HARDLINES™
Five years serving Canada's home improvement industry
October 9, 2000 - Volume vi, #38
Michael McLarney, Editor & Publisher
Ph: 416-489-3396 Fx: 416-489-6154
E-mail: buzz@hardlinesfax.com Check out our incredible Classifieds section!* * * * * *
* Reorganization at Canadian Tire puts familiar names back in spotlight
* Owens Corning files for bankruptcy protection under weight of asbestos claims
* TruServ in U.S. sells LBM division to BMA
* Patriarch of renowned Toronto hardware store passes away
* * * * * *THE HARDLINES MARKETPLACE is a great place to announce new lines or acquisitions, services or lines available. And of course the Hardlines Classifieds are an effective, low-cost way to hire new people. Just $16 per line, each Marketplace Ad runs for two weeks in the fax version and three weeks in the email version - and it gets posted on our website. Your ad will be read by more than 3,000 people every single week - and that doesn't even count the thousands of hits we get on our Website! Bev takes care of the Classifieds so contact her: bev@hardlinesfax.com or call her at 416-489-3396.HARDLINES WHO'S WHO 2000-2001 EDITION: The only annual guide to Canada's leading hardware and home improvement retailers, wholesalers, buying groups, mass merchants and co-ops. It lists more than 100 companies. Each listing features executives, product categories, sales, number of outlets, buyers, etc. No salesperson or marketing person should be without this little beauty! In fact, some of our subscribers are buying three and four copies, so the whole sales force will be armed with the right names and numbers while they're on the road. Don't be caught without it!The cost is only $125 for subscribers, or $165 for non-subscribers (+ GST/HST).Order onlineor call us at 416-489-3396.CANADIAN TIRE ANNOUNCES KEY EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS, CORPORATE REALIGNMENTCanadian Tire Corp. has been restructured into three business units: Canadian Tire Retail; Canadian Tire Financial Services; and New Business Development. The shuffle was made under the leadership of recently appointed president and CEO Wayne Sales.The retail unit includes strategic growth and development of the store network, petroleum outlets and its eventual online consumer business (reportedly to roll out by the end of this year). Mark Foote has been appointed president of the retail division, reporting directly to Sales. He was most recently senior vice-president, marketing at CTC.Also within Canadian Tire Retail, Pat Sinnott has been appointed senior vice-president, supply chain, reporting to Foote.Canadian Tire Financial Services will handle the growth and operation of CTC's financial services, including developing new financial products and services that will leverage the Canadian Tire brand. Tom Gauld continues in his role as president.New Business Development will operate as a stand-alone entity, responsible for developing new business ideas outside of Canadian Tire Retail and Canadian Tire Financial Services. This business unit is intended to play a key role in CTC's overall longer-term growth strategy. The head for this division has not yet been appointed.(See "People on the move" for more CTC appointments.)* * * * * *OWENS CORNING FILES CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY PROTECTIONFaced with insurmountable lawsuit claims, Owens Corning filed for bankruptcy protection last Thursday. As a result of class action suits filed by more than 440,000 people who claimed to have been stricken with cancer or asbestosis as a result of exposure to asbestos, the company faces payouts exceeding US$5 billion. Payments in 2000 alone will reach US$600 million, more than OC's expected sales from building products this year. Another US$2 billion in payouts is expected still to come.Owens Corning, which along with two dozen other companies, including Johns Manville, have faced lawsuits from people who claimed that asbestos, used in insulation for everything from schools to submarines until the late 1960s, made them sick. It filed voluntarily under Chapter 11, which provides protection from creditors while the company reorganizes. The company stopped selling asbestos products in 1972. COMPANIES IN THE NEWSBuilder Marts of America has bought up the lumber and building materials division of TruServ Corp., a move which represents about one-third of TruServ's wholesale business, according to a report in National Home Centre News. BMA is part of Guardian Building Products, which also owns Cameron Ashley Building Products.Weyerhaeuser's Chemainus sawmill on Vancouver Island has been certified to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) Standard. The standard is registered through an independent audit by the Quality Management Institute, a division of CSA. Weyerhaeuser intends to complete EMS implementation for all its timberlands by 2002.Premdor Inc. has announced it will buy up Masonite Corp. from International Paper at a cost of US$523 million. Masonite, whose net asset value is about $558 million, had net sales US$301 million in 1999. Masonite is a major manufacturer of moulded door facings and produces a variety of industrial softboard and other wood composite products. TruServ Corp. has announced it will close its Indianapolis regional distribution centre sometime during the first quarter of 2001. Stores currently served by the warehouse will be supplied from TruServ's Atlanta, Harvard IL, Kansas City and Cleveland. The closure, part of TruServ's efforts to streamline its operations, will affect 135 staff working at the facility. CORRECTION: Last week's article should have said eight Wal-Marts in the U.S. will start selling GE major appliances next month, not Sears. Sears, of course, has been selling white goods, including GE, for many years in the U.S. CANADIAN STOCK WATCH