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Beverly Allen, Publisher Vicky Sanderson, Editor John Caulfield, Contributing Editor Phone: 416-489-3396 Email: bev@hardlines.ca |
| Dec 3rd , 2007, Vol. xiii, #47 | |
| In This Issue | ||
|
“Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.” Willa Cather (American novelist, 1892 - 1980) |
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| Lowe’s Canada launches broadcast media campaign | ||
TORONTO — Lowe’s Canada has rolled out a series of four television ads in advance of the openings of its first Canadian stores, which HARDLINES has learned will happen Dec. 10 at the retailer’s Brantford, Hamilton and Brampton, ON locations. The ads, created by BBDO Windsor, started running Nov. 26. They all show Lowe’s Canada employees preparing for the arrival of customers by practicing good customer service, and each spot refers to “every day low prices”.  Lowe’s plans for its grand openings include appearances by as-yet-unnamed CFL players and celebrities. The Lowe’s-sponsored NASCAR Team 48 display car will also be on show, and a grand opening sweepstakes contest will offer consumers a chance to win prizes. The day following the Lowe’s openings, Home Depot will unveil a new-concept store in Richmond Hill, ON. It is expected to take further the project-oriented format first introduced last year at stores in East York and Mississauga, ON. As reported in HARDLINES QUARTERLY REPORT (1Q 2007), the latter features new lines of merchandising, signage, and customer service concepts designed to encourage consumers to use Home Depot for every step of a maintenance, renovation or décor project.
(Hardlines TV will be at a pre-opening media tour of one of Lowe’s first Canadian stores later this week. To take your own virtual store tour, keep checking Hardlines.com.)
Top |
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| Lowe’s, RONA have presence at builder show | ||
TORONTO — Construct Canada, the trade expo for companies trying to sell their wares to contractors, builders, and repair and maintenance professionals, is also attracting home improvement retailers that want a share of this lucrative market. RONA inc. exhibited for the first time at the show, held at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre Nov. 28-30. There, Canada’s number-two home improvement retailer was actively promoting its industrial-commercial-institutional (ICI) division to contractors, property managers and building supervisors. It had a large booth that featured its Business Solutions services, under the slogan “Design at Low Cost” as well as showcasing products from some of its key vendors, such as faucets from Belanger and commercial property items such as multiple-unit mail boxes by Cendrex.  While RONA’s main competitor, Home Depot Canada, was not present (HD Supply, formerly owned by HD, was, however), Canada’s newcomer to the home improvement scene, Lowe’s, had a small booth at the very back of the show, where vp Allen Huggins was on hand to talk about Lowe’s service commitment to passersby.
The two companies offered a study in contrasts. RONA was out to make a big splash, with as many as 15 people in its booth on day one of the show. Huggins, with one colleague on hand, was simply chatting up Lowe’s “Pro Services” program and commercial credit card. Taking a low-key approach, Huggins and his team handed out photocopied Mapquest maps of its new-store locations, underlined by a customer service message. “At Lowe’s we’re all about customer service,” he said.
