Fastenal – No. 12 on Industrial Distribution's 2015 Big 50 List – shared its monthly sales figures for the month of October on Tuesday, which showed a continued stretch of declining sales compared to last year.
The company posted October sales of $337.98 million, down 5.1 percent from a year ago, with daily sales down 0.8 percent compared to October 2014, which had one more selling day.
It was the fourth straight month that Fastenal had a smaller daily sales growth than last year, and second straight month of decline. June posted an 8.6 percent growth, followed by 3.2 percent growth in July, 1.6 percent growth in August, and a 0.3 percent decline in September.
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The Winona, Minnesota-based company noted that the impact of currency headwinds in October – primarily from Canada – were negative 1.2 percent. Currency headwinds had a negative 0.6 percent impact in October 2014.
Fastenal's October daily sales to manufacturing customers declined 0.7 percent, and daily sales to non-residential construction customers declined 4.7 percent.
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Fastenal opened 13 new stores in the month due to its acquisition of Spokane, WA-based Fasteners Inc., bringing its nationwide total to 2,626. That total is down 21 stores from the end of October 2014. The company has opened 30 new stores so far 2015.
The Fasteners Inc. addition gained Fastenal considerable personnel, as total employee headcount at the end of October was up 2.7 percent from September to 20,527. That figure is up 11.2 percent from the end of October 2014. Fastenal net gained 286 selling personnel last month to 12,898, which is up 8.2 percent from a year ago. Fastenal also net gained 59 distribution personnel in October to 2,369, a figure up 7.0 percent from last year.
Fastenal said the Fasteners Inc. acquisition added 171 full-time employees, which includes 125 store personnel, two non-store selling personnel, 41 distribution personnel, and three administrative personnel.
Fastenal will release its November sales figures on Dec. 4.
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