[Top 100] 2014 PCT Top 100 List

To see the full Top 100 List, click the image above.

A few notes about this year's list:

• The PCT Top 100 list is based on 2013 revenues.
   
• The abbreviations on the list are as follows: * = estimated figure; n/a = no answer/unknown; NC = no change; % GPC = general pest control; % TC = termite control; % Other = other services (see next bullet point); % RES = residential; % COM = commercial; EMP = employees.
   
• In the “other” category, services include structural fumigation, remodeling and construction repair services, nuisance wildlife control, irrigation repair and maintenance, insulation, bird control work, pool services, lawn care, lawn maintenance, snow removal, tree care, heating and air conditioning, gutter work, handyman services and more. Additionally, some companies classified their bed bug work as “other.”
   
• Companies in the PCT Top 100 list earned revenues of $5,778,406,628 in 2013. That is an increase of $273,618,399 over 2012.
• There are 30 states and three Canadian provinces represented in this year’s list. California has 12 firms on the list; Florida has 11.
   
• Revenues for the three Canadian firms are reported in U.S. dollars. The April 17 exchange rate was $1.10 Canadian to $1 U.S.
   
• Several companies that were on last year’s list are not on this list because they were sold:
  • Western Exterminator, Anaheim, Calif., was acquired by Rentokil North America in October 2012. Western Exterminator was #12 last year.
  • Eden Advanced Pest Technologies, Olympia, Wash., was acquired by Rentokil North America in October 2012. Eden was #84 last year.
     
• Other notes:
  • PestMaster Services (#93), Reno, Nev., sold six locations to Terminix International in 2013, thus the firm’s revenues fell by 43 percent.
  • Assured Environments (#24), New York City, shows no change for growth in 2013. The company’s revenues were flat; the decrease shown from the firm’s 2012 numbers was due to the sale of a division.
     
• Visit PCT magazine’s interactive map (http://bit.ly/1i6deRs) to see company information and view live links to each of the Top 100 firms’ websites.
   
• This list was compiled by the PCT staff throughout the spring of 2014. E-mail PCT Editor Jodi Dorsch at jdorsch@giemedia.com with comments about the list.
   

 

 

Six Percent Growth Reported for the U.S. Structural Pest Control Market

PCT Top 100 companies generated $5.8 billion last year.

The U.S. structural pest control industry generated an estimated $7.213 billion in total service revenue in 2013, a 5.9 percent increase from the $6.815 billion measured in 2012. (Firms in the PCT Top 100 generated a total of $5.778 billion.) The top four U.S. service providers, Orkin, Terminix, Ecolab and Rentokil represented nearly 45 percent of the total industry revenue for the termite and general pest control market segments this past year.

Rodent control service revenue was robust in 2013, according to Specialty Products Consultants (SPC), which publishes a report called “A Strategic Analysis of the U.S. Structural Pest Control Industry.” In the Northeast United States, pest control companies reported that their highest percentage of revenue earned was from controlling mice and rats. SPC says it believes “Superstorm Sandy” that hit the East Coast in late October of 2012 may have displaced rodents, resulting in an increased need for control efforts in the region.

Nationwide, 86.5 percent of respondents said their company treated for bed bugs. Six of ten respondents primarily relied on insecticide treatments to control bed bugs. One in five (19.9 percent) relied on heat or steam treatments. Service revenue derived from controlling bed bugs increased more than 11 percent from the prior year, bringing the total revenue earned from controlling this pest to nearly $450 million.

Nationwide, PMPs reported good growth in both residential (+4.6 percent) and commercial (+6.5 percent) service revenue from the prior year. Total service revenue generated from termite work improved, even though nationwide respondents reported a “weaker than normal” termite swarm season. The South Central (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas) region reported the weakest swarm season with nearly two-thirds of respondents reporting a “much weaker than normal” or “weaker than normal” swarm season.