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| Some Wal-Mart stores offer 24-hour holiday shopping | ||
|
MISSISSAUGA — Eighty Wal-Mart stores in Canada will remain open 24 hours a day until Christmas Eve, a 25% increase in the number of stores that participated in the extended hours program last year. Wal-Mart began testing extended holiday and back-to-school shopping periods in 2005. At that time, the company thought the idea would be a novelty. But full-day shopping has become increasingly common, and Wal-Mart recently implemented a 24-hour schedule year-round at a Winnipeg store. The program has been modified in parts of Manitoba and New Brunswick, where bylaws related to Sunday shopping prevent full-day openings. The desire to make shopping easier for time-starved consumers is behind the extended hours.“We hear again and again, the single most meaningful change we can make for holiday shoppers is to deliver convenience. What’s more convenient than a store open whenever you’re ready to shop?” Sylvain Prud’homme, Wal-Mart Canada’s senior vice-president of operations, said in a statement. Top |
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| Sears offers to purchase Restoration Hardware | ||
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HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — Sears Holdings has offered to purchase Restoration Hardware, the home-furnishings and décor dealer based in Corte Madera, CA, for $296 million, or $6.75 per share, a nickel more than the purchase price that Restoration Hardware had already agreed to from another bidder, the private equity firm Catterton Partners. The Wall Street Journal reports that Restoration Hardware will provide Sears with confidential financial information it has requested. Sears reportedly has $2.6 billion in cash on hand, and already owns nearly one-seventh of Restoration’s outstanding shares of common stock, which it purchased during the past quarter. Restoration Hardware operates 110 stores that, through the first half of its fiscal year, generated $325.9 million in sales but reported a net loss of $21.7 million. During this period, the company extended its catalogue to include bed and bath products. Industry watchers have expressed surprise at Sears Holdings’ move on the specialty dealer, whose custom base doesn’t match those of Sears or Kmart. Forbes quotes one analyst who calls the bid “insane” because it weakens Sears’ efforts to turn around its own retail entities. (For Sears Holdings’ 3Q financial results, see Companies in the News.) Top |
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| Wolseley announces more cuts for North America | ||
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LONDON — Wolseley plc, the giant building products distributor based here, announced last week that it planned to cut another 1,300 people from the ranks of its North American operations, which include the pro dealer chain Stock Building Supply and the plumbing distributor Ferguson Enterprises. These cuts would be on top of the 1,700-person reduction the company made in the previous three months. Wolseley expects the move will save the company £60 million annually. After making these latest cuts, Wolseley will have reduced Stock’s workforce by one-third, and Ferguson’s by more than 10%, from their respective peaks. “The Group continues to take swift and decisive action in the more challenging business conditions,” says Chip Hornsby, Wolseley’s Group CEO. He pointed specifically to the slow U.S. housing market and the weakness of the dollar as contributing factors. During the three months ended Oct. 31, Wolseley’s revenue in North America fell by 10% and its operating profit was off 30%. Stock reported a net loss in the quarter, and its sales for the quarter were off 25%. While Wolseley doesn’t expect further cuts will be needed, it doesn’t expect the economy to improve much, either. “In the USA, the housing market is likely to deteriorate further until the current high levels of unsold inventory have declined and the full effects of problems in the subprime market have been assimilated,” it states in its interim report. Top |
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Marketplace |
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Sell your company - or buy one - with Hardlines Classifieds!
Do your executive search, find new lines or get new reps in the Hardlines Marketplace.
Only $2.75 per word for three weeks in the classifieds.
To place your ad, call Brady Peever at 416-489-3396 or email: brady@hardlines.ca
|
||
|
To ensure you receive your Hardlines newsletter each week, please add admin@hardlines.ca to your address book.
