Hagemeyer's 1Q on Track, But U.S. Sales Slowing
Hagemeyer, the Dutch PPE distributor, said it achieved 8.0 percent organic revenue growth in 2007's first quarter, with its Professional Products and Services business achieving 8.2 percent for the quarter. Net revenue for the quarter was $2.08 billion versus $1.97 billion a year earlier, the company announced April 20.
PPS organic growth was positive in every region during the 2007 first quarter except for North America; PPS was down 3.9 percent in the United States and 4.0 percent for North America while both were at 15 percent positive a year earlier. The company said several factors were responsible, including the wind-down of a large, low-margin MRO customer contract during 2006, but also said the slowdown in U.S. residential construction "had a limited impact."
"Hagemeyer continued to show good sales growth in the first quarter," CEO Rudi de Becker said in the company's news release. "We continued to gain market share in many of our markets. Our sales growth in the Nordics, Spain, and Germany was particularly notable. In spite of some weakness in the U.S. market, we remain positive about 2007 and expect to further improve our Group profitability.