Nevertheless, there was a nearly four percent increase in the number of post-construction termite jobs completed. Improved pricing raised the average post-construction job 5.4 percent to $836.04 per treatment this past year. Pre-construction termite treatment revenue increased 8.1 percent on the strength of an 18.5 percent increase in privately owned new housing unit construction starts. Nearly 45 percent of all privately owned housing starts in the U.S. received a pre-construction termite treatment in 2013.

Total manufacturer level revenue increased 5.7 percent this past year, to more than $515 million. After a number of challenging years for suppliers, this brings total manufacturer level sales revenue back to the same level experienced more than 10 years ago (2003).

Nearly nine of ten (85.8 percent) operators surveyed said they were aware of the EPA’s initiative that changed outdoor use directions for pyrethroid insecticide products. More than half reported that they had stopped power spraying pyrethroids and switched to using a “backpack” or smaller sprayer. More than one-quarter (28.9 percent) said they had not been affected yet as they had “stocked up” on older labeled products.

The 2013 season market report is the 14th edition of “A Strategic Analysis of the U.S. Structural Pest Control Industry.” A total of 800 owners or managers of pest control companies were surveyed for this study. The market report forecasts pest control service revenue through 2015, and pesticide product category sales through 2018. The impact of the commercial and residential real estate market, mosquito and wildlife management services, changes in distribution, and pest control operators’ outlook for 2014 are just a few of the topics analyzed in this year’s report.

Learn more about SPC by visiting www.spcresearch.com or calling 973/543-5195.
 

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Strong Leaders = More Revenue

A new report ties leadership to revenue, which begs the question: What are you doing to develop leaders in your organization? PCT talked to Top 100 firms to find out how they are grooming future leaders.

Companies with strong leaders have double the revenue growth of those with weaker leaders, according to a new report by CEB, an advisory group.

That’s no surprise to the industry’s largest companies, which use shadowing, mentoring, workshops and week-long programs to train employees for leadership.

It is just good business, regardless of your company’s size, said experts.

“You’re almost assured of being more profitable and growing more” when employees “apply discretionary energy and effort” to help a company be successful, said Henry Anthony, vice president of human resources, Rollins (#1). Delivering great customer service requires “being great leaders of people,” he explained.

What Skills do Leaders Need Today (and Tomorrow)? Employees on routes aren’t “under the thumb” of managers, so leaders must excel at influencing, not controlling, said Rollins Human Resources Vice President Henry Anthony. Employees “want to feel like they have a voice, but they also want to be led.” Being good at change management is fundamental. Steritech leaders have to “be nimble and adaptable in order to keep up with our evolution,” said Human Resources Vice President Jennifer Courtney-Trice. An ability to build collaboration and cross-functional committees ensures business decisions aren’t made in silos, said Arrow Exterminators Chief Human Resources Officer Shay Jones Runion. According to Jim Cashman, president of U.S. pest prevention at The Steritech Group, leaders “can no longer be simply great operators.” They must be growth minded in terms of profit, quality, and employee development and advancement. In small and mid-size companies, leaders are more visible, the grapevine is smaller, and news, truth or rumor, travels faster, Cashman added. “That drives the need for leaders to be both genuine and consistent, and places a higher premium on interpersonal and communication skills. There aren’t deep layers of management that can conceal shortcomings,” he said. How leaders “accomplish results is as important as what you accomplish,” noted Courtney-Trice. Leaders must help managers develop soft skills, a necessity in the increasingly diverse workplace of multiple generations, said Rentokil North America Human Resources Vice President Scott Cook. Leaders also must be able to identify relevant information, he added. Firms are overwhelmed by data; an employee sitting in a truck today has access to more data than a person at a pest control company 10 years ago, Cook noted. Prioritizing is another skill. Technology has increased communication and accessibility, causing “some leaders to be less effective,” said Massey Services Senior Vice President Jeff Buhler. Leaders can spend all day responding to emails; they need to ask, is this helping my customers or positively influencing team members? It’s important to have that “gut check,” said Buhler.

Today’s rapidly changing workplace means leaders need new skills, said Conrad Schmidt, global research officer at CEB. They must be better at steering organizational change and helping employees collaborate across business silos to maximize productivity; they must move employees from doing job-specific tasks to group directives that lift the performance of the whole organization, he said.