Did your email system make this newsletter unreadable? You can read it online instead . Publishing Details: Hardlines is published weekly (except monthly in December and August) by HARDLINES Inc. Hardlines 360 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1V9 © 2007 by HARDLINES Inc. HARDLINES™ the electronic newsletter hardlines.ca ; Phone: 416.489.3396; Fax: 416.489.6154 Beverly Allen, Publisher - bev@hardlines.ca Vicky Sanderson - Editor - vicky@hardlines.ca Michael McLarney - President - mike@hardlines.ca Brady Peever - Circulation Manager - brady@hardlines.ca The Hardlines "Fair Play" Policy:Reproduction in whole or in part is very uncool and strictly forbidden and really and truly against the law. So please, play fair! Call for information on multiple subscriptions or a site license for your company. We do want as many people as possible to read Hardlines each week - but let us handle your internal routing from this end! Subscription: $265 (Canadian subscribers add $15.90 GST = $280.90 per year/ GST #13987 0398 RT). Secondary subscriptions at the same office are only $42 (Canadian subscribers add $2.52 GST = $44.52). Ask about our reduced rate for branch offices. You can pay online by VISA/MC/AMEX at our secure website or send us money. Please make cheque payable to Hardlines. |
|
HARDLINES holiday publication schedule: no issues on Dec. 10 and 24, 2007, and no issue on Jan. 1, 2008. But because news never sleeps, look for bulletins on breaking stories later this week. |
| HARDLINES Inc. has relocated its World Headquarters to 360 Dupont St., Toronto, ON, M5R 1V9. Our phone number remains the same (416.489.3396). From the new, larger space, we’ll bring you more indepth news, information and analysis through HARDLINES publications. We’ll also continue to provide NRHA Canada’s retail training and support programs, and grow our consumer website, LoveMyPlace.com |
| COMPANIES IN THE NEWS |
| RICHMOND HILL, ON — Bed Bath & Beyond will open its first Canadian store here on Dec. 7. Bed Bath & Beyond is a Union, NJ-based chain of superstores that sells better-quality home furnishing products. In the U.S., it has more than 800 stores, under the Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shop and Harmon banners, in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Most recently, it added buybuy BABY, a Garden City, NY-based retailer of infant and toddler merchandise that has eight stores in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Bed Bath & Beyond, which employs more than 35,000 associates, had sales of $6.6 billion in fiscal 2006, a 13.9% increase over the previous year. _________________________________________ CALGARY — RONA opened its newest store here last week, a 100,000-square-foot big box that includes a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse, a 20,000-square-foot outdoor garden centre and a 15,000-square-foot, drive-through lumberyard. The new location marks RONA’s 44th point of sale in Alberta, which it entered in 2001 with the acquisition of Revy stores. In 2004, RONA opened a 320,000-square-foot distribution centre here to serve as the main supply hub for its network of stores in Western Canada. According to HARDLINES QUARTERLY REPORT'S big box report (available next week) RONA is slated to open five more stores before year’s end. _________________________________________ VANCOUVER — Canadian Tire’s bid to build a store in Vancouver has been narrowly approved by City Council here, according to the Vancouver Sun. The win comes after a two-year struggle with local opponents to the plan, which critics say is environmentally unfriendly. They also argued it would increase traffic and hurt other local merchants. Canadian Tire has confirmed that local traffic would increase by about 7,500 vehicles each weekday, but insists the store will be its greenest in Canada. _________________________________________ WATERDOWN, ON — Hudson’s Bay Co. has opened a 120,000-square-foot Zellers here that it says will be a model of sustainability. The new facility will include energy-producing windmills and an automated energy management system. _________________________________________ MONTREAL — Hurt by a strong dollar and low lumber prices, Tembec is exploring ways to improve its ailing capital structure and liquidity, including the possible sale of non-core assets, cost cutting, and debt refinancing, according to the Canadian Press. The company, which last week reported net income of $22 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $52 million, says strong pulp results were not enough to offset slumping lumber and paper divisions. _________________________________________ DENVER & mdash; Pro-Build Holdings, the largest pro dealer in the United States, has struck an agreement with the owners of HD Supply to acquire its lumber and building materials businesses, which consist of 39 lumberyards located in the Atlanta market and throughout Florida. Carolyn Atkinson, a spokesperson for Pro-Build, confirmed a previous report quoting an HD Supply source that the latter is selling “substantially all of the assets” of the businesses formerly known as Williams Brothers Lumber, Cox Lumber and Forest Products Materials. Combined, those operations also include 32 truss plants, a construction services division and 10 engineered lumber production facilities. _________________________________________ HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — Third-quarter net income for Sears Holdings Corp. dropped to $2 million, compared with net income of $196 million for the same period last year, which included $101 million in pre-tax gains. The year-over-year decline in income is primarily the result of a $223 million drop in gross margin. Sears domestic same-store sales declined 