richelieu hardware ltd on thursday reported a 19 rise in thirdquarter profit as sales beat expectations and said it has plans to expand its operations further into the us with acquisitions and operational expansion the canadian specialty hardware distribution and manufacturing company reported net earnings rose to 467 million canadian dollars 343 million or c082 a share up from c389 million or c069 a share a year earlier sales rose to c4729 million from c3733 million analysts polled on factset expected a smaller increase to c4519 million canadian sales its largest segment rose 15 to c2796 million while sales in the us rose by nearly 44 to us150 million representing 41 of the companys total sales the company said it is integrating its acquisitions well into the company completing its latest buy up of quebecbased distributor of specialty hardware products quincaillerie deno meanwhile it said it also has signed indications of interest for three new acquisitions two of which are in canada and the other in the us all together including its acquisitions in progress richelieu said they represent sales of around c23 million on an annual basis additionally in the us it said it is currently pursuing several expansion projects where it currently operates 57 distribution centers in particular it has just begun the expansion of its pompano and nashville centers and plans to open new centers in carlstadt and minneapolis shares were recently up 05 at c3931