Here’s how Top 100 companies are achieving this:
 

A Strategic Focus. The “very clear, defined strategy” in Massey Services’ (#5) mission statement is a roadmap for leadership development, said Senior Vice President Jeff Buhler. The company’s mission is to be the industry’s best service provider; leadership development is aligned with this goal, he said.

In Rentokil (#4) leadership sessions, CEO John Myers spends four hours exploring company culture, values and mission, said Scott Cook, vice president of human resources. Myers believes existing leaders should teach and develop up-and-comers since they fully understand this vision.

At Arrow Exterminators (#6), every meeting begins with the company vision statement, said Chief Human Resources Officer Shay Jones Runion. “The majority of the company knows it by heart,” she said. Employees “know where we’re going” and understand they’re part of this growth, she added.
 

Engaging in More Dialogue. Employees generally want leaders to talk with them, not to them. Arrow Exterminators CEO Emily Thomas Kendrick and COO Tim Pollard are visiting the company’s 78 service centers to discuss the company vision. “We’re getting everyone involved,” said Runion. Employees have the opportunity to ask leaders questions, make comments and get feedback.

Committees at the company draw on diverse groups of employees. It doesn’t want managers to say, “Here’s another corporate initiative,” but rather, “Here’s our initiative,” Runion explained.

Steritech (#7) CEO Rich Ennis hosts a two-day retreat for high performers, who provide perspective and explore ideas for growing the firm, said Jennifer Courtney-Trice, vice president of human resources.

“I think many companies are very good at building functional leaders” but “one of those big leadership steps is being able to see things not just from your perspective but from the perspective of the whole system in which you’re operating,” said Rentokil’s Cook.

Rentokil senior leaders meet with front-line supervisors to learn how to improve customer service, retention, and attract, retain and develop the best people. Groups diagnose issues, identify opportunities for improvement and develop actionable items, said Cook. The company “took great pains to make this a dialogue process,” not “death by PowerPoint,” he said.
 

Applying New Skills. Region managers who complete the Rollins Leadership Development Program, a week-long program developed in partnership with Georgia State University, are divided into groups and assigned real-work projects. Over four months, they apply what they learned and then present their research, analysis and recommendations to senior management, said Rollins’ Anthony.

This helps attendees “internalize the key learnings” and integrate them in their home markets, said Anthony. “It’s really been fascinating to see some of the epiphanies” experienced by up-and-coming leaders, he said. “How they recognize it’s really about influencing and not controlling.”

Rentokil also pulls together high-potential employees to solve real problems, providing coaching and teaching along the way, said Cook. This model “has more value than anything else you can do, other than deliberate role modeling” of the CEO and executive leadership, he said.

Similar activities at The Steritech Group are “critical in preparing our leaders for future roles” and give senior executives an opportunity to observe, mentor, and coach, said Courtney-Trice.

Knowing how to apply skills and knowledge in diverse/unfamiliar situations has more than three times the impact on leader performance as being able to rapidly learn new knowledge or skills, CEB reports.
 

A Deeper Bench. Because leaders can emerge from every part of the business, the advisory group recommends taking a portfolio approach to managing the leadership bench, rather than having a predictable, linear succession plan.

Arrow Exterminators invites accounting, human resources and IT professionals to attend leadership development workshops, along with service center managers; all employees have access to the company’s 1,000+ online training programs, including those focused on leadership.

“We feel it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to learn those types of things, whether they’re in a management position or not,” Runion said.

A deep bench lets Massey Services focus on future demand. The firm may be twice its size in five years and will need more leaders, said Buhler. This also allows for a smooth transition when a general manager leaves one of its 100+ service centers.

Massey Services mainly promotes from within to ensure individuals’ mission statements are aligned with the company’s mission statement, said Buhler. Employees in front-line positions learn a lot about the company that can’t be taught in a classroom, he explained.

Promoting from within is “very, very important to Arrow,” said Runion. “We want to have leaders who understand our vision, unique culture and the fast-paced environment that our company operates in,” she said.
 

