Sales to professionals top overall comparable-store sales in Q2, as total sales on Lowes.com surge 43%.

Lowe’s Companies Inc. recorded sales growth in the second quarter and expects more through the end of 2017. Continued efforts to attract contractors and other building professionals are part of its growth plan, CEO Robert Niblock said on the home improvement company’s earnings call earlier this week.

Lowe’s upgraded its product and service offerings for business customers in Q2 as well as late last year, yielding comparable-store and online sales growth to those clients above the 4.5% company average, Niblock told investors, according to a transcript of the call from Seeking Alpha.

Two recent acquisitions are helping grow sales to professional builders. In November, Lowe’s bought Laurel, Md.-based Central Wholesalers, a distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products serving the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, and in June Lowe’s completed its $512 million purchase of Maintenance Supply Headquarters, a Houston-based distributor of MRO products used to maintain facilities in the multifamily housing industry.

The two acquisitions expanded the Lowe’s MRO business to 16 distribution centers and more than $400 million in annual sales, Lowe’s says. Central Wholesalers sells online at Cwip.com and Maintenance Supply Headquarters at SupplyHQ.com.

“These acquisitions are significant steps forward in our strategy to deepen and broaden our relationship with new and existing pro customers, enabling us to better serve the multifamily housing industry through expanded products and services,” Niblock said on the earnings call.

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Lowe’s, No. 119 in the B2B E-Commerce 300, did not break out online sales to professionals through its LowesforPros.com website or for the business as a whole. But Niblock said comparable online sales at Lowes.com were up 43% over the same quarter last year.

Lowe’s expects to grow its professional customer business, Mike McDermott, chief customer officer, said on the earnings call. Sales to its “pro” customers represent about 30% of all sales and about half of the company’s home improvement sales. He didn’t break out online pro sales, but 30% of total Q2 sales is about $5.85 billion.

For the second quarter of fiscal 2017 ended Aug. 4, Lowe’s reported:

  • Net sales of $19.50 billion, up 6.8% from $18.26 billion in Q2 of 2016.
  • Gross profit of $6.670 billion, up 6.1% from $6.288 billion.
  • Net income of $1.42 billion, compared with net income of $1.17 billion in the same period last year.

For the first six month of fiscal 2017, Lowe’s reported:

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  • Net sales of $36.35 billion, up 8.5% from $33.49 billion in the first half of 2016.
  • Gross profit of $12.470 billion, up 7.3% from $11.626 billion.
  • Net income of $2.02 billion, compared with net income of $2.05 billion in the same period last year.

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