BrightView acquires Russo Lawn & Landscape

During the reveal of its fourth quarter and fiscal year results via webcast on Wednesday, BrightView announced it acquired Russo Lawn & Landscape earlier this week.

Russo, located in Hartford, Connecticut, services 26 cities in the state and six more in Massachusetts. The commercial landscaping company has been in business since 1990. The purchase marks BrightView's fifth acquisition this year, all of which account for an estimated $117.6 million in aggregate annualized revenue.

BrightView CEO Andrew Masterman said during Wednesday's presentation that his company prefers to bring along acquisitions slowly, over the course of 12-24 months, to preserve customer relationships and to keep the companies' crews. Fred Jacobs, BrightView's vice president of communications and public affairs, said the company declined further comment on the Russo acquisition.

Masterman and BrightView Chief Financial Officer John Feenan primarily spent the presentation discussing the company's record-setting revenue. It achieved a fiscal year revenue of $2.35 billion, an increase of 5.7 percent from 2017. This spike in total revenue was largely supported by growth in BrightView's maintenance services segment and development services segment revenues. 

The company also reported a net loss of $15.1 million, or $.18 per share, in 2018, compared to its $37.4 million net loss reported in 2017.