Distributor News: 11.8.2011

IMARK Award Winners

Award winners in IMARK Group’s fiscal year (ended June 30, 2011) among distributor members were:

• Members of the Year: United Electrical Supply of New Castle, Del.; Dickman Supply of Sidney, Ohio; Republic Companies of Davenport, Iowa; and Electric Wholesale Inc. of Ames, Iowa. NOTE: Republic Companies also took home this award in 2010.
• Excellence in Sales & Marketing: Stoneway Electric Supply of Spokane, Wash.; Wabash Electric of Wabash, Ind.; Yesco Electric Supply of Youngston, Ohio; Mid-West Electric Supply of Arkansas, Kan.
• Gainshare Achievement award: Walters Wholesale Electric of Signal Hill, Calif.; Alameda Electric Distributors of Hayward, Calif.; Blazer Electric Supply of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Yale Electric Supply of Canton, Mass. NOTE: Alameda & Walters each repeat from 2010.
• Purchasing Power award: Elliott Electric Supply of Nacogdoches, Texas; Bayou Electric and Specialty of New Iberia, Iowa; Sequel Electric Supply of Meridian, Miss.; FSG Lighting of Austin, Texas.

See Manufacturer News for the supplier companies recently honored by IMARK. A list of last year’s awardees is posted in a Nov. 2, 2010 article on tedmag.com.

Graybar Named to Top Workplaces List

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has named Graybar to its list of top workplaces. Graybar and other companies who made the list were honored at an event last month. The Pittsburgh’s Top Workplaces list was compiled based on how employees respond to questions about the company. According to a company news release, “Graybar offers eligible employees generous benefits including a profit sharing plan, a defined benefit pension plan and a 401(k) plan, as well as a comprehensive medical package.” The company employs more than 80 people in the Pittsburgh area and 6,900 across the country.

Cooper LED Retrofit Release Promotes Electrical Distributors

“Local Electrical Distributors” were among the first words in the headline and first paragraph of a recent news release from Cooper Lighting on its work with the Long Island Power Authority “to promote the use of energy-saving LED lighting.”

Working with LIPA (through its Residential Energy Efficient Lighting program) and nine local electrical distributors, Long Island, N.Y. customers can buy the All-Pro LED Retrofit Recessed Downlight “at a deeply discounted price,” the company said.

Distributors listed in the Cooper Lighting news release were:

• AC Electrical Supplies
• Aetna Electric 
• Continental Lighting  
• Duplex Electrical Supply 
• Greenvale Electric Supply 
• Michaels Electrical Supply Corp.  
• N&S Electric Supply 
• Revco Lighting and Electrical Supply Inc.  
• Yorktown Electrical & Lighting Distributors 

Earnings Season Catch-Up: Colonial Commercial, MSC, Transcat

Colonial Commercial Corp.: With stock listed on “the pink sheets,” Colonial Commercial Corp. (stock symbol CCOM.PK) reports quarterly on its earnings. The company distributes HVAC, climate control panels, and plumbing and electrical supplies through subsidiaries American/Universal Supply Division, RAL Supply, S&A Supply, and Universal Supply Group.

According to the company’s six-month results, sales of $35.3 million were down 5.7%. The company said it saw “a continuation of the reduction in demand” for HVAC units “and the reduction of commercial hydronic and plumbing bid and specification work.”

Distribution operations take place primarily “to professional contractors in CT, MA, NJ, NY & eastern PA.” In the last trade on Nov. 4, CCOM.PK changed hands at 27 cents; the stock’s price range in the past 12 months is $0.25 to $0.73.

MSC Industrial Direct: Fiscal year 2011 ended Aug. 27 for MSC Industrial Direct, an industrial distribution company, with a 12-month sales gain of 19.5%, to $2.02 billion. Q4 sales of $533 million were up 15.6%. The company claimed it had increased market share during the fiscal year. CEO David Sandler said the company was “confident in our plan to take disproportionate market share in any environment” in the future.

Recent investments by MSC include the purchase of American Tool Supply as well as 1.2 million shares of MSC’s Class A common stock on the open market. Father, the company’s board gave management the go-ahead to buy back another 5 million shares.         

According to Yahoo! Finance, the company has roughly 45 million shares outstanding—so if it buys back the full amount, it will reduce its “float” by 11%. With MSC’s shares going for nearly $69, a 5-million-share buy-back would require roughly $345 million.

Transcat Inc.: This distributor of “professional-grade handheld test and measurement instruments,” which also provides calibration repair and services, ended the first half of its fiscal 2012 on Sept. 24. Net revenue for the period rose 22%, to $50.8 million, thanks to “both market share gains and incremental revenue from recent acquisitions,” the company said.

