HARDI’s monthly TRENDS report shows average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 19.4% in May. The average annualized growth for the 12 months through April 2017 is 9.4%.

 “The good report reflects the healthy underlying market fundamentals,” HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus said. “The growth rate received an added boost from one extra billing day. The estimated growth rate with the same number of billing days would be in the mid-teens. The busy May was helped by warmer temperatures and very easy comparison vs. the prior year for several of our regions.”

“Growth for HARDI members was downright robust in May. U.S. consumers are benefiting from wage growth and low interest rates, which are contributing to GDP growth,” HARDI Senior Economist Connor Lokar said. “U.S. private-sector employment averaged a record 122.8 million individuals for the 12 months through April, and wages are up 3.5%.”

The days sales outstanding, a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now near 55 days.