Propelled by sales of personal protective equipment (PPE) and more, Top 40 promotional products distributor BAMKO (asi/131431) increased its total second-quarter 2020 sales by 217.8% year over year to nearly $75.5 million.

In a financial report released Wednesday, July 29, BAMKO’s parent company Superior Group of Companies noted that the promotional products division played a pivotal part in driving a 73% company-wide increase in Q2 sales to $159.4 million. Superior’s net income for Q2 2020 was $15.2 million, or $1 per diluted share, compared to $2.8 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2019.  

“While some smaller portions of our business were significantly impacted negatively, we were able to more than offset these shortfalls with the successful pivot to selling personal protective equipment in addition to our legacy healthcare products, both of which continue to be in high demand during the pandemic,” said Superior CEO Michael Benstock.

Heading into Q3, Superior reported that it already had an additional $52 million or so in PPE sales lined up. In Q2, the company’s total PPE sales reached about $58.5 million. The earnings report indicated that the company’s promotional products division, led by BAMKO, netted nearly $49.7 million of Superior’s total PPE tally.

“In responding to the needs of our customers, the sourcing team within the promotional products segment began sourcing much-needed personal protective equipment for our customers,” Superior executives wrote in the earnings report. “These opportunities led to record revenue levels during the second quarter of 2020, despite the downturn [that] the branded merchandise industry has experienced [because of] customer budget cuts and widespread event cancellations”

BAMKO’s total sales (North American and international) of traditional promotional products also increased, rising about $2 million year on year to nearly $25.8 million in Q2 2020. “The increase in activities from customers in certain industries, such as the delivery service industry, has more than offset reduced activities from customers in other industries, such as the restaurant and entertainment industries,” Superior executives said in explaining the increase in sales of traditional promo items.

According to ASI’s recently released Distributor Quarterly Sales Survey, only 8% of North American promotional products distributors increased sales in the second quarter of 2020. On average, distributors’ sales collectively declined 44.4% compared to the same quarter the prior year. The decline was a direct result of the economic fallout that’s occurred due to societal lockdown measures and event cancellations tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, BAMKO ranked 19 on Counselor’s just-released 2020 list of the largest distributors in the promotional products industry based on its reported 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $108.6 million.