ACD Press Release

Arlington, VA
August 24, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Matthew McKinney
(703) 527-6223 x3074
mmckinney@nacd.com

Chemical Distribution Industry Productivity Report Reveals Continued Increases in Sales and Profitability

Recently released results from the National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) annual Company Productivity Report show a continued aggregate increase in sales in the chemical distribution industry. The report finds that industry firms experienced a dollar sales growth of 2.1 percent in 2015.

“With an economic impact of more than $14 billion annually, chemical distributors play an important role in the American economy,” said NACD president Eric R. Byer. “Our members continue to feel the effects of sluggish economic growth, but are still increasing sales growth and profitability in a time when wholesale sales growth is seeing an overall decline.”

While real sales growth measured by the physical throughput of pounds of chemical products moving through non-third-party warehouses was lower, the majority of industry segments experienced higher profitability in the products they sold. Those segments include distributors that primarily deal in liquid products, factory packaged products, or a mix of the two.

Other noteworthy highlights of 2015 industry performance include:

Overall asset turnover was lower for all three industry segments;
Sales per employee were lower in the aggregate among survey participants for the third consecutive year, going from $1,200,010 in 2013 to $1,067,000 in 2015; and
Total payroll expense as a percentage of sales increased to 9.9 percent in 2015, versus 9.5 percent in each of the two previous years, based on all NACD participants in the aggregate. However, this payroll cost performance is still much lower than most other wholesale distribution industries.

The study is produced for NACD by Industry Insights, a professional services firm specializing in survey research for trade and professional organizations. For more information about the Company Productivity Report, contact Tom Noon at tnoon@indins.com.

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