Fastenal sales rise 5.3%
Fastenal Company reported second-quarter sales of $847.6 million, a 5.3% increase from the same period last year.
Net earnings of $121 million, or 41 cents per share, compared to $112.3 million, or 38 cents, in Q2 of 2012.
Sales for the first six months of the year were $1.65 billion, a 5.1% increase from $1.57 billion last year. The company opened 33 new stores during the first six months of 2013. Earnings for the first six months were $230 million, or 78 cents per share, compared to $212.5 million, or 72 cents, in the same period last year.
The increase in sales came primarily from higher unit sales. Growth in net sales was impacted by inflationary price changes in non-fastener products and some price deflation in fastener products, but the net impacts were limited, the company said.
Fastenal previously announced a goal to install 30,000 FAST Solutions industrial vending machines in 2013. "This was a very aggressive goal, and, in hindsight, we should keep very aggressive goals to ourselves," according to a company statement. "In the first half of 2013, we have signed approximately 11,000 machines. We consciously slowed the pace in the second quarter to promote a 'quality of install' mentality into our rapid approach. We think this was a good move and will continue this practice. Despite this change, we signed 20% more vending machines in the first half of 2013, when compared to the first half of 2012."
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The March/April issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about Joyce Lansdale and Vallen. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dirk Beveridge, Frank Hurtte, and David Kahle, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
