Hughes, one of the nation's largest wholesale distributors of construction and industrial materials, logged first-quarter net income of $12.4 million on sales of $790 million versus $6.4 million on $775 million in the same 2001 period.

Earnings per share were 52 cents compared with 27 cents previously. But comparable branch sales were down 5%. The company's first quarter comprised 14 weeks compared with 13 weeks last year. The additional week added about $55 million in net sales.

"Comparable branch sales were within the range we had anticipated," Hughes chairman David Hughes says in a prepared statement. "The economy as a whole is improving but the non-residential building sector continues to lag behind."