4.2% for the period, while Kmart’s same-store sales dropped 5%. Significant declines were seen in lawn and garden at both formats, which were only partially offset by increased sales of home electronics. _________________________________________ NEW YORK — A record-breaking $733 million was spent online on Cyber Monday — the electronic equivalent of Black Friday — according to a report on Reuters. Market research firm comScore says online sales that day increased 21% over last year, with a 38% rise in the number of shoppers. The amount spent per buyer, however, dropped by 12%. Web sales in the U.S. are being helped by a strong dollar, which is driving Canadian consumers to look for bargains south of the border at both bricks and mortar locations, and online. Nick Dumitru, principal of Basis, a web marketing firm in Toronto, says that online stores could see a 20% drop in e-retail profits this Christmas season. _________________________________________ LONDON — While third-quarter group sales for Kingfisher plc were up 6.4%, retail profit was down 1.9%. Sales for B&Q UK, which is in the process of a store renewal program, were up slightly at 0.8%, although same-store sales slipped 0.2%, and company executives are warning of a further softening of sales in the U.K. French sales were up 5.6%, with same-store sales rising by 2.3%. In the rest of Europe, sales were up 18.6%, led by a strong performance in Poland. Asian sales were up 8.6%, but same-store sales were up just 0.4%, a result of a slowdown of new apartment sales in the Chinese market. _________________________________________ AMSTERDAM — Royal Philips Electronics will buy North American lighting company Genlyte Group. Philips, based here, will pay US$2.7 billion for the Louisville, KY-based Genlyte, which manufactures and sells lighting fixtures, controls and related products. The company has a significant presence in the electrical wholesalers, commercial, and industrial markets, and is well-known among architects, engineers, contractors, and building owners. Just under 90% of its revenues for 2006 were related to that sector, while the rest related to high-end residential applications. The transaction should close early in 2008, at which time Genlyte will be integrated into the Luminaires business group within Philips Lighting. _________________________________________ NEW YORK — New York-based private equity firm Monomoy, which acquired the Anchor Hocking Glass Co. out of Chapter 11 earlier this year, has now bought Indiana Glass Co. and E.O. Brody Co. from Lancaster Colony Corp. Indiana Glass manufactures decorative glassware for the retail, private label and candle/floral market, while E.O. Brody markets and distributes vases made by Indiana Glass to wholesale florists, large floral buying groups and flower shops. The two new companies will merge into Anchor Hocking, which currently employs more than 2,000 people in facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, and has annual sales of $220 million. Canadian subsidiary Anchor Hocking Canada, which is based in Mississauga, ON, sells glassware to such retailers as Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Loblaws, Hbc, and Costco. |
| Noted... |
|
Peter Woolford, vice-president of policy development and research for the Retail Council of Canada, told Reuters that Canada Post has seen the volume of shipments for American retailers jump by an estimated 38% this year. |
|
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Beverly Allen, Publisher Vicky Sanderson, Editor John Caulfield, Contributing Editor Phone: 416-489-3396 Email: bev@hardlines.ca |
| Dec 3rd , 2007, Vol. xiii, #47 | |
| In This Issue | ||
|
“Men travel faster now, but I do not know if they go to better things.” Willa Cather (American novelist, 1892 - 1980) |
||
| Lowe’s Canada launches broadcast media campaign | ||
|
TORONTO — Lowe’s Canada has rolled out a series of four television ads in advance of the openings of its first Canadian stores, which HARDLINES has learned will happen Dec. 10 at the retailer’s Brantford, Hamilton and Brampton, ON locations. The ads, created by BBDO Windsor, started running Nov. 26. They all show Lowe’s Canada employees preparing for the arrival of customers by practicing good customer service, and each spot refers to “every day low prices”. Lowe’s plans for its grand openings include appearances by as-yet-unnamed CFL players and celebrities. The Lowe’s-sponsored NASCAR Team 48 display car will also be on show, and a grand opening sweepstakes contest will offer consumers a chance to win prizes. The day following the Lowe’s openings, Home Depot will unveil a new-concept store in Richmond Hill, ON. It is expected to take further the project-oriented format first introduced last year at stores in East York and Mississauga, ON. As reported in HARDLINES QUARTERLY REPORT (1Q 2007), the latter features new lines of merchandising, signage, and customer service concepts designed to encourage consumers to use Home Depot for every step of a maintenance, renovation or décor project.
(Hardlines TV will be at a pre-opening media tour of one of Lowe’s first Canadian stores later this week. To take your own virtual store tour, keep checking Hardlines.com.)