For Smaller Companies. Developing employees’ leadership skills doesn’t require deep pockets.

Every owner can mentor, whether the firm has one location or multiple branches, said Rollins’ Anthony. Think about the skills you want the next generation of leaders to have and what you can do to build their strengths to get them ready, he said.

Ask if you’re “putting people into place to make good decisions,” said Rentokil’s Cook. This may require educating high-potential employees, teaching new skills, coaching to build confidence and providing them opportunities to practically apply these skills, he said.

Make sure your leadership development programs align with company strategy, reminded Buhler. “Ideally, we get better and better if we have a consistent strategy.”

A vision statement lets employees know where the company is headed, and it’s free, reminds Runion. Many opportunities exist for affordable online training; other options are books, peer learning and lunch-and-learn seminars, she said.

Open enrollment programs, like those through the Center for Creative Leadership, are available, said Anthony. Just make sure the program fits your culture and the industry, and that participants understand they’ll be expected to integrate new skills, such as those learned by taking on a workplace project, he said. The more employees use their new skills, the better they get at them, Anthony reminded.

Leadership development starts with the hire, said Buhler. Recruit for stability, maturity and experience; hire for image and attitude, he said. Arrow Exterminators benchmarks candidates against the company’s top performers. This helps managers hire the right person for the team while giving candidates feedback about their communication, training, decision-making and leadership styles, said Runion.

Developing leaders is an “investment, no doubt, but it’s an investment that’s well worth it,” said Anthony.

 

Ideal Core Competencies for leaders Empowers Staff — Pushing autonomy and empowerment downward through the organization Motivates Others — Motivating staff to achieve goals Builds Team Spirit — Addressing issues disrupting the team Listens — Encouraging others to share their views Consults Others — Encouraging their team to become involved in the decision-making process Communicates Proactively — Sharing information widely with others Networks — Encouraging and assisting others to develop people networks Manages Conflict — Facilitating the resolution of conflict between others Tests Assumptions and Investigates — Questioning and challenging assumptions Encourages and Supports Organizational Learning — Encouraging a culture of continuous improvement Innovates — Questioning traditional assumptions and producing new ideas, approaches and insights Seeks and Introduces Change — Encouraging others to change inefficient work practices Has Vision — Encouraging other people to think about the organization’s long-term potential Adapts — Adjusting to change positively Accepts New Ideas — Supporting change initiatives Deals with Ambiguity — Tolerating conditions of uncertainty   Source: CEB, The Rise of the Network Leader, Executive Guidance for 2014

 

E-mail the author at anagro@giemedia.com.

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ServiceMaster Files to go Public

The parent company of the industry’s second largest pest management firm continues to make many changes — even after jettisoning its TruGreen lawn care division.

On March 24, ServiceMaster Global Holdings, which owns Terminix pest control, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $100 million through an initial public offering (IPO) of common stock.

