Posted July 27, 2010
Lawson Products sales up 6.9 percent
Lawson Products reported Q2 net sales grew 6.9% to $101.6 million, primarily reflecting a modest improvement in the economy and continued growth with strategic, governmental and automotive customers.
Gross profit increased to $58.6 million in the second quarter of 2010, a $2.8 million improvement over the prior year second quarter. Gross profit margin was 57.7% compared to 58.8% in 2009. The margin decline was primarily due to a change in the customer mix to higher volume customers and an increase in the proportion of total sales generated by the lower margin OEM segment.
Net sales for the six months ended June 30 were $196.7 million, a 1.2% improvement over net sales of $194.4 million in the first half of 2009. Gross profit increased to $114.1 million for the six months ended 2010, a $4.1 million increase over last year's period.
"We were encouraged during the second quarter by signs that the economy is continuing to stabilize. Sales and operating results continue to trend positively as we make investments to transform our business. Our balance sheet continues to be strong, even as we increased our working capital during the quarter to support higher sales," said Thomas Neri, president and chief executive officer.
