BURLINGTON, ONTARIO — S.B. Simpson Group, Inc. purchased Kingsway Industrial Supplies Services, Ltd., of Peterborough, Ontario, effective April 1, 2003. The addition of Kingsway, a general-line distributor, adds an eastern Ontario branch to the nine-location company.

Former Kingsway partners John Thompson and Jim Fairs will stay on as managers, said vice president Scott Simpson.

Simpson said the automotive business in southern Ontario has remained strong through 2002, but that the Canadian economy is deeply tied to that of the United States. His managers are waiting for the American economy to start rolling again.

"In 2002, we had a better than average year, due to automotive," he said. "To grow, we need market share. So, we have to be better and more aggressive than the competition."

Simpson's grandfather and father started S.B. Simpson in 1960, as a manufacturer's representative firm. In the 1970s, the company opened a branch in Mississauga, Ontario. The management team includes Simpson's father, Craig, president; sister Michelle Olmstead, comptroller; and Michelle's husband, Jamie Olmstead, regional operations manager.

Previous acquisitions, beginning in 1987, include: Duncan's Industrial Hardware, Jackson Robson Industrials, Marshall Industrial, Systematic Fluid Power, PFI Industrials, Olympia Industrial and Mark Industrial. The company bought a distributor each year for the last seven years.

Simpson acknowledges that he's "bucking the trend" by buying companies in the current economic climate. He says S.B Simpson will continue on its growth path, adding three more companies by 2006. S.B. Simpson grossed $30 million Canadian last year and plans to gross about $50 million in 2006.