What Makes for Success? Why did ServiceMaster succeed with Terminix and struggle to right TruGreen? Industry watchers point to several possible factors. In a tough economy, people are more willing to drop lawn care. Pest control is a bigger industry and more of a necessity, said Ron Edmonds of The Principium Group. People can get by without lawn care; living with pests is another issue, he explained. Pest control and lawn care are very different businesses, especially when it comes to retention rates, Edmonds added. For customers, changing pest control services “is a more complex decision” than lawn care; they generally know the technicians working in their homes but rarely meet those performing lawn service, he explained. The life of a residential pest control customer is seven years and for lawn care it is three years; customer acquisition costs are roughly the same, said Paul Giannamore, The Potomac Company. Lawn care labor is higher: A technician typically visits a house seven to nine times a year vs. three to four times a year for pest control, he said. A high turnover rate among lawn care technicians exacerbates customer retention rates, said Giannamore. Turnover throughout the ranks at TruGreen is “historically pretty lousy” and is “likely to be the largest factor in TruGreen’s issues,” said Edmonds. Computer systems and marketing plans matter, “but the people factors matter a lot more,” he said. Turnover on the front line is “just as bad if not worse” than in management, which has been “astonishing,” said Edwards. TruGreen has had five presidents since 2006. In April 2011, the company sold TruGreen LandCare, its commercial landscaping division, to another private equity group for $38 million, a fraction of the $250 million ServiceMaster paid for it in 1999. Four months later, ServiceMaster announced TruGreen had shifted its neighborhood sales strategies, placing less emphasis on door-to-door sales, after first quarter earnings that year didn’t meet expectations. Revenue and customer counts continued to lag through 2013, despite redesigning its core products, introducing a tiered product structure, moving away from selling one-time services, and investing in staffing, training programs, sales tools and operating systems. Future competitors? A growing number of lawn care companies offer perimeter pest control. It’s a “pretty effective approach in many markets,” said Edmonds, who thinks this service offering has been “deemphasized at TruGreen because of Terminix.” He expects “over time that TruGreen will put a lot of energy into that kind of program” and become a competitor of Terminix “to some degree.” If getting back to profitability means “expanding their services and identifying new ways to generate revenue, I think they’ll be pursuing all avenues,” said Chris Ball, Brockett Tamny & Co. TruGreen offers pest control in select markets across the United States, however “lawn care has always been, and will continue to be, the signature service we provide to customers,” said a company spokesperson. “We don’t expect any overlap in services between the two businesses,” said ServiceMaster’s Tosches.

Industry experts believe the company will begin trading stock this summer.

Net proceeds from the IPO will repay indebtedness, according to the filing.

The offering will make ServiceMaster a public entity once again. In 2007, private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) bought the then-publicly traded company, valued at $5.5 billion.
 

Related actions. To prepare for the IPO, ServiceMaster spun off its TruGreen lawn care division in December 2013. The division had been losing revenue and customers for several years. TruGreen made up 28 percent of ServiceMaster revenue in 2013; Terminix accounted for 41 percent, according to the company’s 2013 annual report.

Industry professionals followed the spin-off closely and questioned how the move might affect Terminix.

“The TruGreen spin-off will have no impact on Terminix operations, talent acquisition or access to resources,” said Peter Tosches, communications senior vice president at ServiceMaster, in an email.

Terminix, he noted, is a $1.3 billion business that increased operating performance at a compound annual growth rate of 9 percent over the past five years and has a 25 percent operating performance margin.

Issues related to cross-selling pest and lawn services, which some experts saw as an opportunity, are moot. “They’ve never been able to pull that off,” said merger and acquisitions specialist Paul Giannamore of The Potomac Company. Down to the technicians in the field, each business was concerned with its own performance and never had much incentive to help the other, he said.

Terminix and TruGreen, while under the ServiceMaster umbrella, were run independently with separate management teams. Any shared corporate services would be easy to re-engineer and require fewer people to perform, said experts.

In February, ServiceMaster laid off 65 people, including some senior managers at Terminix. ServiceMaster was “controlling head count,” explained Giannamore. He said restructuring could continue over the next several months.

Industry watchers expect Terminix to continue its aggressive organic and acquisition-based growth initiatives, and doubt the IPO and spin-off will influence pest management professionals selling their businesses.

“I don’t really think it’s going to impact a seller looking to sell his company,” said Chris Ball, director of Brockett Tamny & Co., which specializes in mergers and acquisitions. Everyone has a different reason for selling; this won’t play into owners’ decision making processes, he said.

Terminix may get more C-suite focus now that it’s “a bigger driver of the success of ServiceMaster,” said M&A expert Ron Edmonds of The Principium Group.

Terminix is a “great brand” with a “lot of value” from the customer perspective, said Giannamore.
 

Inside the spin-off. Private equity firms generally hold assets for five to 10 years, with seven years an average term for liquidating investments to pay off investors. (CD&R did not disclose its investment horizon; the firm has owned ServiceMaster for seven years.)

Many considered ServiceMaster’s inability to right TruGreen a hurdle to this process. ServiceMaster CEO Rob Gillette called TruGreen a “distraction” in an earnings call on Nov. 14, 2013.

