and profit was up 11 percent to $437.3 million. For the year, Motion Industries saw sales increase 11 percent to $2.8 billion. GPC sales in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005, were up 7 percent to $2.41 billion, compared with $2.25 billion in the same period last year. Motion Industries increased sales by 9 percent in Q4; revenues in the Automotive Group were up 5 percent; and EIS, the electrical/electronics group, saw sales rise 6 percent. S.P. Richards, GPC’s office products group, improved sales by 10 percent. More …
Boosted by acquisitions in distribution, The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA, had $81.5 billion in sales in 2005, an 11.5 percent increase over fiscal year 2004. Comparable store sales grew 3.8 percent. The Home Depot Supply represented about 5 percent, or $4.08 billion, of Home Depot’s sales in 2005. The supply division saw triple-digit growth in 2005, strengthening its position in MRO, builder and professional supply platforms. More…
Barnes Group Inc., Bristol, CN, saw its 2005 sales surpass $1 billion for the first time, up 11 percent to $1.1 billion. Sales for the fourth quarter were $276.4 million, up 10 percent from $251.6 million in the fourth quarter 2004. Sales at Barnes Distribution were $112.8 million for the fourth quarter 2005, up 8 percent from $104.2 million in the same quarter last year. More …
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, CA, saw sales climb 14 percent in 2005 to $3.37 billion, compared with $2.94 billion in 2004. Profit was up to $205.4 million, compared with $168.7 million in 2004. For the 2005 fourth quarter, profit was a record $60.6 million, up 41 percent compared with the same period in 2004. Sales for the fourth quarter were $868.7 million, up 17 percent compared with 2004 Q4 sales. More …
Beacon Roofing Supply, Inc., Peabody, MA, reported sales increased 70.6 percent to $339.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 from $199.2 million in the same period in 2005. Beacon had organic growth of 14.3 percent, with strong sales in residential roofing, non-residential roofing and complementary building products. Acquisitions made up the rest of the sales increase. Beacon, with $850 million in revenues last year, bought Shelter Distribution in mid-October 2005, JGA Corp. in mid-December 2004, and at least three other companies in the past year. More …
Border States Electric Supply, Fargo, ND, has reached an agreement to merge with Nunn Electric Supply Corporation, a full line provider of electrical, plumbing and telecom products with locations in Texas and New Mexico. As a part of the agreement, 19 of Nunn Electric’s locations will join Border States under the names of Nunn Electric Supply, Bush Supply, Zimco Electric Supply, and Simmons-Higgins Supply as divisions of Border States. Border States distributes products to construction, industrial, utility and communications markets and is a 100-percent employee-owned company. The combined organization will have over 1,000 employees and 43 branch operations in 11 states and Mexico. According to a profile in the February issue of The Electrical Distributor magazine, www.tedmag.com, Nunn Electric will add $125 million in revenues to give BSE an estimated $600 million in revenues in 2006.
Private equity firm WestView Capital Partners, Boston, MA, has acquired Radiac Abrasives Inc., Salem, IL, the second largest manufacturer of bonded abrasive and super abrasive grinding wheels in the U.S. Radiac and its predecessor companies have been manufacturing abrasives for over 115 years. Radiac provides a full line of custom grinding products to its customers across various industrial markets including aerospace, oil and gas, primary metals and automotive. The company now operates under a newly created acquisition corporation named WV Abrasive Holdings Corp. More …
Platinum Equity, Los Angeles, CA, has agreed to acquire PNA Group Inc.,
a processor and distributor of steel products with annual revenues of $1.2 billion. The seller is TUI AG, the largest travel and tourism company in Europe, which has been divesting non-core industrial holdings in order to focus on its core tourism and shipping sectors. PNA Group processes steel and distributes it to fabricators, manufacturers and distributors, primarily in the U.S. More …
Building Materials Distributors Inc., Galt, CA, has acquired Boddington Lumber Co., Colorado Springs, CO. Boddington’s primary markets are Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. BMD is a western regional distributor of building materials; its service areas extend beyond the 11 western states into Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas. BMD also has sales offices in Tokyo, Japan and Vancouver, British Columbia.
U.S. machine tool consumption in 2005 was up 8.4 percent to $3,080.61 million, compared with 2004. December machine tool consumption was up 30.8 percent to $311.03 million, according to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association. This total is up 7.8 percent from the total of $288.54 million reported for December 2004. See article on p. 4 of this section. More …
Parker Hannifin Corporation reported orders for the month of January in the company’s Industrial, Aerospace, and Climate and Industrial Control segments. Orders for the North American Industrial business increased 11 percent over the same month last year. Orders remain strong across most industrial markets, including distribution, mining, oil and gas, and construction. Parker Aerospace reported an 18 percent increase in orders on a rolling 12-month basis. The commercial OEM and MRO markets are strong. In the Climate and Industrial Controls segment order rates increased 8 percent compared with last year. Strength was seen in residential air conditioning and commercial refrigeration.
Genuine Parts Company, Atlanta, GA, reported sales increased 8 percent to $9.8 billion in 2005,
