Increasing web sales and a deal to acquire an online portion of Staples’ business mark the most upbeat news at Essendant Inc., where a sharp drop-off in sales to oilfield and energy industry customers led a slight decline in total sales, executives said today.

“Online sales continue to grow, and were up 16.1% in the fourth quarter versus the prior year,” CEO Robert Aiken said on a conference call today with stock analysts, which is recorded on Essendant.com. That brought Q4 online sales to $154.41 million from $133.00 million a year earlier, as total sales dipped 2.7% to $1.297 billion from $1.333 billion.

Essendant didn’t report online sales for the full year 2015, but a spokeswoman says they also were up about 16% over the prior year. That would put the company’s full-year web sales at about $580 million, or 10.8% of total sales. In a conference call last July, Aiken noted that online sales accounted for 10.6% of total first-half sales.

In a separate matter, Essendant announced yesterday that it has agreed to pay about $22.5 million to acquire a wholesale business representing more than $550 million in annual sales from office supplies distributor and retailer Staples Inc. The deal is contingent on the completion of a pending merger of Staples and Office Depot Inc., which is being challenged on antitrust grounds by the Federal Trade Commission. If the merger becomes final, Essendant would acquire contracts Staples and Office Depot now have with resellers that sell their products to large corporate customers.

The agreement presents Essendant with an opportunity to “work with premier resellers in our industry” representing minority- and women-owned businesses, Aiken said on the conference call. “After closing and integration costs, the long-term merits of the deal are very attractive.” He noted that the small price Essendant expects to pay for the wholesale business coincides with its plan to invest about $100 million in it while expecting to grow its revenue over the long term. Aiken said Essendant would continue the practice of selling products through these resellers for such corporate accounts, rather than sell directly to the end-customers.

Essendant, which changed its name last year from United Stationers to reflect its reach beyond office supplies, already works with thousands of resellers, dealers and wholesalers throughout its business units to sell to corporate customers, and helps many of them sell through B2B e-commerce sites. At the same time, Essendant is also building out its online platform for selling to its resellers, dealers and wholesalers.

One of the advantages of that new platform, Aiken said today, is that it will make it easier for customers to order from multiple Essendant units through a single online form and receive a single electronic invoice. Essendant’s multiple business units include power tools and related products from MEDCO and CPO Commerce, welding tools and oilfield safety equipment from ORS Nasco and computer hardware and accessories from Azerty. CPO Commerce, which Essendant acquired in 2014, differs from other divisions in that it sells to consumers as well as businesses.

Essendant reported for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31:

• Total sales of $1.297 billion, down 2.7% year over year from $1.333 billion;
• Net loss of $95.84 million, compared with net income of $22.07 million;
• Adjusted net income of $30.04 million, which excludes expenses of more than $120 million in facility closures and accounting charges related to a downturn in the sales to the oilfield and energy markets;

For the full year ended Dec. 31, Essendant reported:

• Total sales of $5.363 billion, up 0.7% from $5.327 billion the prior year;
• Net loss of $44.34 million, compared with net income of $112.12 million;

Essendant is No. 111 in the B2B E-Commerce 300, which ranks companies on annual B2B web sales.

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