Edit*** wow guys, quite a bit of negative sentiment. It almost feels like the music is coming to a stop.

Keep the replies coming. I think this has been educational for everyone.



Equipment company in central Texas below $10mm in revenue. Revenue slightly up, operating expenses continue to be a headwind, especially in an attempt to maintain happy employees through compensation, vehicles, etc.

Overall the first half has been decent. Not a home run but not terrible. Seeing quite a bit more end users in commercial work while residential is almost non existent.

We're a small business and our busy months are in the summer… so far performance is not looking great. Nervous for small business right now.

I am in equipment sales for a mid sized family owned construction and ag equipment dealer based out of Texas with a small presence in Oklahoma too.

Q1 was bad, Q2 was okay, and so far Q3 is off to a slow start, very flat. Have been told this is definitely slow for this time of year. Have been down $8-$10 million per month year over year.

Q1 good and Q2 was just ok with sales declining in the summer now when we are usually busier. Backlog is very low and larger inquiries are not great either. Going to be really difficult to meet forecast this year with this concerning trend unless something changes. Equipment sales to manufacturing.

That is mirroring our feelings about central Texas. Q1 was bad, Q2 was alright, slow start to July.

AgOutsideAustin said:

---

Q1 good and Q2 was just ok with sales declining in the summer now when we are usually busier. Backlog is very low and larger inquiries are not great either. Going to be really difficult to meet forecast this year with this concerning trend unless something changes. Equipment sales to manufacturing.

---

Yep. Our forecasts are taking a bloodbath. Slower than anticipated for sure.

Supplier to waste and scrap metal industries. Our sales are off 11% YOY.

ASME Fabricator

Revenue in 1H24 was about 1/3 of 2023...2H24 will be about 1/2 of 1H24.

luxury home goods retail store here. we are taking a massive hit to sales revenue this year coupled with increased costs across the board. it's ugly.

BMach said:

---

Supplier to waste and scrap metal industries. Our sales are off 11% YOY.

---

Was that what was forecasted or is it this underperformance unexpected?

Sims said:

---

ASME Fabricator

Revenue in 1H24 was about 1/3 of 2023...2H24 will be about 1/2 of 1H24.

---

Was that what was forecasted or is it this underperformance unexpected?

Oh wow- surprised to hear luxury sector under pressure. From an expense standpoint- what are the big ones creeping up?

For us, our payroll has finally mellowed out this year after a large increase. Now we're just battling cost of goods pressures outside of direct labor.

Knew we'd slowdown vs 23 and 1H24 was in line w expectation, but the 2H24 dropoff is unexpected

It must be a blessing and a curse you already know how the next 6 months revenue performance is going to shake out. Wish ours was a little more predictable

aggiebrad16 said:

---

BMach said:

---

Supplier to waste and scrap metal industries. Our sales are off 11% YOY.

---

Was that what was forecasted or is it this underperformance unexpected?

---

Underperformed

aggiebrad16 said:

---

Oh wow- surprised to hear luxury sector under pressure. From an expense standpoint- what are the big ones creeping up?

For us, our payroll has finally mellowed out this year after a large increase. Now we're just battling cost of goods pressures outside of direct labor.

---

The aspirational shopper is gone, so we are now relying exclusively on the affluent customer. Large design installs are also way down, which impacts us as we do a lot with local designers. Furniture prices have skyrocketed and sales have vanished for furniture pieces at all customer levels, removing large chunk purchases and has saddled us with inventory we over ordered when we couldn't get anything in any reasonable amount of time for the past four years.

Shipping costs are spiraling out of control. Insurance has doubled. Software keeps bumping up monthly costs. Everything is more expensive, from to paying double for our shopping bags to paying more for NNN increases for increasing property taxes. Labor costs increased a lot given you can get a job flipping burgers for $20 a hour now… thank god we have no debt load after paying off loans years in advance using the 2021-2022 glory days.

BMach said:

---

Supplier to waste and scrap metal industries. Our sales are off 11% YOY.

---

What do you "supply"?

My daughter worked for Sims out of school, class of '17. Covid got her. Interesting industry.

We are a solid rubber tire manufacturer.

Solid equipment tires?

Yes sir

Seems like most of the comments are from people with Texas or regional businesses. But damn!

If this is any indication of what's going on more broadly out there, the economy must already be in a recession and we just don't know it yet.

Building materials and lumber supplier near Fort Worth.

Commodity lumber is down 20% in price from a year ago reflecting nationwide softer demand.

Our biz is up double digit in rev, but we are an outlier.... still in a high growth area and in a high growth state.

I'm expecting higher interest rates will eventually eat up demand on houses, cars, boats and anything that you purchase with a credit card. Keep the powder dry.

Ag92NGranbury said:

---

Building materials and lumber supplier near Fort Worth.

Commodity lumber is down 20% in price from a year ago reflecting nationwide softer demand.

Our biz is up double digit in rev, but we are an outlier.... still in a high growth area and in a high growth state.

I'm expecting higher interest rates will eventually eat up demand on houses, cars, boats and anything that you purchase with a credit card. Keep the powder dry.

---

Not west of Fort Worth in my opinion.

Milsap, Brock, Lipan, Granbury, Weatherford....those are going to be growing bigly for a while.

Sims said:

---

Ag92NGranbury said:

---

Building materials and lumber supplier near Fort Worth.

Commodity lumber is down 20% in price from a year ago reflecting nationwide softer demand.

Our biz is up double digit in rev, but we are an outlier.... still in a high growth area and in a high growth state.

I'm expecting higher interest rates will eventually eat up demand on houses, cars, boats and anything that you purchase with a credit card. Keep the powder dry.

---

Not west of Fort Worth in my opinion.

Milsap, Brock, Lipan, Granbury, Weatherford....those are going to be growing bigly for a while.

---

I don't disagree... however, many deals being done right now are with cash. That might drop off as interest rate increases are starting to have an affect on houses being sold like in California. Days supply is up YOY.

Long term south and west of Fort Worth will grow significantly... short term we might have a few bumps in the road due to macro factors.

I'm looking at building a house in Fort Worth, would you mind contacting me to discuss further?

Corps.ag12 at gmail dot com

Great 1st and 2nd quarter billings (AE firm in the Austin MSA started in 21). Collections have been slow. Expect lower billing in 3rd quarter due to staff taking a lot of vacation but still solid.
People reaching out and our proposals sent out have gone down. Our new contracts are also down but we have so much work in progress, it might be a good thing.