Fastenal’s Q2 sales approach $1 billion

Winona, Minnesota-based Fastenal, the fastener distributor and industry supply business, reported net sales of $997.8 million in the second quarter ended June 30 – up 5.0% from the second quarter last year.

Net earnings increased 7.5% to $140.4 million.

“We believe the operating income growth we achieved, despite the weak business environment, was meaningful,” the company said in its press release announcing its results.

The past six months have seen contraction in heavy manufacturing industry, which has hurt Fastenal’s business, the company said. The market for the company’s non-fastener business has also “weakened” in the last six months.

“During this time frame, our non-fastener product line has seen its daily sales growth decrease from about 18% in the last six months of 2014 to about 9% in the second quarter of 2015,” the company said.

Fastenal’s store count of 2,616 locations at the end of the second quarter was down 2.5% from 2,637 from a year ago.

The company emphasized a milestone during the quarter – the number of FAST Solutions industrial vending machines crossed the 50,000 mark. There are 50,620 such vending machines in operation currently. That’s up 15.7% from a year ago.