Fastenal Co. on Tuesday reported its profit fell in its third quarter, coming in below expectations, as its core fastener business remained weak.

The Winona, Minn.-based distributor of nuts, bolts, hand tools and other supplies has suffered from the slowdown in construction, and continuing economic uncertainty. The company said fastener sales remain relatively weak due to sustained weakness of its heavy-equipment and construction markets.

The company said revenue growth was due to higher unit sales, primarily from sales at existing store locations. Sales were hurt by price deflation in its fastener products. Sales at stores open for two years or more grew 0.9% in July, fell 0.7% in August and grew 1.6% in September.

The company’s fastener product line’s daily growth fell 2.9%, while its non-fastener product-line daily sales grew 4.9%. The comparable increase in non-fasteners, pressured profits as its less profitable than the fasteners business.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Fastenal reported a profit of $126.9 million, or 44 cents a share, down from $136.5 million a year earlier, or 47 cents a share.

Sales climbed 1.8% to $1.01 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for 45 cents a share on $1.01 billion in revenue.

Fastenal said its store count fell 2.5% to 2,454 at the end of the quarter from a year prior. In recent years, Fastenal has grown its industrial vending machine business. The number of vending machines grew 13% to 60,400.

News from The Wall Street Journal.