Crains: Sears in deal to sell Craftsman Brand

EmersonHart13

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Jul 18, 2007
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When they stopped just handing you a new one when you broke it, you knew it was over for them..

Oh well.. It was nice while it lasted.



PS isn't this the company [MENTION=60]greasy[/MENTION] works for? (I know he won't answer)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Black_&_Decker

Its a big conglomerate:

Power tools[edit]
DeWalt – power tools; B & D acquired in 1960

Guoqiang (GQ) Tools (China) – power tools
Porter-Cable – power tools; B & D acquired in 2004[26]/2005[27]
Oldham Saw Company – circular saw blade and wood router bit products; B & D acquired in 2004[26]
Black & Decker – acquired (via merger) in 2010
Stanley Hand Tools
Hand tools and storage[edit]
Pastorino – carpentry and construction hand tools[28]
Stanley Hand Tools – carpentry and construction hand tools
Fastening and accessories[edit]
Bostitch – fastening tools; acquired in 1986
Powers Fasteners – adhesive and mechanical anchors
Industrial[edit]
Industrial and automotive repair (IAR)[edit]
Cribmaster – tool inventory, storage, tracking and usage/vending management
Expert – industrial and automotive tools
Facom (France) – professional tools; acquired in 2006 (includes Britool[29])
Lista North America – industrial storage; acquired in 2012
Mac Tools – professional tools; acquired in 1980
Proto – industrial hand tools; acquired in 1984
Blackhawk – Mechanic's tools; acquired in 1986
Sidchrome (Australia/New Zealand) – mechanics' tools; acquired in 1990
Stanley Supply & Services – MRO products and services; formerly Contact East and Jensen Tools; renamed in 2006
USAG (Italy) – professional tools
Vidmar – industrial storage; acquired in 1966
Virax (France) – plumbing tools; acquired in 2006
Engineered fastening[edit]
Emhart Teknologies – fastening and assembly; acquired in 2010; later renamed Stanley Engineered Fastening
Dodge – metal-on-plastic threaded inserts
Gripco – threaded fasteners
HeliCoil – threaded inserts
Infastech – acquired in 2013 by Stanley Engineered Fastening
Avdel – blind fastening systems and related tools
iForm – coated threaded fasteners
MasterFix (Europe) – blind riveting
NPR/POP – riveting technology
Spiralock – threaded fasteners and inserts; acquired in 2010 by Emhart
Stanley Assembly Technologies – assembly line power tools
Tucker – hole-less fastening
Warren – custom fastening fabrication[30]
Infrastructure[edit]
Hydraulic tools
Dubuis – cutting, crimping, and grounding tools
Horst Sprenger GmbH (Germany) – replacement consumables for scrap processing equipment
LaBounty – non-impact hydraulic attachments
Stanley Hydraulic Tools
Stanley Oil & Gas (CRC-Evans International) – equipment used in the construction of pipelines for the oil and gas (O&G) industry
Security[edit]
Convergent security solutions (CSS)[edit]
This focuses on electronic security systems and related services. A reorganization of Stanley Security Solutions, Stanley Correctional Systems and Healthcare Solutions resulted in a unified non-hardware business unit.

Blick (UK) – security solution, communication and time management systems integrator
HSM
Niscayah AB; acquired in 2011
Sonitrol
Générale de Protection (France)
Stanley Health Care Solutions[31] – supply chain, asset, and patient/resident protection systems
AeroScout – real-time location systems (RTLS)
Arial – wireless emergency call
Bed-Check – electronic fall monitoring
InnerSpace - a provider of healthcare storage solutions and inventory management analysis. InnerSpace also provides web-based supply management software that utilizes barcoding technology to increase charge capture, reduce excess inventory, and eliminate waste. It was acquired in 2006.
Hugs Infant Protection – infant abduction and mismatch prevention
Micro-Tech Enterprises – electronic fall monitoring
MyCall – wireless emergency call
Passport – adult patient elopement and flight prevention
Pedz – pediatric patient abduction and flight prevention
RoamAlert – clinical and residential wander management
ScanModul – healthcare industry storage
SpaceTRAX – inventory management
Tabs – electronic fall monitoring
UMP – electronic fall monitoring
WanderGuard – patient/resident wander management
Intivid Solutions – video electronics
Mechanical access solutions (MAS)[edit]
These are physical access systems and associated hardware, including automatic doors, electronic keyless entry systems, locking mechanisms and related keying systems.

