Robert W. Baird & Co., Inc., has completed its latest quarterly survey of the gases and hardgoods industry in partnership with CryoGas International.
This survey provides a comparison of the industrial gas and hardgoods distribution group to overall distribution of groups like ours.
David J. Manthey, CFA, gave a presentation on the survey at the recent GAWDA Spring Management Conference in Savannah, Georgia. Manthey is Senior Research Analyst for Industrial Distribution & Services at Baird. He described the larger economy in which our industry operates as “a world awash in too much of everything.” This overload puts pressure on markets and has created lackluster growth. “2016”, says Manthey, “will be a year fraught with challenges.”
The first quarter 2016 Baird survey results of independent gas distributors support Manthey’s comments, reporting the revenue trajectory for gases in 1Q16 at 2.1 percent, a nearly four-percent downward shift year-over-year, and hardgoods revenue at -0.2 percent. The pricing trajectory had a slight uptick for gases from 4Q15, at 1.7 percent, while hardgoods is roughly flat here as well, at -0.1 percent.
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