Eric Smith

Womack Electric Supply Co., a Danville, Virginia-based subsidiary of Crescent Electric Supply Co., last week announced that its president, Burke Herring, will retire after nearly four decades of service with the company. “Over the course of his 37 years with Womack Electric Supply, Burke’s unwavering commitment to our employees, customers, and supplier partners speaks for itself,” […]

New orders for manufactured durable goods in February increased $1.4 billion, or 0.5%, to $256.3 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase, up ten of the last eleven months, followed a 0.9% February decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.6%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 0.5%. Fabricated metal products, up six of the […]

Electric Supply, Tampa, Florida, this week announced it has partnered with the private equity firm Supply Chain Equity Partners “to establish a super-regional platform for growth and expansion in electrical products distribution.” Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. ESI was founded in 1970 by George Adams Sr., whose son, George Adams Jr., is chairman […]

Genuine Parts Co., the Atlanta-based parent of Motion — what GPC calls its “industrial parts group” — on Thursday reported that the distributor’s first-quarter sales of $1.5 billion were up 0.1% year-over-year and represented 34% of total company revenues (the same as the prior quarter). The increase includes a 1.3% benefit of foreign currency and […]

Led by improvements in indicators related to production and personal consumption and housing, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +1.71 in March from -1.20 in February. All four broad categories of indicators used to construct the index made positive contributions in March, and all four categories improved from February. The index’s three-month […]

2021 M&A activity is just starting to heat up. At MDM’s recent M&A Virtual Summit, members of Baird’s distribution team mapped out the current landscape and what distributors should keep an eye on as they position themselves for accelerating activity. After a year like no other for M&A, 2021 could wind up being historic as […]

HVACR distributor Watsco Inc. (NYSE:WSO), Miami, FL, reported first-quarter sales of $1.1 billion, up 12.7% from the year-ago quarter. Profit increased 80.6% to $55.1 million. Watsco’s HVAC equipment sales increased 14% in the quarter, other HVAC products increased 11% and commercial refrigeration equipment increased 10%. “Watsco delivered another record quarter with solid earnings growth and margin expansion,” […]

Winsupply Inc., Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday announced it will open a new regional distribution center in Oklahoma City in 2022. Winsupply will own the 318,000 square foot center, which is under construction alongside I-35. The distribution center is being constructed by Brinkmann Constructors and sits on 40 acres at 9440 S. I-35 Service Road. Winsupply […]

Winsupply Inc., Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday announced it will open a new regional distribution center in Oklahoma City in 2022. Winsupply will own the 318,000 square foot center, which is under construction alongside I-35. The distribution center is being constructed by Brinkmann Constructors and sits on 40 acres at 9440 S. I-35 Service Road. Winsupply […]

Like many executives, Monte Salsman stopped traveling by plane when COVID-19 hit the U.S. in the spring of 2020. He quickly pivoted to conducting meetings with out-of-town associates via Zoom or Teams. But Salsman, the president of Winsupply Acquisitions Group — the M&A division of the Dayton, Ohio-based, privately held distributor Winsupply Inc. — still […]

United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI), Stamford, Connecticut, has acquired Franklin Equipment LLC, a regional provider of equipment rentals, sales and related services in the Midwest and Southeast United States. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Founded in 2008, Franklin Equipment employs 300 people and operates 20 locations that serve general contractors in Ohio, Indiana, […]

Mark Dancer might understand better than anyone the different ways that distributors navigated COVID-19. Dancer, the CEO of Network for Business Innovation, spent much of the past year speaking with dozens of companies about their pivots, their pain points and the positives that might have emerged for some of them during the most significant economic […]

American Construction Source, a Springfield, Missouri-based building materials distributor backed by Angeles Equity Partners LLC and Clearlake Capital Group LP, this week announced the acquisition of Foley Lumber and Milaca Building Center. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Foley and Milaca will operate under their existing local brand names already established in Minnesota. The transaction marks the ninth acquisition […]

The seasonally adjusted Fastener Distributor Index (FDI) for March was 66, down from 66.1 in February, according to the latest analysis from Baird, FCH Sourcing Network and the Institute for Supply Management. Said Dave Manthey of Baird, “Key themes among respondents included: very high demand/low supplies, extended lead times, price increases and delays on imported […]

Fastenal Co. (Nasdaq: FAST), Winona, Minnesota, reported first-quarter sales of $1.4 billion, a 3.7% increase compared with same period a year ago. Quarterly profit was $210.6 million, also a 3.7% increase compared to the year-ago period. Fastenal said 1Q growth was “largely due to higher unit sales, most notably of fastener, safety, and janitorial products. Growth […]

Winsupply Inc., Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday announced the promotion of three of Winsupply’s local company presidents to the roles of area leaders. Eric Leatherman, previously president of Lincoln Winwater (Nebraska), has been named one of the new area leaders, effective immediately, and will be responsible for local companies in states in the northern plains and […]

U.S. manufacturing technology orders totaled $377.6 million in February, a 34.2% increase from the same month a year ago, according to the U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders report published Monday by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. New orders placed in February also marked a 17.8% increase from the previous month of January. “February was […]

Protective Industrial Products Inc., Latham, New York, on Monday announced the appointment of. Laura Proctor as director of marketing for industrial safety. Proctor has held numerous senior management level positions with leading Fortune 500 companies and has spent the better part of her career in safety, specifically in hand protection and high-risk protective barrier PPE. […]

Watsco Inc. (NYSE: WSO), Miami, Florida, on Monday announced that it has completed the $291 million acquisition of Temperature Equipment Corp. Founded in Chicago in 1935, TEC serves approximately 10,000 HVAC customers from 32 locations in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. TEC generated sales of $291 million in 2020 and provides a […]

To continue reading this article you must be a paid subscriber. Subscribe to MDM Already Subscribed? Click here to log-in | Forgot your password? The 19 members of MDM’s 2021 class of Women in Distribution are full of company-strengthening and business-building ideas. Here you will find a sampling of how their leadership skills and keen […]