Top |
||
| Lowe’s, RONA have presence at builder show | ||
|
TORONTO — Construct Canada, the trade expo for companies trying to sell their wares to contractors, builders, and repair and maintenance professionals, is also attracting home improvement retailers that want a share of this lucrative market. RONA inc. exhibited for the first time at the show, held at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre Nov. 28-30. There, Canada’s number-two home improvement retailer was actively promoting its industrial-commercial-institutional (ICI) division to contractors, property managers and building supervisors. It had a large booth that featured its Business Solutions services, under the slogan “Design at Low Cost” as well as showcasing products from some of its key vendors, such as faucets from Belanger and commercial property items such as multiple-unit mail boxes by Cendrex. While RONA’s main competitor, Home Depot Canada, was not present (HD Supply, formerly owned by HD, was, however), Canada’s newcomer to the home improvement scene, Lowe’s, had a small booth at the very back of the show, where vp Allen Huggins was on hand to talk about Lowe’s service commitment to passersby.
The two companies offered a study in contrasts. RONA was out to make a big splash, with as many as 15 people in its booth on day one of the show. Huggins, with one colleague on hand, was simply chatting up Lowe’s “Pro Services” program and commercial credit card. Taking a low-key approach, Huggins and his team handed out photocopied Mapquest maps of its new-store locations, underlined by a customer service message. “At Lowe’s we’re all about customer service,” he said.
|
||
| Some Wal-Mart stores offer 24-hour holiday shopping | ||
|
MISSISSAUGA — Eighty Wal-Mart stores in Canada will remain open 24 hours a day until Christmas Eve, a 25% increase in the number of stores that participated in the extended hours program last year. Wal-Mart began testing extended holiday and back-to-school shopping periods in 2005. At that time, the company thought the idea would be a novelty. But full-day shopping has become increasingly common, and Wal-Mart recently implemented a 24-hour schedule year-round at a Winnipeg store. The program has been modified in parts of Manitoba and New Brunswick, where bylaws related to Sunday shopping prevent full-day openings. The desire to make shopping easier for time-starved consumers is behind the extended hours.“We hear again and again, the single most meaningful change we can make for holiday shoppers is to deliver convenience. What’s more convenient than a store open whenever you’re ready to shop?” Sylvain Prud’homme, Wal-Mart Canada’s senior vice-president of operations, said in a statement. Top |
||
| Sears offers to purchase Restoration Hardware | ||
|
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — Sears Holdings has offered to purchase Restoration Hardware, the home-furnishings and décor dealer based in Corte Madera, CA, for $296 million, or $6.75 per share, a nickel more than the purchase price that Restoration Hardware had already agreed to from another bidder, the private equity firm Catterton Partners. The Wall Street Journal reports that Restoration Hardware will provide Sears with confidential financial information it has requested. Sears reportedly has $2.6 billion in cash on hand, and already owns nearly one-seventh of Restoration’s outstanding shares of common stock, which it purchased during the past quarter. Restoration Hardware operates 110 stores that, through the first half of its fiscal year, generated $325.9 million in sales but reported a net loss of $21.7 million. During this period, the company extended its catalogue to include bed and bath products. Industry watchers have expressed surprise at Sears Holdings’ move on the specialty dealer, whose custom base doesn’t match those of Sears or Kmart. Forbes quotes one analyst who calls the bid “insane” because it weakens Sears’ efforts to turn around its own retail entities. (For Sears Holdings’ 3Q financial results, see Companies in the News.) Top |
||
| Wolseley announces more cuts for North America | ||
|
LONDON — Wolseley plc, the giant building products distributor based here, announced last week that it planned to cut another 1,300 people from the ranks of its North American operations, which include the pro dealer chain Stock Building Supply and the plumbing distributor Ferguson Enterprises. These cuts would be on top of the 1,700-person reduction the company made in the previous three months. Wolseley expects the move will save the company £60 million annually. After making these latest cuts, Wolseley will have reduced Stock’s workforce by one-third, and Ferguson’s by more than 10%, from their respective peaks. “The Group continues to take swift and decisive action in the more challenging business conditions,” says Chip Hornsby, Wolseley’s Group CEO. He pointed specifically to the slow U.S. housing market and the weakness of the dollar as contributing factors. During the three months ended Oct. 31, Wolseley’s revenue in North America fell by 10% and its operating profit was off 30%. Stock reported a net loss in the quarter, and its sales for the quarter were off 25%. While Wolseley doesn’t expect further cuts will be needed, it doesn’t expect the economy to improve much, either. “In the USA, the housing market is likely to deteriorate further until the current high levels of unsold inventory have declined and the full effects of problems in the subprime market have been assimilated,” it states in its interim report. Top |
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Marketplace |
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Sell your company - or buy one - with Hardlines Classifieds!
