Eric Smith

Crawford Electric, Houston, Texas, a Sonepar company, announced Thursday hat Richard Landy has joined the distributor as industrial sales and business development leader. Landy will work closely with the sales team and key vendors to develop opportunities with new and existing customers. He is tasked with increasing sales revenue through effective training, coaching, and support […]

Another day, another massive shift among the top building materials and construction distributors. Dallas-based Builders FirstSource Inc. on Thursday announced it would acquire Raleigh, North Carolina-based BMC Stock Holdings Inc. in an all-stock merger transaction valued at $2.5 billion. The new company, which is keeping the Builders FirstSource name, will have a market value of […]

Packaging products supplier TricorBraun, St. Louis, Missouri, announced Thursday that it has agreed to acquire Price Container and Packaging, a rigid packaging distributor serving primarily the industrial and food markets. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. “Our acquisition of Price Container will significantly add to our robust range of packaging solutions by expanding our […]

Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI), Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday released its monthly TRENDS report, showing the average sales performance by HARDI distributors was an increase of 8.4% during July 2020. The average annual sales growth for the 12 months through July 2020 is 2.75%. “Sales growth during the prior year was 14.9%, so […]

Real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 31.7% in the second quarter of 2020, according to the “second” estimate released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the first quarter, real GDP decreased 5%. The GDP estimate released today is based on more complete source data than were available for […]

Kaman Distribution Group, Bloomfield, Connecticut, on Thursday announced the appointment of Robert Boyle as vice president of supply chain for the Kaman Industrial Technologies business unit. Boyle (pictured right) has more than 25 years of experience in industrial distribution, most recently serving as a division vice president at Affiliated Distributors. Boyle previously held leadership roles […]

Builders FirstSource Inc. (Nasdaq: BLDR), Dallas, Texas, and BMC Stock Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BMCH), Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday announced that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Builders FirstSource and BMC will combine in an all-stock merger transaction valued at $2.5 billion. The deal unites the No. 2 (BLDR) and No. […]

As if distributors on the Gulf Coast didn’t have enough to worry about with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, now Hurricane Laura is barreling toward them with the potential to shutter their operations and distribution centers for weeks or longer. Because, you know, 2020. If anything good comes out of the pandemic in the coming days, […]

New orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased $23.2 billion or 11.2% to $230.7 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase, up three consecutive months, followed a 15.1% May increase and a 7.7% increase in June. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 2.4%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 9.9%. Transportation equipment, also up […]

Indian River Consulting Group’s (IRCG) weekly Pandemic Revenue Index for the work week of Aug. 17 to Aug. 21 indicated a 1.1% increase compared with the same week a year ago. For the first time in five weeks, sales gains and losses were not evenly split among participants. Only five of the index participants saw […]

Hartland Controls, Rock Falls, Illinois, a manufacturer of contactors, capacitors, transformers, relays and breakers, recently named electrical controls industry veteran Mark McGough as president and CEO. Most recently, McGough (pictured right) served as president and CEO of Ioxus, a manufacturer of ultracapacitors and hybrid capacitors. “Hartland is a solid and stable business, an industry leader […]

Hartland Controls, Rock Falls, Illinois, a manufacturer of contactors, capacitors, transformers, relays and breakers, recently named electrical controls industry veteran Mark McGough as president and CEO. Most recently, McGough (pictured right) served as president and CEO of Ioxus, a manufacturer of ultracapacitors and hybrid capacitors. “Hartland is a solid and stable business, an industry leader […]

In another good sign for distributors, sales of new single-family houses in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 901,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is 36.3% above the July 2019 estimate of 661,000 and 13.9% above the […]

E.B. Horsman & Son, Calgary, Alberta, on Tuesday announced that its Calgary branch will be moving to a new building located down the street. The new address is #104-11080 50 St. SE Calgary. The new 21,000-square-foot facility will replace the company’s current 14,500-square-foot location at 10551 50th Street that has served Calgary and surrounding area […]

Max Meister, the CEO of Munich-based Ludwig Meister — a third-generation, $120 million distributor of bearings, power transmission, fluid power and tooling products — says companies should rethink what it means to become “digital.” And that word isn’t about what immediately comes to mind for most distributors. “Digitization is not a fancy website,” Meister said […]

National Safety Apparel, Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday announced it had expanded its USA-based safety and military clothing brands with the acquisition of Chicago-based leather glove manufacturer Kunz Glove and Virginia Beach-based military gear manufacturer Wild Things. Founded in 1900, Kunz Glove supplies gloves to electrical utilities, among other industrial customers, making the acquisition a natural […]

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Bunzl PLC, the London-based international distribution and outsourcing group, on Monday reported that group revenue for the first half of 2020 increased 7% at actual exchange rates to £4.8 billion (US$6.3 billion). At constant exchange rates, revenue increased by 6.7% compared to the same period of 2019. Profit increased 16.1% to £306.8 million (US$400.6 million). The […]

Kaman Distribution Group, Bloomfield, Connecticut, on Monday announced the appointment of Tom Holtry as area vice president (AVP) of the West and Edwin Mitchell as area vice president of the Southwest for the Kaman Industrial Technologies business unit. Holtry most recently served as the vice president of corporate accounts. Prior to that, he was the […]

Bunzl PLC on Monday announced that it has agreed to acquire two companies — MCR Safety, a Memphis, Tennessee-based safety distributor, and Abco Kovex, a Dublin, Ireland-based flexible packaging distributor. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. MCR Safety distributes a variety of largely its own brand of personal protection equipment (PPE) and other safety […]