Fastenal sales climb 13.3%
Fastenal reported that it ended 2012 with annual sales of $3.13 billion, a gain of 13.3% compared to the previous year.
Net earnings for the year were $420.5 million, or $1.42 per share, compared to $357.9 million, or $1.21 per share, the previous year.
Fourth-quarter sales were $757.2 million, an 8.5% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. Net earnings for the quarter were $98.7 million, or 33 cents per share, compared to $87.4 million, or 30 cents per share, in the same period last year.
The company opened 80 new stores, an increase of 3.1% since December 2011, and now operates 2,652 stores. It also reported operating 21,095 industrial vending machines, with 13,642 installations taking place in 2012.
"We intend to continue our aggressive push with FAST Solutions (industrial vending) and, to this end, have established an internal goal to sign 30,000 machines in 2013, or 2,500 per month rather than per quarter. This is an aggressive goal, but we believe we can hit this run rate during 2013," the company said in its earnings statement.
INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY MAGAZINE
The May/June issue of Industrial Supply magazine features an in-depth cover story about GHX Industrial. Plus, we're featuring articles by contributing writers Dr. Bharani Nagarathnam and Frank Hurtte, as well as interviews with numerous product and distribution industry experts.
