The Fastenal Company, Winona, MN, reported sales for the second quarter ended June 30, 2013, were $847.5 million, up 5.3 percent from the year-ago period.

Sales for the first six months of the year were $1.6 billion, up 5.1 percent.

Profit for the second quarter was $121 million. For the first six months it was $230 million.

The increase in sales for the first six months of the year was due primarily to higher unit sales. In the first six months of 2013, Fastenal opened 33 new stores, an increase of 1.2 percent since December 2012.

As of June 30, 2013, Fastenal operated 29,549 FAST Solutions industrial vending machines. Fastenal installed 8,454 new machines in the first six months, an increase of 40.1 percent from December. Machine count has increased by 126.7 percent since June 30, 2012. The growth in the Daily sales to manufacturing customers (50 percent of business) were up 5.9 percent in the second quarter. Daily sales to non-residential customers (20 percent to 25 percent of business) were up just 0.7 percent in the second quarter.

Sales of fasteners grew to all customers in the second quarter by 1.9 percent. Sales of non-fasteners grew 8.5 percent for the quarter, primarily due to the growth of Fastenal’s vending program.