HARDI’s monthly TRENDS report shows average sales for member distributors increased by 12% in June 2015. The annualized growth through June 2015 was 5.3%. This rate, HARDI noted, has been declining since last fall but the latest report shows slight improvement from May totals.

“The weather was challenging for HVACR sales for much of the country in May,” HARDI Market Research and Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus said. “June caught some of that delayed activity and had one extra billing day than June 2014.”

Loftus noted the West region had 37% more cooling-degree days in June than a year ago, which helped boost sales 22.8% vs. a double-digit gain the prior year. The DSO (days sales outstanding), a measure of how quickly customers pay bills, is now at 49.

“The U.S. economy is in its fourth month of deceleration,” HARDI Senior Economist Connor Lokar said. “We expect growth to continue to slow through the second half of the year, but have seen improvement for two consecutive months in the ITR Leading Indicator and three straight months of rise by the U.S. Leading Indicator. These inputs are signaling reacceleration we expect for the U.S. economy in early 2016.”