Lawson Income Improves

Jason Sandefur

Lawson Products reported sales rose 3.5% to $96.6 million during the fourth quarter of 2003, while net income soared to $3.9 million compared with $200,000 during Q4 of 2002. Q4 MRO sales grew 1.4% to $79.2 million, and OEM sales improved 14.3% to $17.4 million.

Overall sales for 2003 gained 0.4% to $389.1 million, with net income increasing 30% to $16.2 million. Des Plaines, IL-based Lawson announced MRO sales for 2003 dropped 0.7% to $321 million, and full-year OEM sales rose 6.2% to $68.1 million.
CEO Robert Washlow declared U.S. market conditions remain �difficult.�

�During a challenging economic environment in 2003, we achieved increased sales and substantial improvements in net income and net margin,� Washlow stated. �We are encouraged by fourth quarter sales across each of our business segments which reflected improvement over the same period last year.� Web: lawsonproducts.com �2004 FastenerNews.com