“TruGreen was a basket case,” agreed Giannamore. Spinning the division off allowed the company “to go public sooner than they would have been able to otherwise,” he said.

On Jan. 8, ServiceMaster reported TruGreen lost nearly 500,000 customers (23 percent) since 2010 and $210 million in revenue since 2011; operating margins eroded due to production inefficiencies, chemical costs, and inflationary pressures compounded by lower fixed cost leverage as falling customer counts drove revenue down.

On Jan. 14, TruGreen, with nearly $900 million in sales, became a separate CD&R entity. Giannamore considered the move an “interesting feat” because debt was cross collateralized.

Valued at $399 million, TruGreen was distributed essentially debt-free to CD&R shareholders; this made the position of ServiceMaster debt holders worse, explained Edmonds.

ServiceMaster kept associated debt, even though it no longer has TruGreen, he said. ServiceMaster will have to raise “a lot of money to pay off all the debt” it has on the books, said Edmonds. More than one stock offering is likely, he said.
 

A stronger entity. With TruGreen out of the picture, ServiceMaster is stronger. The new portfolio, which excludes TruGreen, is a $2.3 billion business that increased operating performance at an 8 percent rate over the past five years with a 19 percent operating performance margin, Tosches said. In addition to Terminix, the company’s American Home Shield division and franchise group, which includes ServiceMaster Clean, AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic and Merry Maids, increased operating performance and margins, he said.

Tosches said the company has “significant opportunities for growing these strong businesses further by leveraging our leading market positions, infrastructure and franchising expertise into adjacent markets and new sectors, with minimal investment.”

Has ServiceMaster been a good investment for CD&R, which also owns stakes in Univar and John Deere Landscapes? Experts have mixed opinions. Giannamore says he believes the equity group’s goal is stemming losses. “I don’t think this is a blockbuster investment for them,” he said. ServiceMaster was acquired at the “zenith of the market” and then the economy’s wheels fell off, he reminded.

Ball expects CD&R to “exit on a favorable position.” ServiceMaster has not had huge growth, but it has grown the top line and from a profitability standpoint, he said.

ServiceMaster’s focus is “growing all our businesses and providing exceptional service to our customers,” said Tosches.

The spin-off “should be a positive influence” for TruGreen, said Ball. It will allow for “a lot more attention to turn the company around.”

In a Nov. 14, 2013, statement, TruGreen President David Alexander said the company made steady progress over the past several months implementing process and technology improvements that should stabilize its operations and deliver better results.

 

Sitting in the C-Suite Since 2006, ServiceMaster has had four CEOs, four Terminix presidents and five TruGreen presidents. (See chart below.) Typically, a new senior executive brings in his own team, which causes a change of the guard in senior management, said Paul Giannamore, The Potomac Company. “It makes for a very uncomfortable working environment for guys who’ve been there long term,” he said. “I really don’t know why there’s been as much churn as there has because it seems as if [ServiceMaster has] done reasonably well over the past several years” in terms of growth, said Chris Ball, Brockett Tamny & Co.

 

 

 

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT. She can be reached at anagro@giemedia.com.

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Growth Gone Wild
 

To see the full map, click the image above.

Most every company on PCT’s Top 100 list grew in 2013. In fact, some had banner years. (Some of the growth was organic, some was via mergers and acquisitions.)

Many PMPs said changes made in leaner times better positioned their companies for rebounding markets and new opportunities.

While PMPs in all regions of the country fared well in 2013, PCT’s list shows more in the West and Southeast experienced some of the biggest gains. PCT interviewed several of the firms with high growth and a few shared their secrets for success.

(Editor’s note: This map shows where each of the Top 100 firms are located. The red markers represent the companies profiled on these two pages.) — Anne Nagro

+28%
Advanced Integrated Pest Management
Roseville, Calif.
The new Copesan partner picked up $1.8 million in northern California work (left by Western Exterminator’s exit) over six months, said Vice President Brian Romani. It invested in handhelds, a computer system, 13 vehicles, 20 new hires. It was “crazy for a little while” but partners helped, he said.

