Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) released its monthly TRENDS report, showing average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 6.4 percent in April 2018.The average annualized growth for the 12 months through April 2018 is 6.6 percent.

“This April was a strange month. The regional sales performance ranged from a slight decline to a gain of more than 20 percent,” said HARDI Market Research and Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “Several of our regions were comparing unusually cool weather this year against unusually warm weather in the prior year. The region with the extraordinary gain experienced record warmth this year against a cool prior year.”

“It looks like a good economic environment for HARDI members,” said HARDI Senior Economist Connor Lokar.  “U.S. Industrial Production during the 12 months through April is up 2.6 percent compared to one year ago. Growth during the most recent three months topped 4.0 percent compared to the same three months through April a year ago. This is the first time quarterly growth has topped 4.0 percent in seven years!”

“The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is near 49 days,” said Loftus. “This is slightly faster than April 2015 or April 2016. This improving trend is consistent with the recent monthly DSO performance.”

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for their monthly sales data and can discontinue their participation without prior notice or penalty.

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