Best Access Systems – door hardware and locks; acquired in 2002
C.J. Rush Industries (Canada) – revolving doors and entrance systems
EVS (Canada)
Frisco Bay Industries Ltd. (Canada)
Frisco-ATMS (Canada)
Safemasters
Sargent and Greenleaf, Inc.
Sielox Security Systems (Australia)
Stanley Access Technologies – automatic doors
Stanley Door Closers
Precision Hardware – panic and fire exit hardware
Stanley Hardware
Divested businesses[edit]
Hardware and home improvement (HHI)[edit]
These were sold to Spectrum Brands in 2012.

Baldwin – acquired in 2010
Kwikset – acquired in 1989 by Black & Decker
National Hardware – general hardware; acquired in 2005
Price Pfister – plumbing fixtures; acquired in 1989 by Black & Decker
Weiser Lock – keyless entry and door hardware
Air compressors and pressure washers[edit]
This was sold to MAT Holdings in 2011.[32]

DeVilbiss Air Power – pneumatic tools; B & D acquired in 2004;[26] now known as MAT Industries, LLC
Tools[edit]
Husky – private-label hand tools for The Home Depot; acquired in 1986, later transferred to Home Depot
Craftsman – private-label hand tools for Sears, up until the mid-1980s
Vector Products – battery chargers, power inverters, and similar power products; acquired in 2007; sold to Baccus Global in 2010
 

Bob Kazamakis

I’m the f-ing lizard king
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Oct 24, 2007
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It'll be interesting, new craftsman tools are weak junk. Ratchets break all the fucking time now. This might be a good thing for craftsman because if Sears dies it might live on under the management of a successful brand that could maybe turn it around.
 

Frank Dukes

TCG Elite Member
May 5, 2009
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Rockfordia
we shall see what they do.. biggest problem i see is stanley already has Mac Proto & Blackhawk as their pro quality tools. this just fits in the middle with more mediocre crap. boy they sure are growing though..

Courtesy of Bloomberg...

Sears to Sell Craftsman Brand to Stanley for $900 Million
by Rick Clough

January 5, 2017, 7:44 AM EST January 5, 2017, 8:03 AM EST

Sears Holdings Corp. agreed to sell its Craftsman line to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. for about $900 million in a deal that broadens sales of the tool brand beyond the retail chain.

Stanley will pay $525 million at closing, $250 million after three years, and make annual payments on new Craftsman sales for 15 years, the companies said in a statement Thursday. Sears will continue to sell Craftsman products at its stores. The license to Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears will be royalty-free for 15 years, and then generate 3 percent afterward.

Only about 10 percent of Craftsman-branded products are sold outside Sears today and the agreement allows Stanley to significantly increase Craftsman sales in these untapped channels, New Britain, Connecticut-based Stanley said.

“To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley Chief Executive Officer James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.” The deal comes about three months after Stanley agreed to buy Newell Brands Inc.’s tools business for $1.95 billion.
Sears shares rose 3.5 percent to $10.72 at 7:54 a.m. in New York premarket trading. Stanley was little changed.

“We will continue to take actions to adjust our capital structure, meet our financial obligations and manage our business to better position Sears Holdings to create long-term value by focusing on our best members, our best stores and our best categories,” Sears CEO Edward S. Lampert said in the statement.
 

sickmint79

I Drink Your Milkshake
Mar 2, 2008
26,878
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grayslake
sears is weird in the IT space as well. they basically became a kind of consulting company for some more recent/exotic IT technology

Why Sears Is Going All-In On Hadoop - InformationWeek
How Sears Got Into the Data-Services Game | DataWorks - AdAge
Comprehensive Big Data Solutions, services and consulting for Hadoop

i don't know how well that has gone (i would not think great?) i also know they got rid of the product i use to sell, brought in a bunch of its main competitor, then had challenges getting things to run as well as it did on our (years old) gear.
 

EmersonHart13

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Jul 18, 2007
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With Craftsman sale, Sears takes another step toward the grave
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By BRIGID SWEENEY
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Photo by Ted Murphy via Flickr
Is the end finally nigh for Sears?

The 130-year-old retailer, which has watched sales fall by half since 2007, announced today it is unloading its prized Craftsman tool brand to Stanley Black & Decker for about $900 million. Despite tapping more than $5 billion from capital raising and asset sales in 2015 and 2016, Sears is still in desperate need of more cash as its sales continue to vanish.

The Craftsman sale follows two other cash-raising efforts in the past week as the retailer hints that its holiday season was calamitous. Yesterday, Sears said it will borrow $500 million from CEO Edward Lampert's ESL Investments hedge fund. The week before, ESL offered Sears a separate $200 million line of credit that can be expanded to $500 million. The company also announced it would close more unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores early this year, bringing the total to 150. Two Illinois Kmarts, in Alton and Granite City, are among those slated to shutter.

