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>MSC Industrial Direct Co., Melville, NY, a distributor of MRO supplies to industrial customers in the U.S., reported its earnings were up 12.4% in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2006. Profit was up 22.9%. For the first quarter of fiscal 2006, net sales rose to $295.9 million from net sales of $263.3 million in the fiscal 2005 first quarter. Net income for the fiscal 2006 first quarter was $31.9 million versus $26 million in the year-ago period, an increase of 22.9%. ‘We maintained our focus on cost management and saw operating margins rise to 17.4% in the quarter from 15.9% a year ago,’ said President and CEO David Sandler. More …
November 2005 U.S. machine tool consumption was up 8.3% year-to-date compared with 2004, with a year-to-date total of $2,766.59 million. Machine tool consumption totaled $245.04 million in November, according to the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology. This total was down 2.5% from October 2005 and down 6.9% from the total of $263.17 million reported for November 2004. More …
The Global Industrial Supply Marketing Organization announced that author-businessman James L. McGregor, an expert on doing business in China, will deliver the keynote address at the first-ever Global Industrial Supply Marketing Forum in Chicago, November 1920, 2006. McGregor, journalist-turned-businessman, is the author of the best-selling, One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing in Business in China. McGregor has lived in Beijing for 15 years and is a founding partner of BlackInc China LLC, an advisory firm specializing in cross-border investing, business development and mergers and acquisitions involving Chinese and American Internet technology and online media companies. He formerly was managing director of a $140-million venture capital fund specializing in technology investments in India and China and was chief executive of Dow Jones & Company in China. The GISMO forum aims to examine the globalization of industrial supply, the dynamics of U.S. manufacturer survival, expanding business and business opportunities, and global sourcing and marketing. More …
After months of speculation, The Home Depot announced it would pay $3.2 billion for industrial distributor Hughes Supply Inc., Orlando, FL, and assume $285 million in net debt. The purchase price is around 12X EBITDA. The addition of Hughes Supply more than doubles the size of The Home Depot Supply Division with projected 2006 combined sales approaching $12 billion. More …
Maxcor Inc., New York, NY, will buy the Ex-Cell-O group of companies from IWKA. The acquisition will expand Maxcor’s portfolio to 11. Ex-Cell-O is a global producer of machine tools and systems. In 2005, Ex-Cell-O generated sales of about $190 million. With the acquisition of Ex-Cell-O, Maxcor’s portfolio revenues are approximately $1.2 billion. Ex-Cell-O will join Maxcor’s MAG Industrial Automation Systems (MAG) group in the first quarter of 2006. MAG companies include CL Automation, Cincinnati Machine US, Cincinnati Machine UK, CrossHuller Lamb, Fadal Machining Centers, Giddings & Lewis, Hessapp, Huller Hille, Witzig & Frank and Maintenance Technologies Group. More …
>Beacon Roofing Supply, Peabody, MA, ($850 million in revenues) has acquired C& S Roofing Materials Inc., doing business as Pacific Supply Company, a West Coast distributor of roofing and other building products headquartered in Orange, CA. Pacific operates four facilities that offer residential and commercial roofing products and building materials. It had sales of $53 million in the fiscal year 2005. The acquisition is Beacon’s fifth in the past year. Beacon recently acquired Easton Wholesale Inc., a $9.3 million distributor, and before that, Shelter Distribution Inc., for $170.3 million in cash. More …
>Airgas Inc., Radnor, PA, ($2.4 billion in 2005 revenues) has acquired Oxygen Service Company Inc., Macon, GA, with four other locations in central and southern Georgia. In a separate transaction, Airgas also acquired Alabama Cylinder Gas with one location in Enterprise, AL. The six new locations, which together had more than $7 million in annual sales in the past year, have been integrated into Airgas South, one of the 13 regional companies within Airgas. More …
>Kennametal Inc., Latrobe, PA, has acquired a European supplier of ECM (Electro Chemical Machining) technologies and solutions VMB, Diva-Tec and VMB Entgrattechnik. The German company will be combined with Kennametal’s ExtrudeHone ECM group. Kennametal Inc. is a $2.3 billion global supplier of tooling, engineered components and advanced materials consumed in production processes. The addition of the VMB/Diva-Tec Group in Babenhausen and Erkheim, Germany, will provide ExtrudeHone a more complete product range, complementary technologies and a broader array of engineering expertise. The new ExtrudeHone ECM group will be headquartered in Erkheim, Germany. More …
$600 million software provider Infor, Atlanta, GA, has agreed to acquire Datastream Systems Inc., Greenville, S.C., ($94 million in 2004 revenues) for $10.26 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2006. The acquisition will be financed through Infor’s current cash balance, debt financing and equity capital to be provided by Golden Gate Capital and Summit Partners, Infor’s existing equity sponsors. The combined company will have 24,700 customers in 140 countries.
