Vol. 61 No. 20 A Hearst Business Publication October 22/29, 2012 $4
FLOOR COVERING WEEKLY
Periodical
Photos courtesy of Galleher,
Jaeckle, Apollo and J.J. Haines
For breaking news updated each business day, visit us online at www.fcw1.com
Challenges force
pursuit of scale
By Raymond Pina
9
FEI holds
annual meeting
Recent acquisitions made by CMH Space Flooring, William M. Bird and Belknap-White,
three of FCW’s Top 25 Distributors, highlight an ongoing expansion strategy by large
regional players, according to the executives who orchestrated the investments.
“To compete in distribution today, you need to carry a broad array of lines, maintain
huge inventories and grow your territory,” said Hoy Lanning, CEO, CMH Space Flooring
Products. “If you don’t have lots of customers in a broad area to sell all this inventory
to, it’s very diffi cult to get favorable returns on investment. It makes good business sense
to consolidate costs by expanding.” CMH is No. 3 on the Top 25 listing.
Lanning kicked off fi ve months of acquisitions and expansion in the Northeast with
the May 9 acquisition of select Bayard assets. Based in Philadelphia, Bayard was ranked
No. 24 on FCW’s 2011 list of Top 25 distributors. Bayard fi led for bankruptcy on July 2.
Based in Wadesboro, N.C., CMH already solidifi ed its position in the Southeast with
its 2008 acquisition of Georgia-based Space Flooring followed by the 2010 purchase of
Continued on page 6
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