering Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of precision engineered components for the global oil and gas industry, for $6 million. LWD, based in Leeds, UK, manufactures precision machined components for valves, actuators and other related critical applications.
Genuine Parts Company, Atlanta, GA, reported sales in 2006 were $10.5 billion, up 7% compared to 2005. Net income for the year was $475.4 million, an increase of 9% from 2005.
Altra Holdings, Inc., Quincy, MA, has agreed to buy power-transmission product manufacturer TB Wood’s Corporation, Chambersburg, PA, for $24.80 a share.
TB Wood’s, with sales of $118.9 million in 2006, will become a fully owned subsidiary of Altra.
“TB Wood’s is a great fit with the existing Altra platforms and meets our disciplined acquisition philosophy perfectly, said Michael L. Hurt, chairman and CEO of Altra. “The acquisition of TB Wood’s broadens our growing coupling product line and adds engineered belted drive systems as well as adjustable speed electronic drives and systems to our product portfolio.”
TB Wood’s offering of elastomeric couplings fills a gap for Altra and will expand engineered coupling revenues by more than 50%. …
US Electrical Services, LLC, Exton, PA, has agreed to buy Rahway Electric Supply Co., Inc. and its subsidiary Asbury Park Electric Supply. Rahway/Asbury has been supplying electrical contractors in Northern and Central New Jersey for almost 27 years.  ;
Taken from Statistics Canada
Canadian manufacturers ended  ; 2006  ; on a positive note as factory shipments increased for the second month in a row in December, thanks to strength in the transportation equipment sector.
The year-end rally was not enough to offset several months of weak performances earlier in the year. As a result, total shipments for  ; 2006  ; as a whole edged down  ; 0.6% to  ; $587.4  ; billion from the peak level in  ; 2005.
December’s increase was widespread, with  ; 13  ; sectors representing  ; 74% of total output improving. On a monthly basis, factories shipped goods worth an estimated  ; $49.7  ; billion in …
Privately-owned housing starts fell 14.3% in January, compared with the revised December estimate. Starts were down 37.8% below the January 2006 rate. Single-family in January were 11.2% below the December figure. The January rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 276,000.
The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods declined 0.6 percent in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This decrease followed a 0.9-percent advance in December and a 1.8-percent jump in November. At the earlier stages of processing, prices for intermediate goods moved down 0.7 percent compared with a 0.5-percent increase in the prior month. The crude goods index decreased 6.3 percent after rising 2.8 percent in December.
Rexnord LLC, Milwaukee, WI, power transmission and water management products supplier, reported sales of $283.1 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 30, 2006, up 7% from the prior-year period.   ; Income from operations grew 8.3% over the prior year to $18.2 million.
December U.S. manufacturing technology consumption totaled $321.35 million, according to The Association For Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association. This total, as reported by companies participating in the USMTC program, was down 6.9% from November, and down 0.5% from the total of $322.81 million reported for  ; December 2005. With a year-end total of $3,889.75 million, 2006 was up 26.8% compared with 2005.
These numbers and all data in this report are based on the totals of actual data reported by companies participating in the USMTC program.
2006 was an exceptional year, with the highest U.S. consumption since 2000, says John B. Byrd III, AMT President. Growth should continue in 2007, at a more modest pace, as …
Barnes Group Inc. announced 2006 sales of $1.3 billion, up 14% from $1.1 billion in 2005. Profit was $73.8 million, up 54% from the year before.
Full year 2006 sales at Barnes Distribution were $526.9 million, up 16% from $453.8 million in 2005.
Fourth quarter 2006 sales at Barnes Distribution were $141.6 million, up 26% from the same period last year. Driving the fourth quarter 2006 sales growth were broad-based increases in Barnes Distribution North America, including double-digit increases in …
B & D Industrial, Macon, GA, a regional industrial distributor, has acquired Simco Technologies, an Atlanta-based distributor of industrial electronics, sensors, drives, motion control, machine safety and machine vision systems.
Saint-Gobain’s Building Distribution Sector has acquired Galvano Groothandel BV (the Netherlands), Schulte Tiefbau (Germany) and four companies belonging to the Norman group (Channel Isles).
Galvano Groothandel BV is a plumbing-heating wholesaler in the Netherlands. With estimated sales of 84 million euros in 2006, the company has 177 employees. Through this acquisition, Saint-Gobain Building Distribution establishes a foothold on the Dutch distribution market for plumbing-heating products and strengthens its European Division dedicated to this market.
Germany’s specialist civil engineering distributor, Schulte Tiefbau operates 13 branches specializing in water supply. With sales of 62 million euros …
Ryerson Inc., Chicago, IL, reported sales of $5.9 billion for 2006, up 2.2% from 2005. Profit was $71.8 million, compared with $98.1 million in 2005.
Fourth quarter 2006 volume, as anticipated, reflected the typical year-end slowdown, exacerbated by high inventories in a variety of products throughout the supply chain,” said CEO Neil S. Novich. “Additionally, this excess industry-wide inventory, coupled with an extraordinary run up in stainless steel prices, due to nickel surcharges (up an average of about $700 per ton from the third …
Watsco, Inc., distributor of air conditioning and heating products, reported sales of $1.8 billion in 2006, a 7% increase from 2005. Profit was $82.4 million.
Fourth-quarter sales were $388 million.
  ; “2006 was one of enormous change as virtually half the products we sell were transitioned to new families of higher-efficiency products. We expect these new products to provide a unique and sustainable sales opportunity for us given consumers’ high degree of sensitivity and focus on energy costs, President and CEO Albert H. Nahmad said.
The Watsco network expanded by 28 locations in 2006, including locations opened to enhance local service and locations acquired adding new customers, products and market share. Revenues contributed by new …
The New York Times reported today that some of the country’s biggest buyout firms have approached Home Depot CEO Frank Blake – put in place after Robert Nardelli resigned  ; – with proposals to buy $12 billion HD Supply.
BlueLinx Holdings Inc., Atlanta, GA, distributor of building products, reported sales of $4.9 billion, down 12.9% from $5.62 billion a year ago, reflecting lower structural product prices and unit volume. Profit was $15.8 million, compared with $44.6 million a year ago.
CEO Stephen Macadam said:  ; As a distributor of building products, we continued to experience a sharp drop in demand that began earlier in the year as housing starts continued their slowdown and prices for wood-based structural products remained sharply below year-ago levels. The fall-off in demand was exacerbated by ongoing inventory reductions throughout the supply chain, and by the normal seasonal business slowdown associated with the winter months.
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