By Amy Antenora
The Week in Review offers a snapshot of the most highly read stories of the week as seen on aftermarketNews. To access the complete stories, simply click on the highlighted links. If you missed reading one of our daily news emails, just click on the link that says "News Archives" at the bottom of the page to begin catching up on the latest industry news.
Leading off our most-viewed news stories this week is a follow-up Executive Interview with Max Dull, vice president and general manager of Beck/Arnley and Uni-Select President and CEO Richard Roy, regarding Uni-Select’s June 1 acquisition of Beck/Arnley. In the interview, the two executives provide additional details about this unique purchase of an import parts maker by a leading program group.
While most of the news today about manufacturing in the U.S. is pretty bleak, some rather uplifting predictions have been made. Figures released last week from the National Center for Health Statistics indicate that the number of live births in 2007 broke a 50-year fertility record for the United States, and demographics analyst Ken Gronbach believes this bodes well for the U.S. manufacturing sector. Gronbach states that other nations are facing declining birth rates, increased shipping costs, inflation, a weak U.S. dollar, as well as higher energy costs, all of which will make their manufactured products cost more in the U.S. and help bring back domestic manufacturing.
One automotive parts retailer that seems to be fairing well in these tough times is O’Reilly Automotive. Following its recent acquisition of competitor CSK Auto Corp., the Springfield, Mo., company has reported a 7.5 percent increase in net income and total sales of $704 million for the second quarter, up 9.5 percent from a year ago.
Delphi Corp. on the other hand continues to hit roadblocks on its way out of bankruptcy. The Detroit Free Press reported this week that Wilmington Trust Co., a trustee for about $2 billion in outstanding debt in Delphi Corp., is asking the parts suppliers’ bankruptcy judge to revoke its confirmation order – a requisite for leaving bankruptcy protection. Wilmington Trust claims the order may have included false information from one of Delphi’s investors.
The final announcement in our list of most-viewed articles this week reports on the death of import parts industry veteran Randy St. John. Beginning his career in the 1950s, St. John was the former President of Beck/Arnley and a past chairman of the Auto International Association. He died July 20 at the age of 81.
To view all of the news from the past week, simply click here to view our News Archives.
