Commentary

Four Traps When Selling Your Lawn or Landscape Business

Four Traps When Selling Your Lawn or Landscape Business

Business owners have been known to refer to due diligence as “the entrepreneur’s proctology exam.” It’s a crude analogy but a good representation of what it feels like when a stranger pokes, prods, and looks inside every inch of your business.  When it comes to selling your lawn or landscape business, it will pay to  be prepared. Experienced acquirers will have a checklist of questions they need answered if they’re considering buying your company. They’ll want answers to questions like: Are financial statements current and accurate? Have revenues been growing consistently? Are gross margins and net margins stable or growing? How … Read more

Cicadas and Mergers & Acquisitions

Cicadas and Mergers & Acquisitions

 Around my home right now, the buzz of cicadas is very strong. It is a roar really. It is a different roar from the annual cicadas we hear in the heat of the summer. This is the roar of 13-year cicadas. They were last heard around here in May and June 2002. The cicadas go through a cycle. Every 13 or 17 years (depending on the local brood), the cicada nymphs emerge and go through their mating cycle, which is what makes the unbelievable noise. The cicadas mate and lay their eggs within a few weeks. As soon as they … Read more

Why Fire Trucks Always Back In: Being Ready is Really Important

Have you ever noticed that fire trucks always back into the fire station? Why don’t they just pull into their parking spot snout-forward like the rest of us?  Backing in at the end of a shift saves them time when they have to get to a fire. They back in to be ready; whether the call comes in 5 minutes or 5 days, they are prepared to pull out as quickly as possible. Like the firemen, you, as a business owner, need to be ready when you get the call from someone who wants to buy your business. And these … Read more

The Economist Looks at Private Equity & the US Lawn & Landscape Industry

The Economist has published an article examining private equity investment in the US lawn and landscape industry.  The article is entitled “America’s Gardening Business: Privet Equity.” Here’s a link to the article. Ron Edmonds of The Principium Group is quoted in the article.

Scotts LawnService Appears Poised for Lawn & Pest Acquisitions

Scotts LawnService (SLS), a unit of The Scott’s Miracle-Gro Company (SMG),  appears poised to make acquisitions again in both the lawn service and pest control sectors.  I thought it would be interesting to look at the SMG’s recent statements on the topic of Scott’s Lawn Service and acquisition. SLS is the second largest lawn care company in the US, although much smaller than industry leader TruGreen.   TruGreen was recently spun-off as a separate company by ServiceMaster after several years of disappointing results. This week, SMG reported its earnings for the quarter ended December 31, 2013, which is the first quarter … Read more