Russel adds a market

Article Excerpt

RUSSEL METALS $28.17 (Toronto symbol RUS; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (905- 819-7777; www.russelmetals.com; Shares o/s: 61.8 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Dividend yield: 5.4%) is one of North America’s largest metal distributors. It serves over 28,000 clients at 51 locations in Canada and 12 in the U.S. Russel has just acquired Color Steels Inc. for an undisclosed amount. That firm is a servicecentre operation focused on processing, and distributing, pre-painted metals at its facilities in Thornhill, Ontario, and Laval, Quebec. Color Steels’ revenue for the last year was about $45 million. That’s small compared to Russel’s annual sales of over $2.6 billion. But Color Steels’ contribution to overall revenue will immediately boost Russel’s profits and let the company expand into the Canadian market for pre-painted flat-rolled products. Russel Metals is a buy. buy…