Fastenal – No. 12 on Industrial Distribution's 2014 Big 50 List – reported its sales and operations figures for the month of July on Wednesday.
The company posted sales of $334.05 million in the month, a 3.2 percent gain over last year, and a 4.3 percent decline from June's year-high of $349.0 million.
The July daily sales growth of 3.2 percent was a third straight month of daily sales growth decline, a trend that covers six of Fastenal's past seven months, beginning with January's 12.0 percent.
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July sales to manufacturing customers grew by 3.4 percent, while sales to non-residential construction customers declined by 2.4 percent.
Fastenal opened two new stores in July and didn't close any, bringing its total store count to 2,618. Its store count at the end of July 2014 was 2,684. Fastenal has opened 10 new stores through the first seven months of 2015.
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The company's total employee count continued its steady climb in July as the company net added 98 employees in the month to a total of 19,625. That figure is an 8.1 percent increase over the end of July 2014. Fastenal net added 96 selling personnel, bringing that total to 12,678, a 3.6 percent year-over-year increase. Fastenal now has 1,493 more selling personnel than it did at the end of 2014, a 13.35 percent net gain since then. Fastenal's distribution (2,332) and administrative (1,013) personnel also had slight gains in July, while manufacturing (657) personnel count stayed the same.
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