Do your executive search, find new lines or get new reps in the Hardlines Marketplace.
Only $2.75 per word for three weeks in the classifieds.
To place your ad, call Brady Peever at 416-489-3396 or email: brady@hardlines.ca
|
||
|
To ensure you receive your Hardlines newsletter each week, please add admin@hardlines.ca to your address book.
Did your email system make this newsletter unreadable? You can read it online instead . Publishing Details: Hardlines is published weekly (except monthly in December and August) by HARDLINES Inc. Hardlines 360 Dupont Street, Toronto, Ontario M5R 1V9 © 2007 by HARDLINES Inc. HARDLINES™ the electronic newsletter hardlines.ca ; Phone: 416.489.3396; Fax: 416.489.6154 Beverly Allen, Publisher - bev@hardlines.ca Vicky Sanderson - Editor - vicky@hardlines.ca Michael McLarney - President - mike@hardlines.ca Brady Peever - Circulation Manager - brady@hardlines.ca The Hardlines "Fair Play" Policy:Reproduction in whole or in part is very uncool and strictly forbidden and really and truly against the law. So please, play fair! Call for information on multiple subscriptions or a site license for your company. We do want as many people as possible to read Hardlines each week - but let us handle your internal routing from this end! Subscription: $265 (Canadian subscribers add $15.90 GST = $280.90 per year/ GST #13987 0398 RT). Secondary subscriptions at the same office are only $42 (Canadian subscribers add $2.52 GST = $44.52). Ask about our reduced rate for branch offices. You can pay online by VISA/MC/AMEX at our secure website or send us money. Please make cheque payable to Hardlines. |
|
HARDLINES holiday publication schedule: no issues on Dec. 10 and 24, 2007, and no issue on Jan. 1, 2008. But because news never sleeps, look for bulletins on breaking stories later this week. |
| HARDLINES Inc. has relocated its World Headquarters to 360 Dupont St., Toronto, ON, M5R 1V9. Our phone number remains the same (416.489.3396). From the new, larger space, we’ll bring you more indepth news, information and analysis through HARDLINES publications. We’ll also continue to provide NRHA Canada’s retail training and support programs, and grow our consumer website, LoveMyPlace.com |
| COMPANIES IN THE NEWS |
| RICHMOND HILL, ON — Bed Bath & Beyond will open its first Canadian store here on Dec. 7. Bed Bath & Beyond is a Union, NJ-based chain of superstores that sells better-quality home furnishing products. In the U.S., it has more than 800 stores, under the Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shop and Harmon banners, in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Most recently, it added buybuy BABY, a Garden City, NY-based retailer of infant and toddler merchandise that has eight stores in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Virginia. Bed Bath & Beyond, which employs more than 35,000 associates, had sales of $6.6 billion in fiscal 2006, a 13.9% increase over the previous year. _________________________________________ CALGARY — RONA opened its newest store here last week, a 100,000-square-foot big box that includes a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse, a 20,000-square-foot outdoor garden centre and a 15,000-square-foot, drive-through lumberyard. The new location marks RONA’s 44th point of sale in Alberta, which it entered in 2001 with the acquisition of Revy stores. In 2004, RONA opened a 320,000-square-foot distribution centre here to serve as the main supply hub for its network of stores in Western Canada. According to HARDLINES QUARTERLY REPORT'S big box report (available next week) RONA is slated to open five more stores before year’s end. _________________________________________ VANCOUVER — Canadian Tire’s bid to build a store in Vancouver has been narrowly approved by City Council here, according to the Vancouver Sun. The win comes after a two-year struggle with local opponents to the plan, which critics say is environmentally unfriendly. They also argued it would increase traffic and hurt other local merchants. Canadian Tire has confirmed that local traffic would increase by about 7,500 vehicles each weekday, but insists the store will be its greenest in Canada. _________________________________________ WATERDOWN, ON — Hudson’s Bay Co. has opened a 120,000-square-foot Zellers here that it says will be a model of sustainability. The new facility will include energy-producing windmills and an automated energy management system. _________________________________________ MONTREAL — Hurt by a strong dollar and low lumber prices, Tembec is exploring ways to improve its ailing capital structure and liquidity, including the possible sale of non-core assets, cost cutting, and debt refinancing, according to the Canadian Press. The company, which last