Steve Payne

Walmart has reported this morning Q2 revenue of US$187.9 billion, up 5.9 per cent from a year earlier. Consolidated net income attributable to Walmart declined 9.4 per cent to $6.4 billion. Diluted EPS was $0.80 compared with $0.88 a year earlier. Global e-commerce sales increased 23 per cent. Comp sales excluding fuel rose 2.6 per cent.

Rundoo is an “AI-first” point-of-sale system for independent supply stores in our industry. It has just raised US$30 million in financing led by Battery Ventures. Along with existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and CRV, the total funding of the company has reached $48 million. Founded in 2021 by Stanford University graduates Nick Hershey and Andrew Beckman, Rundoo is live in over 500 stores across the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. The funding supports the engineering team in Redwood City, Calif., and the go-to-market team in Chicago. The first Canadian customer of Rundoo is a family-owned paint store in Cornwall, Ont., Alpine Design Co (team pictured).

Encore Drywall Materials Supplies, a member of Castle Building Centres Group’s commercial division, has acquired two Ontario yards belonging to Bernardi Building Supply in Mississauga and Toronto. “[Benardi] have built a strong presence in the GTA, and we’re excited to build on that foundation said Doug Screpnek, president of Encore. “It’s an important step in our growth and long-term vision for Encore.”

The 30 th anniversary of the Hardlines Conference is less than two months away. In collaboration with the LBMAO, this year’s conference takes place at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, October 20 and 21st. It is the only national industry event that brings together dealers, vendors and sales agents without regard to banner. Read the list of speakers here. And there’s more! There are deep discounts for dealers (30 per cent) and Hardlines Platinum Members (20 per cent). Email Jill Macleod at Hardlines for a coupon to complete your registration. Don’t wait, spots are extremely limited

The collapse of trade talks between Canada and the United States on Friday was not a surprise to anyone who’s been watching the trade war. But what happens next is key. In response to the end of talks, and the imposition of 50 per cent tariffs on some 540 product categories by the U.S., Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada was going to impose “dollar-for-dollar” tariffs on the Americans.

Throwback Thursday is a weekly feature in which we dip into the archives of the

Unless a breakthrough happens in negotiations, which is unexpected, the Canadian government says it will impose tariffs on 650 products that the U.S. exports to this country. The “retaliatory” tariffs were contained in an Aug. 25 announcement by the federal government. It said it was slapping 15-, 25- and 50-per-cent tariffs on American imports, effective at one minute after midnight on Sept. 8. This industry is not the target of most of the tariffs, but some of the construction products exported into Canada by the U.S. will still be affected. We will have an analysis of the products that could potentially be hit by Canada in our Sept. 7 Hardlines Weekly Report. Until then, see the complete list here.

August 24 – August 30 (Published September 2nd P ERSPECTIVES by Steve Payne 36 Crypto Private Financings Raised: $476M

President and chief operating officer of SpaceX Gwynne Shotwell speaks during the SpaceX announcement at Magdalen Place in Abbeville, La., Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026.

Vista Railing Systems of Maple Ridge, B.C., has appointed Carlos Islas as director of manufacturing, a newly created senior leadership position. His appointment will be effective Sept. 14. The company has also named Alicia Olsen as distribution manager. Vista is a North American manufacturer and supplier of aluminum and glass railing systems.