Acme United Corporation (ACU), best known by their Westcott brand name for clean-cut scissors and rulers, saw record earnings and sales this year driven by innovative engineering of its products and acquisitions of fitting companies, says Eric Kuby, Chief Investment Officer of North Star Investment Management Corporation.
“[Acme is] run by a terrific guy, the CEO Walter Johnsen, who has done a great job transforming the company. You think scissors and rulers and pencil sharpeners, and it doesn’t sound that exciting, but what he’s been able to do is put engineering into everything that they make to make it special. So they don’t just make a pencil sharpener, they make an innovative pencil sharpener that is so much easier to use; it’s vertical, not horizontal. Their scissors have a special coating on them that make them cut better,” Kuby said.
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Acme‘s CEO has also been buying companies who are in bankruptcy that make additional products with other distribution that fit in well at ACU, driving the company’s earnings and sales this year to record highs, Kuby says.
“They’ve done a fantastic job growing the company, putting a lot of R&D into these relatively mundane businesses. And again, this year had record earnings and sales,” Kuby said.
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