This is another in our series of questions and answers based on questions we have received over the past few months.
The question today is what kinds of businesses are in greatest demand for acquisition in the green industry currently?
The answer to this question vries a bit from time to time, but, in general, the companies that are in highest demand are those with recurring revenues that can be continued under a new owner. My current assessment is that in most locations in most circumstances, the companies most in demand are (1) commercial maintenance businesses, (2) residential lawn care – fertilization and weed control and (3) residential landscape maintenance companies.
This does not mean that other companies are not “sellable”, it means it will be more challengingchallenging and it will be even more important to look carefully at those factors about a copany that will make it more sellable. Probably the two factors that will have the greatest impact are the business’s track record of growth and profitability, including how it performed during the recession, and the existence of an effective sales generating system that is not dependent on the continuing presence of the owner.