Another banner year for the industry; how long can it last?
Last year's headlines in this space announced: Consolidation Shuffles The Deck - Acquisitions are making it hard to tell who's who among the industry players. The accompanying article found it striking how many new names appeared on our Pipe Trades Giants list, and how many had disappeared, owing to the vigorous consolidation activities taking place in 1998-99.
It's yesteryear's news, friends. If you compare this year's list with 1999's, you'll find a little jockeying up and down the ranks but few remarkable changes. One exception is the sudden appearance of Encompass Services Corp. in our top 10, representing a merger earlier this year of former giants Building One Services Corp. (No. 4 last year) and Group Maintenance America Corp. (No. 6). Other mergers, and even emergences, may yet follow, but it's pretty clear that the consolidation movement has slowed down in the mechanical contracting industry. Insofar as the IPO ambitions of would-be consolidators are concerned, it's pretty much hit a wall.