Fastenal Co. reported the decline in fastener sales that began in March due to the pandemic continued to slow in November, with sales down only 1.7% compared to an 6.9% decrease in the third quarter of 2020.

Overall sales at Fastenal increased 6.8% to $441.03 million in November, while daily sales totaled $22.05 million during the month.

Sales in the U.S. improved 5.4%, while sales in Canada and Mexico increased 9.7% and sales in Europe and Asia gained 28.7%.

By end market, sales to manufacturing customers grew 1.4%, with sales to non-residential construction customers were down 10.2% in November.

The company’s workforce decreased 7.6% during the month to 20,357 employees.  Distribution personnel shrank 10.7% to 2,603 while manufacturing personnel fell 10.6% to 613 workers.

During the third quarter, Fastenal fastener daily sales fell 6.9% to $431.05 million (30.5% of total sales), including a 6.1% decline in September.  Overall Q3 sales increased 2.5% to $1.41 billion, with gross profit down 1.6% to $640.6 million and net earnings rising 3.7% to $221.5 million.  Safety product sales grew 34.4% to $336.4 million (23.8% of total sales) during the quarter.

During the first nine months of 2020, Fastenal sold approximately $1.27 billion worth of fasteners, down 8.5% from the approximately $1.39 billion in fastener sales during the first nine months of 2019.  Overall nine-month sales gained 5.7% to $4.29 billion, with operating income up 7.2% to $877.4 million and net earnings improving 8.3% to $663 million.  Web: Fastenal.com