week reported net income of $22 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $52 million, says strong pulp results were not enough to offset slumping lumber and paper divisions. _________________________________________ DENVER & mdash; Pro-Build Holdings, the largest pro dealer in the United States, has struck an agreement with the owners of HD Supply to acquire its lumber and building materials businesses, which consist of 39 lumberyards located in the Atlanta market and throughout Florida. Carolyn Atkinson, a spokesperson for Pro-Build, confirmed a previous report quoting an HD Supply source that the latter is selling “substantially all of the assets” of the businesses formerly known as Williams Brothers Lumber, Cox Lumber and Forest Products Materials. Combined, those operations also include 32 truss plants, a construction services division and 10 engineered lumber production facilities. _________________________________________ HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL — Third-quarter net income for Sears Holdings Corp. dropped to $2 million, compared with net income of $196 million for the same period last year, which included $101 million in pre-tax gains. The year-over-year decline in income is primarily the result of a $223 million drop in gross margin. Sears domestic same-store sales declined 4.2% for the period, while Kmart’s same-store sales dropped 5%. Significant declines were seen in lawn and garden at both formats, which were only partially offset by increased sales of home electronics. _________________________________________ NEW YORK — A record-breaking $733 million was spent online on Cyber Monday — the electronic equivalent of Black Friday — according to a report on Reuters. Market research firm comScore says online sales that day increased 21% over last year, with a 38% rise in the number of shoppers. The amount spent per buyer, however, dropped by 12%. Web sales in the U.S. are being helped by a strong dollar, which is driving Canadian consumers to look for bargains south of the border at both bricks and mortar locations, and online. Nick Dumitru, principal of Basis, a web marketing firm in Toronto, says that online stores could see a 20% drop in e-retail profits this Christmas season. _________________________________________ LONDON — While third-quarter group sales for Kingfisher plc were up 6.4%, retail profit was down 1.9%. Sales for B&Q UK, which is in the process of a store renewal program, were up slightly at 0.8%, although same-store sales slipped 0.2%, and company executives are warning of a further softening of sales in the U.K. French sales were up 5.6%, with same-store sales rising by 2.3%. In the rest of Europe, sales were up 18.6%, led by a strong performance in Poland. Asian sales were up 8.6%, but same-store sales were up just 0.4%, a result of a slowdown of new apartment sales in the Chinese market. _________________________________________ AMSTERDAM — Royal Philips Electronics will buy North American lighting company Genlyte Group. Philips, based here, will pay US$2.7 billion for the Louisville, KY-based Genlyte, which manufactures and sells lighting fixtures, controls and related products. The company has a significant presence in the electrical wholesalers, commercial, and industrial markets, and is well-known among architects, engineers, contractors, and building owners. Just under 90% of its revenues for 2006 were related to that sector, while the rest related to high-end residential applications. The transaction should close early in 2008, at which time Genlyte will be integrated into the Luminaires business group within Philips Lighting. _________________________________________ NEW YORK — New York-based private equity firm Monomoy, which acquired the Anchor Hocking Glass Co. out of Chapter 11 earlier this year, has now bought Indiana Glass Co. and E.O. Brody Co. from Lancaster Colony Corp. Indiana Glass manufactures decorative glassware for the retail, private label and candle/floral market, while E.O. Brody markets and distributes vases made by Indiana Glass to wholesale florists, large floral buying groups and flower shops. The two new companies will merge into Anchor Hocking, which currently employs more than 2,000 people in facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, and has annual sales of $220 million. Canadian subsidiary Anchor Hocking Canada, which is based in Mississauga, ON, sells glassware to such retailers as Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, Loblaws, Hbc, and Costco. |
| Noted... |
|
Peter Woolford, vice-president of policy development and research for the Retail Council of Canada, told Reuters that Canada Post has seen the volume of shipments for American retailers jump by an estimated 38% this year. |