+35%
Your Way Fumigation
Murrieta, Calif.
A better housing market and higher consumer confidence resulted in “significant sales increases” in line with pre-recession levels, said President Manuel Aguilar. Companies in California that streamlined operations during the downturn, and were ready for the upturn, are doing well, he said.

+25%
Payne Pest Management
San Diego, Calif.
Increased real estate inspections, more termite swarms and aggressive sales goals for technicians and inspectors contributed to robust organic growth, said COO Jason Payne. “We strive for perfection and settle for excellence from the top down and it shows with the service we provide to our customers.”

+19%
Frontline Exterminating
Mesa, Ariz.
CFO Jason Pickett said exceptional service drove customer retention, while sales and marketing initiatives grew the recurring annual residential pest program. The company dropped its lawn care offering in 2012, refocusing efforts on its pest and termite services, said Pickett.

+32%
Northwest Exterminating
Tucson, Ariz.
“Stars aligned perfectly” for growth, said President Chad Berg. The company closed more sales due to a better housing market and sales initiatives. It introduced bed bug services, became a Copesan partner, won a major federal weed control contract and performed multiple large projects for bird exclusion.

+15%
Critter Control
Traverse City, Mich.
During the recession, the company diversified into general pest control and other add-on services, said CEO Kevin Clark. This helped it maintain positive growth despite losing 10 percent of franchisees over the past five years, he said. An improving economy aided gains, added Clark.

+18%
Buffalo Exterminating
Orchard Park, N.Y.
Some “fortunate marketing decisions” made as early as 2007 boosted revenue, said General Manager John Zimmerman. A branding campaign, increased TV and online advertising and partnerships with the city mission and zoo proved “hugely powerful,” he said.

+42%
Rentokil North America
Reading, Pa.
Major acquisitions contributed to growth, said Financial Operations Director Linda Hall. These included Atlantic Pest Solutions, Western Exterminator, Eden Advanced and Braemar Services in 2012, and Prairie Professional Pest Control of Calgary and Steve’s Pest Management of Ontario in 2013.

+16%
Northwest Exterminating
Marietta, Ga.
When times were tough, the company invested in employee education, built its culture, and partnered with homebuilder and real estate groups, said Business Development Vice President Stanford Phillips. “We’re better today than we were five years ago in everything we do,” he said.

+11%
Arrow Exterminators
Atlanta
CEO Emily Thomas Kendrick cited the company’s “people and our sound business strategy” for growth, particularly its focus on hiring, training, communication, innovation and culture. Sales and quality service drove the business; select acquisitions expanded its footprint, she said.

+14%
ABC Home & Commercial Services
Austin, Texas
Home starts in the double digits, a pest control acquisition and 30+ percent growth in handyman, plumbing and landscape divisions boosted revenue, said President Bobby Jenkins. A “Lead Now” initiative helped service specialists generate leads from existing customers, he added.
 

 

about the PCT Top 100 companies.

 

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From the desk of Trace McEuen

Dear Pest Management Professionals,

Congratulations to all the companies included in this year’s PCT Top 100 List. Making the list is a great achievement, and one truly worth celebrating.

Univar Environmental Sciences is committed to helping our customers strengthen their businesses by delivering the products and services they need, when they need them. We’re proud to have worked with many of the outstanding companies on the PCT Top 100 List, which fulfills our mission as your partner and full-line distributor.

Univar is passionate about the pest management industry, and doing everything we can to support it — including you. Beyond distributing the widest range of products, we offer educational resources to keep pest management professionals at the top of their game, including in-person and online training, product resources and information on PestWeb. And you can always count on our experienced salespeople for valuable advice.

So whether you’re hoping to break into the PCT Top 100 or are already there, Univar can help you achieve your goals. Because the right product is just the beginning — we’ll be your trusted business partner, connecting you with the resources to be successful both today and tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Trace McEuen
Vice President
Univar Environmental Sciences – Americas