Walking up my office stairs yesterday I felt something give out in my knee. I screamed out and could tell my knee couldn’t bear any weight. Near the top of the stairs was a Solution Industries baseball bat which I grabbed and used to support my weight like a walking cane. Ended up going to Cleveland Clinic Express Care which only served to get me an appointment to see an Orthopedic doctor sometime in early August. Seems a little better this morning but I still can’t climb stairs any better than one at a time (right foot up, then drag the left to the stair. Right foot up..). So, I’m staying put in the office today and that finally gives me a few minutes to post something on this sight which I have largely ignored for months. And candidly, it has been the better choice. Nothing against blog posts or social media stuff but business has just been outstanding. Activity has been outstanding. There are not enough days in the week to get everything done that comes to my mind and I’ve just been chasing too many income producing ideas to sit still and write much. And it also seems that the industry has been in that same mode. Not a ton of news lately other than a few stories here and there.
Acquisitions are always a topic of interest out in the field. Everyone wants to hear or talk about who might be acquiring who. I don’t always hear a lot of rumors and would not write them if I did. But I have heard that plenty of fastener distributors are aggressively looking to acquire other fastener distributors – they are very open and public about that. Lately, I think I have heard more talk about distributor activity than I have about suppliers looking to acquire other suppliers. Then again, one would think that stuff is being kept pretty quiet anyways. And until something actually happens, it’s all just talk anyways.
2017 has seemed to be a very strong year. I read an article in Fastener Industries News reporting on and NFDA meeting. In the article it quoted economist/speaker Alan Beulieu saying “there is so much positive going on”and added “these are the ‘good ol’ days'”. To get his full report, either read the article or join NFDA and hear it live for yourself but Mr. Beaulieu is very optimistic. The Fastener Distributor Index headed up by Fasteners Clearing House would also support the fact that we are enjoying a very strong market. The FDI has been above 60 for the last couple months! And if you do not know what the FDI is then go check out the Fasteners Clearing House or Fully Threaded Radio websites.
We are still in vacation season but past the 4th of July now. we are turning the corner and heading into the 2nd half of the year. All good the 1st half. Soon we will be talking about the Vegas Show and where everyone will be staying this year and where the show will be in 2018. And what are you going to do about Fastener Fair USA anyways? All I know is that it is my backyard and I’d offer to have a cookout at the house but Cleveland weather in April can be iffy. I’ll buy you a drink on E. 4th though if you hang around in the evening.
Feel free to share any thoughts or observations on what you see going on in your market. It’s like we are keeping up until we run into each other in Vegas.