In its financial release, the company said it had provided “11% compound annual growth” over the past five years. The company’s stock price has been in the low-double-digits (between $10 and $13) for the past six-plus months; it hadn’t achieved that level since a 2-for-1 stock split in 1997.

Maltby Electric Supply Expands San Rafael Branch

Last month, Maltby Electric finished an expansion project at the company’s branch in San Rafael, Calif.  The newly expanded branch is now 30% bigger and features new offices and a new counter/showroom. Maltby Electric showed off the changes at the branch during an open house event on Oct. 26.

Below: Staff members from the Maltby Electric San Rafael Branch

Butler Supply Donates to Tornado Recovery Effort

Butler Supply of Maryville, Illinois recently donated money and materials to help with the rebuilding efforts in Joplin, Missouri. In an effort spear-headed by branch manager Ken Wyatt, the Maryville branch presented the volunteer group JoplinSpirit with a check for $10,000. Butler Supply has teamed up with JoplinSpirit, a group that works with local Habitat for Humanity groups to collect funds, supplies and workers to build a home in the city. The company is urging others in the electrical industries to support the Joplin recovery effort and to visit joplinspirit.com/construction to learn how to help. The city of Joplin was devastated by a May 22 tornado that, according to the Associated Press, killed 162 people. Butler Supply has 27 locations throughout Missouri and Illinois.

Above: From left to right-Dr. Hal R. Patton, Kim Johnston, Carol Babington, Ken Wyatt, Ann Tosovsky, and John Mikes

Retail Reports

Advice for generator buyers: A news release from insurance company Hartford Steam Boiler provided advice to consumers and businesses that might buy back-up generators. HSB recommended hiring an electrical contractor to do the installation and said, “never store fuel for your generator in the home or near a fuel burning appliance, such as a natural gas water heater in a garage.”

Generators are “flying off the shelves” in Connecticut, according to an article on a local TV station’s website. One hardware store reportedly had folks “lined up before dawn” to buy generators. This news comes as a result of the recent weather-caused power supply problems in the Northeast.

Sears and Ace—here’s the deal: According to HomeChannelNews.com, Ace has “exclusive rights to sell the [Sears’] Craftsman brand in the convenience hardware channel until the year 2015.”

Vu1 goes with Lowe’s: A Bloomberg report on BusinessWeek.com noted that Vu1 will sell its “mercury-free light bulbs” at Lowe’s, the No. 2 big-box home improvement retailer. The article also says that the Vu1 product doesn’t have mercury, isn’t a CFL, and isn’t an LED. According to the company, it is electron-stimulated luminescence. According to CEO Scott Blackstone, “Vu1 is also in talks with electrical distributors to sell bulbs to businesses, and aims to announce more agreements by the end of the year.”      

Foreign Distributors

ARB Holdings buys and diversifies: South African electrical distributor ARB Holdings “has increased its presence in the lighting sector after the purchase of 60% of Eurolux” (price: $10 million). What about the other 40%? Eurolux management “will retain” the stake, and will continue to run the company—which distributes products primarily to retailers—as a separate business. ARB primarily serves electrical contractors, according to the Financial Mail.

Separately, according to an article on moneyweb.co.za, ARB is “an unappreciated electrical wholesaling jewel.” Writer Alec Hoggs says, ARB “retains many of the great strengths of a family controlled business like no borrowing, a sustainable growth trajectory, a conservative board of directors and a squeaky clean balance sheet.”

Edmundson Electrical Ltd.’s buy of Electric Center: In the UK, Edmundson Electrical Ltd., a subsidiary of Marlowe Holding Ltd., is buying Electric Center. Marlowe owns Ryness, an electrical wholesaler and retailer, according to an Office of Fair Trading notice.  The notice is an invitation for someone to “send written representations about any competition or public interest issues.”

Farnell & Schneider Electric: A recent news release on the M2 Pressure in the UK from Farnell said the distributor “is adding over 1,000 new parts from Schneider Electric to its product portfolio.” That takes the Schneider inventory at Farnell to 2,000 parts “available for next-day delivery form stock.”

Quality ES of The Virgin Islands was set to celebrate its 25^th anniversary last week at its St. Croix location. Now with 24 employees and an inventory of 14,000-plus electrical parts and more, the company originally was named Triumpho. The named changed in 1986, when Karl and Carol Bauknight purchased and renamed it, according to The Virgin Islands Daily News. QES works in both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands “and in recent years has expanded to Antigua, St. Kitts and Nevis.”