same period in 2004. Profit grew 19 percent to $345 million from the fourth quarter 2004. For 2005, Praxair reported a 16 percent gain in sales to $7.7 billion. Profit was $726 million. More …

Steel service center Earle M. Jorgensen Company had a 6.8 percent increase in revenues to $428.8 million in the third quarter ended Dec. 30, 2005. Profit for the third quarter was $18.2 million, compared with profit of $4.5 million for the same period in 2004. For the nine months ended Dec. 30, 2005, revenues increased 11.5 percent to $1.2 billion from $1.15 billion for the same period last year. Profit for the first nine months was up 56.6 percent. EMJ recently agreed to be acquired by Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, CA, for $934 million including assumption of $291 million in net debt. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2006. More …

Anixter International Inc. reported sales of $3.85 billion for the year ended Dec. 30, 2005, an increase of 17 percent. The electrical distributor had a profit jump of 20 percent to $90 million from the year before. Sales for 2005 include $126.4 million from Infast, which was acquired on July 8, 2005, and incremental revenues of $36.7 million from the June 22, 2004 acquisition of the assets and operations of Distribution Dynamics, Inc. For the fourth quarter ended Dec. 30, 2005, Anixter’s sales were up 21 percent to $1.03 billion and profit dropped to $20.1 million, a 22 percent decrease. More …

Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, distributor of industrial, medical and specialty gases, welding, safety and related products, saw a 17 percent jump in sales to $702 million in the third quarter 2005, thanks to strong same-store sales and acquisition growth. Profit for the quarter grew 34 percent to $31 million, compared with $23 million in the prior year period. For the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2005, sales were $2.1 billion, up 21 percent from the prior year period. Airgas has acquired West Point Supply Co. Inc. and its related companies, Polar Ice Co., West Point Ice Company Inc., and West Point Cryogenics Inc. The companies share a common location in Souderton, PA, near Philadelphia, and have a combined $4 million in sales. More …

WESCO International Inc., distributor of electrical MRO products, construction materials, and advanced integrated supply procurement outsourcing services, saw sales jump 18.2 percent to $4,421 million in 2005, compared with 2004. Sales in the fourth quarter 2005 were $1,236.7 million compared with $987.9 million in 2004, an increase of 25.2 percent. Profit in the fourth quarter was $39.7 million in 2005 versus $17.1 million in the comparable 2004 quarter. More …

Wurth Service Supply, Indianapolis, IN, announced sales of more than $138 million for 2005, an increase of 28.5 percent over 2004. Wurth Service Supply also expanded further in North America by opening branch locations in Tustin, CA; Brantford, Ontario and Red Bay, AL. W rth Service Supply is a part of the fastener distribution market and is a member of the Kunzelsau, Germany-based Wurth Group, which has more than 50,000 employees in 85 countries and sales of more than $8 billion in 2005. More …

The Timken Company, Canton, OH, had record sales of $5.2 billion in 2005, up 15 percent from a year ago. Profit in 2005 increased sharply to a record $260.3 million, from $135.7 million. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005, sales were $1.3 billion, an increase of 8 percent from a year ago. Sales across all three business groups improved from the fourth quarter of 2004. More …

Danaher Corp., Washington, D.C., reported a 20 percent jump in profit for the fourth quarter 2005 to $261.6 million, compared with the same period last year. Sales for the 2005 fourth quarter were $2,263.8 million compared with $1,979.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2004, an increase of 14.5 percent. Profit for the full year 2005 was $907.7 million, a 21.5 percent increase, compared with $746 million for 2004. Sales for 2005 were $7,984.7 million compared with $6,889.3 million in 2004, an increase of 16 percent. More …

Praxair Inc., Danbury, CN, reported a 13 percent rise in sales for the fourth quarter of 2005 to $2 billion, compared with $1.7 billion for the

The ThyssenKrupp Group, has acquired VPK Metals Inc., Toronto, Canada, which includes Vimetal Peckovers with six plastics distribution branches. VPK Metals also specializes in the processing of materials for the electronics industry. VPK had sales of $107 million in 2004. In December, ThyssenKrupp acquired the Hearn Group, Windsor, Ontario, which specializes in preassembly, warehousing logistics, quality control/assurance and finishing. ThyssenKrupp Materials NA, which is the materials management and services arm responsible for the acquisitions, has 90 locations and sales totaling $2.26 billion in North America.

Stock Building Supply, Raleigh, NC, has acquired Universal Supply Co., Inc., Hammonton, NJ, a distributor of building materials with more than 300 employees. The acquisition gives Stock its first presence in New Jersey with seven branches. Universal had sales of $142.0 million and gross assets of $40.9 million in 2005. Stock reported annual sales of $4.1 billion for its fiscal year ended July 31, 2005, and operates 279 locations in 32 states. The company is a subsidiary of Wolseley plc, Theale, England, parent company also of Ferguson.

Stuart C. Irby Co., Jackson, MS, a subsidiary of Sonepar, has agreed to acquire Priester Supply, Arlington, TX, which operates 10 full-service utility branches and is the largest regional utility distributor in the Southwestern and South Central U.S. Sonepar, the $9-billion French electrical distributor and one of the top five U.S. electrical distributors, entered the utility market in September 2005 with the acquisition of Irby, which also has a diversified business into industrial, contracting and commercial segments.

Electrical distributor Rexel Inc. has acquired Elektro-Material AG, a Swiss electrical distributor with the equivalent of $189 million in 2005 revenues. It has seven branches and offers similar products to Rexel; 74 percent of its sales are to electrical contractors. E-commerce represents 34 percent of its sales. The company combined with Rexel’s existing Swiss subsidiary Transelectro will have annual sales of about $281 million. Rexel also recently reported sales growth of 7.3 percent in 2005, and fourth quarter sales growth of 8.9 percent. For the fiscal year 2005, sales were $8.7 billion (7.3 million euros).

St. Louis-based $17.3 billion Emerson will buy Florida-based Artesyn Technologies for about $500 million in cash. Artesyn ($420 million in 2005 sales) will become part of Emerson Network Power, pending customary regulatory approvals and approval by Artesyn shareholders. Artesyn provides original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with advanced power conversion equipment as well as hardware and software subsystems for a range of communication applications. More …

W.W. Grainger reported a 9 percent jump in sales to $5.5 billion in 2005. Net earnings for the year increased 21 percent to $346 million, as compared to $287 million in 2004. Sales in the 2005 fourth quarter were $1.4 billion, up 10 percent versus the prior year fourth quarter. Net earnings of $104 million were up 15 percent versus $90 million in the same period in 2004. Sales in the U.S. were up 9 percent, with growth in all customer sectors except transportation, which declined modestly. The wind down of integrated supply and automotive-related contracts resulted in a 2 percentage point reduction in U.S. sales growth. In 2005, Grainger disengaged from contracts representing about one third of the $211 million in integrated supply sales reported in 2004. See article on p. 4 of this issue.