WAYNE, Pa. — Calling on strengths like adaptability, innovation, independence and leadership, the AD community is seeing signs of stabilization and recovery as it reports 2020 nine-month results. On a year-to-date basis, group purchases from AD suppliers were down slightly, by 2%. Net rebate distributions to members were at the same level as 2019. September’s member purchases from AD supplier partners saw a 1% increase from the same time last year, the first increase since April.
On a same-store basis, member sales across all AD’s divisions and countries were down 6% through the first nine months of this year, to $33 billion. By business unit, nine-month Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Piping same store sales were down 2%; Electrical sales were down 7%; Building Materials sales were down 6%; and Industrial and Safety sales were down 9%.
AD’s CEO Bill Weisberg said, “Our community has always been passionate about growth, and while we’re powering through and surviving the toughest times we’ve faced in a long time, we are making a collective commitment to getting back to what we do best: growing, leading and innovating. I’m immensely optimistic about our ability to rebound from these challenges and come back stronger than ever.”
AD also announced a merger agreement with pipe, valves and fittings buying group Delta Distributors effective Jan. 1, 2021.
Delta, which started about the same time AD launched its PVF Division, is a premier group of independent distributors serving the PVF channel. Their member sales across the U.S are over $3 billion. This merger joins Delta’s members with AD’s PVF members and will bring collective member sales in AD’s PVF Division to over $11 billion.
Weisberg said the process engaged AD’s corporate and divisional board members and executive leadership in evaluating the financial and cultural benefits of joining the two groups.
“Together, we see tremendous benefits from this merger to leverage our scale for our AD PVF Division members, the AD community at large, and the new Delta members we’ll welcome in January,” Weisberg said. “Delta’s members are extremely well-regarded in the industry. Our two groups share a strong history of serving and advocating for independents. We consider many of them to be good friends, and we’re honored to have them join our community.”
Delta Board Director Bill Vail, CEO of Deacon Industrial Supply, said, “We’re thrilled to join forces with AD to continue our work on behalf of the incredible independent distributors in our industry. Leading up to this point, we had substantial interactions with the AD team and I’m confident combining our two groups will lead to continued growth for all our outstanding member companies and suppliers.”
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