Grainger Industrial Supply has revealed sales growth in Q1 2019.
The maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) product supplier saw sales of $2.8 billion in Q1 increase 3% daily, versus $2.8 billion in the 2018 first quarter.
On a constant currency basis, daily sales were up 4% and up 4.5% after normalising for the impact of a prior year change in accounting estimate – a small group of US customers were transitioned from cash to accrual basis of accounting as a result of their improved credit profile.
"In the first quarter of 2019, we continued to demonstrate our ability to drive profitable growth. While our sales performance was softer than expected, largely due to a weaker demand environment, our SG&A leverage helped drive strong earnings growth in the quarter," said DG Macpherson, Chairman and CEO. "We remain confident in our ability to gain share and generate SG&A leverage in 2019. We are reiterating our 2019 total company guidance ranges, including sales growth of 4 to 8.5% and operating margin of 12.2% to 13%."
Grainger, recently named one of Fortune's most admired companies, owns Fabory and Cromwell and launched an online fastener and tool supplier, Zoro, to the UK last year.
