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America’s largest pro-oriented construction supply companies last year recorded their biggest sales since 2008 and added 44 more facilities nationwide, but held the line on hiring, the latest ProSales 100 finds.
At Speonk Lumber's showroom in New York State, the sales pitch begins as soon as you approach the front door.
Many of the same signs that are pointing us out of the homebuilding trough are directing us toward a time of commodity shortages and price spikes.
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Yard Notables for May/June 2012
A Principia Consulting poll indicates that homeowners will spend more money on remodeling projects this year, in part because they plan bigger projects. Decks will see one of the biggest gains.
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ProSales research indicates there have been more than twice as many facility openings as closures. Meanwhile, other dealers are expanding or rebuilding facilities. Among the latest...
The NAHB's updated "Long Road Back to Normal" map finds that, even at the end of next year, many states will be starting homes at far behind their usual pace.
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Like homeowners who conclude that now is the best time to refinance a mortgage, several of America’s biggest LBM dealers all are securing new revolving credit facilities.
Federal data on worker pay indicates that truck drivers are losing ground to other workers in their pay. That's one likely reason why the number of truck drivers has fallen.
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Surveys by the Farnsworth Group since 2006 are tracking shifts in what qualities in an LBM dealer matter most to contractors. Now it's product availability.
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Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services last month upgraded its outlook on Builders FirstSource (BFS) to positive from negative and affirmed BFS’ credit ratings.
Amazon.com's recently announced AmazonSupply threatens to cut into LBM dealer's sales.
The month's notable events.
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Masco Corp. reported today it had swung to a $33 million net profit attributable to its operations in this year's first quarter from a $46 million loss in the year-earlier period on a 7% rise in sales to $1.88 billion.
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Owens Corning's Building Materials group reported a 50% increase in earnings before interest and taxes in the first quarter, jumping to $49 million from $30 million in the year-ago period, on an 16.9% sales gain to $919 million.
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Standard & Poor's upgraded its outlook on Builders FirstSource to positive from negative and affirmed its credit ratings, but noted that while BFS' EBITDA should turn positive this year for the first time since 2007, that change still won't be enough to fully cover interest costs.
Big changes announced by ProBuild's CEO point to the dealer's abandonment of market share as its No. 1 objective.
The Freedonia Group predicts a sharp rise in sales of insulation through 2021, both on residential and non-residential projects.