In a statement announcing the Craftsman sale and the loans, the retailer said same-store sales at Sears and Kmart have plummeted between 12 and 13 percent for the first two months of the all-important fourth quarter, which extends through January. Last year, Sears posted a $580 million dollar fourth-quarter loss on same-store sales declines of about 7 percent.

Sears stock, which closed at an all-time low of $8.18 Dec. 28, earlier today traded around $10.44. At that price, its market capitalization stands at $1.12 billion—not much more than the value of the Craftsman deal. The stock closed flat, up 3 cents.

Earlier:

• Lampert's latest bid to prop up Sears: Sell Craftsman
• Coming to Ravenswood's former Sears: apartments, retail . . . and booze?
• Sears borrows as it looks to sell buildings

The moves provide a much-needed influx of cash, though the Craftsman sale is smaller than previously expected. Stanley will pay $525 million upfront, along with another $250 million in three years and annual payments between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent of Stanley's Craftsman sales for 15 years. The deal is expected to close this year. As recently as October, reports circulated that potential Craftsman buyers were bidding as high as $2 billion.

"We weren't looking to make a large payout upfront for a business that we were going to have to build over a 10-year period," Stanley President and CEO Jim Loree said on an analyst call this morning.

Noel Hebert, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, called the price "disappointing."

BRAND STRENGTH

Despite being battered by its parent's travails and sold almost entirely through Sears, Sears.com, Sears Hometown and Outlet and Kmart stores, Craftsman remains a strong brand. The tools generate about $1.9 billion in annual retail sales, Loree said. He expects Craftsman sales to grow by $100 million each year for the next decade.

The label still holds the largest dollar share of the hand tools market among do-it-yourselfers and individual consumers, with about 27.6 percent for the year ended September 2016, says Tom Coffield, senior director of research at Stevenson Company, a Louisville, Ky.-based market researcher. But its dominance has dipped by 15 percent, from 32.5 percent, from the same period four years ago, he says. On a unit sale basis, Craftsman owns 19 percent of the market, down from more than 21 percent in 2012. Sears itself wrote down the balance-sheet value of the Craftsman, Kenmore and Diehard trade names earlier this year.

The overall tool market is, in Loree's words, "incredibly fragmented" with "brutal competition." He plans to bring some Craftsman tool production back to America, improve product innovation, appeal to younger customers and broaden distribution to big-box stores and e-commerce channels.

It's unclear whether Stanley's purchase will benefit Sears beyond the proceeds of the sale. Sears will continue to sell Craftsman products in its stores under a licensing agreement that is free for the first 15 years. After that, it will pay Stanley a 3 percent fee. As the Craftsman brand begins to sell in more stores, competition could cannibalize Sears' own tool sales. The two companies did not reach any minimum pricing or other anticompetitive agreement, Stanley said.

UNCERTAINTY FOR STANLEY

In a letter to store associates, Lampert emphasized that Sears will continue selling Craftsman products, though it will no longer sell them to third parties including Ace Hardware and Meijer. "This transaction is in the best interest of Sears Holdings as we work to transform our company to a membership-focused business model, improve our financial performance and provide the liquidity we need to improve the confidence of our various constituents," Lampert wrote.

On the other hand, Stanley does incur some risk given Sears' uncertain future. "There cannot be complete certainty about the future of Sears and what direction it might take," Loree acknowledged on the call. He said that if Sears declares bankruptcy, it would have the right to reject the Craftsman deal.

Ratings agencies Moody's and Fitch both put the retailer at high risk of failure. In October, Fitch wrote that Sears may be forced to liquidate or reorganize within the next 12 to 24 months.

Moody's reached a similar conclusion in September, further downgrading Sears speculative-debt rating while noting that "it remains uncertain if the company's operating strategies will stem its continued losses and be sufficient for its cash burn to approach breakeven."

Easily monetized assets are dwindling. Sears has already sold or spun off its Lands' End clothing line, Orchard Supply Hardware stores, Hometown and Outlet stores, its stake in Sears Canada and hundreds of its best-performing stores to Seritage Growth Properties, a REIT it created. Sears has also said it is exploring suitors for its Kenmore and DieHard brands, as well as Kmart's pharmacy business.

The company may need $2.5 billion in cash to get through 2017 amid sales declines and store closures, including almost $600 million in minimum pension contributions.

The Craftsman sale is “another piece of the puzzle of trying to cobble together enough liquidity to navigate '17,” says Herbert, the Bloomberg analyst. “But the more you sell to fund losses, the less there is to sell.”

With Craftsman sale, Sears takes another step toward the grave - Consumer News - Crain's Chicago Business
 
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