Lake Forest, IL-based W.W. Grainger reported a 6% increase in third-quarter sales, to $1.5 billion for the three months ended Sept 30. What’s more, the maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies conglomerate–whose catalogs include Lab Safety Supply, Gempler’s, and Ben Meadows–reported a 19% increase in net earnings, to $104.5 million.
The acquisition of Rand Materials Handling Equipment Co. in January 2006 contributed four percentage points to the sales growth. Like the Lab Safety Supply brand, the $16 million Rand sells industrial storage and safety supplies via print catalogs and the Web.