Visiting Acme United – My Inside Take

Pac-Kit Manufacturing Plant

The 19th century Pac-Kit manufacturing plant in South Norwalk, Connecticut.

I was very pleased late last week to be able to visit Acme United’s (ACU – $9.40) head office and its newly acquired Pac-Kit manufacturing plant in Connecticut. I walked away impressed about the Company’s new products and confident about its future growth.

Clauss Garden Tools

At the head office, I got to see all the products that were either recently launched or will be available in stores soon. I have to say that I was most fascinated by the Clauss garden tools. These are quite unique products. And when compared with the garden tools from Fiskars, Clauss’ strongest competitor in this product category, they honestly are in another league.

The garden tools market is over $100 million in size annually. I’m very positive that Clauss will capture a good piece of that pie.

Busy at Pac-Kit

As Walter Johnsen, Acme’s CEO, indicated during the first quarter conference call, Pac-Kit is doing very well. As a matter of fact, the first aid kits manufacturer recorded record sales in March 2011. I don’t know if April or May will also be record months, but I did see that several temps were there to help ship all the orders. So my guess is that April and May won’t be that bad.

Also good to know is that although Pac-Kit was only recently acquired, it has already been integrated in Acme’s order entry and corporate software systems and a first aid promotion has been shipped to a major hardware chain.

Additionally, Acme is going to start using Pac-Kit’s fascinating history as a way to market the brand. Can you imagine the “Theodore Roosevelt outdoors survival kit”?

Conclusion

My visit to Acme United turned out to be a very productive one. I saw all the Clauss garden tools for the first time and was able to suck up the atmosphere at Pac-Kit.

When the Clauss garden products only capture a fraction of the garden tools market, which I believe will happen, it will result in a nice revenue increase for the Company.

And Pac-Kit, although still early day, seems to be a well-timed acquisition with lots of upside potential. It would be a big plus if strong sales were confirmed for April and May.

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1. I like Acme United because it’s fundamentally sound with over $63 million dollars in sales and $2.5 million dollars in earnings in 2010. At the same time I expect the Company to grow substantially over the next few years as it’s bringing incomparable (really!) cutting products to the market. Download your copy of the latest Company Report.
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