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Fastenal 1st-quarter Profit Falls 29 Percent

The Associated Press

WINONA, Minn. (AP) — Industrial equipment maker Fastenal Co. said Tuesday its first-quarter profit dropped 29 percent as the continued economic slump cut into the company's sales.

Fastenal earned $48.7 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $68.1 million, or 46 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. Sales dropped 14 percent to $489.3 million from $566.2 million in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 34 cents per share on $498 million in revenue.

Fastenal said the weak economy hurt its industrial production business in particular, which involves products the company supplies to other manufactures for use in their finished products.

In an effort to offset the sales decline, Fastenal said it has temporarily slowed its new store openings to a rate of 2 percent to 5 percent per year and stopped hiring new employees except for store openings and for stores that are growing.

The company said it did get some relief from lower fuel prices. Fastenal said its total vehicle fuel costs averaged about $1.7 million per month during the recent quarter, down from about $2.9 million per month in the year-ago period.