INDUSTRY NEWS
Lawn & Landscape Wins Editorial, Graphic Awards
BOSTON – Once again, the staff of Lawn & Landscape was recognized for continued editorial and graphic excellence at the 11th annual Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) meeting.
Lawn & Landscape received the following awards in this year’s competition: First Place – Single Page Design, Merit Award – State of the Industry Report, Merit Award – The Morrell Group operations profile and Merit Award – Electronic publishing, Web site design.
In addition, a new TOCA award introduced this year recognized the overall best in writing and design from among nearly 200 entries. This placed each writing and design entry, regardless of category and type of piece, in competition against each other. Lawn & Landscape was especially honored when its graphic artist, Charlotte Turcotte, received the Best of Design award for her single page editorial design mentioned above.
| Getting |
Hooked Up
For what purposes does your company use a computer? More landscape contractors are using computers to manage their day-to-day businesses. Only 11.3 percent of respondents to a Lawn & Landscape reader survey reported that they didn’t use a computer in their businesses. The survey also reported that 66.8 percent of contractors have Internet access. Most of these contractors – 76.7 percent – use the Internet for e-mail, while 74.6 percent use it for research; 53.8 percent use it to gather news; 25.1 percent use it to sell or buy items; and 7.2 percent use it to network on bulletin boards and in chat rooms. |
FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITY
Making it Real
Tim Hanauer is a big believer in the capabilities of landscape design and imaging software. "Imaging is the greatest thing to happen to residential landscape design in a long time because most clients don’t understand how to read a blueprint, and not every designer is a good renderer," noted Hanauer, president of Earth Graphics, a Greensboro, N.C.-based organization looking to franchise landscape design operations with a computer-focused design model.
"Digital imaging is the one approach that makes sense for every landscape designer," said Hanauer, a veteran landscape designer himself. "We’ve seen an increase of 30 percent in our sales close rate on jobs when we’ve used imaging as opposed to making proposals without it."
The Earth Graphics system looks to combine imaging capabilities with a modified van to develop a national presence.
"Our model is built around a single goal of providing customers same-day landscape design that starts in the morning when the designers arrive on the property and ends in the afternoon or evening when the designers present designs to clients," Hanauer explained. "To do this, the designer has to have an office on site, and that’s why we have the van set up, so the designer can do the work without leaving the property.
"The design departments are usually cost centers that create a product that will hopefully create revenue down the road," he continued. "We want to help designers make money doing designs."
More information is available at www.earthg.com or by calling 877/327-8441.
TURF SEED NEWS
J.R. Simplot/Former Owner Bid for ABT
HENDERSON, Nev. – Five months after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, AgriBioTech (ABT) has put itself up for sale, and so far, Kenneth Budd and J.R. Simplot Co. have submitted bids to acquire the company’s turf seed assets and Specialty Division, which ABT estimated at a $65 million value.
While Budd, former president and chief operating officer of ABT, and J.R. Simplot Co., Post Falls, Idaho, submitted separate bids and ABT has recognized those bids, the acquisition process is nowhere near completion. According to Fred Zerza, vice president of public relations, J.R. Simplot Co., competing bids can still be submitted. Once a bid is approved, the purchaser has a legal right to due diligence and can either submit a lower bid or decline the offer.
"Simplot has bid on certain assets of ABT, but we don’t characterize it as an agreement in principle because our bid is subject to due diligence and board approval," Zerza said. "And we’re not necessarily the exclusive bidder. We have not reached a definitive agreement by any measure, and we won’t until due diligence is completed."
In a previous announcement, ABT reported that as a part of the transaction, the purchaser is expected to assume the company’s obligations under contracts with its growers, which includes purchasing existing turf seed inventory in the growers’ possession. After this announcement, various purchase packages were submitted to Development Specialists, Inc. (DSI), the bankruptcy reorganization group overseeing ABT’s operations. Other companies, whose names were not released, also submitted bids. The exact details of the J.R. Simplot Co. and Budd bids were confidential at presstime and will be made public at a later date, according to Zerza. DSI reports it will stop taking bids for the company in June.
Reports released about the sale of ABT to J.R. Simplot Co. also quote a $65 million purchase price, plus the assumption of liabilities. This amount, according to Zerza, is speculative. "Our bid is much lower than that," he said. "The actual amount won’t be defined until due diligence is completed."
If J.R. Simplot Co. won the bid, Zerza said ABT’s turf and horticulture assets would become part of Simplot Turf & Horticulture, a division of J.R. Simplot Co., and current management would remain in charge of the new addition.
Despite ABT’s dramatic failure, Zerza said if the acquisition pans out, J.R. Simplot Co. plans to ease the current financial turmoil seed growers face. "We have no control over what has happened," Zerza said. "But we will do what we can to re-establish stability."
Other seed companies declined to comment about ABT or the outstanding bids made on the company.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Consolidation Strikes Again
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Demonstrating the dynamic state of distribution, McGinnis Farms recently acquired Pipe ‘n Heads, the Plano, Texas-based wholesale distributor of irrigation products.
Made through Jenco Wholesale Nurseries, a McGinnis Farms-owned subsidiary, the acquisition further establishes McGinnis as a successful full-line distributor of nursery, landscape and irrigation products. The addition of Pipe ‘n Head’s 13 sales operations brings the McGinnis Farms distribution network to 44 locations throughout 10 Southeastern and South Central states.
Following the company’s Jenco acquisition in late 1999, this move is an opportunity to shore up additional product lines for value-added service and increased buying power, according to Stan Walker, president.
As part of the deal, Pipe ‘n Heads, for the most part, will maintain its company identity. "They have a valuable name and we will retain that," Walker said, noting that Jenco will gradually add nursery and landscape supplies to all of Pipe ‘n Head’s stores as well as establish new full-service stores.
This acquisition fits into McGinnis Farms’ long-term plan to become a full-line national player on the distributor level, Walker said. "This acquisition strengthens our market presence and overall market share," he said, adding that the market trend toward full-line, full-service distributors is one that will clearly continue. "In the long term, the landscape industry will support the full-service, one-stop shop," Walker said. "As industries consolidate, value-added operations will be what will survive."
Looking ahead, Walker said McGinnis Farms will continue to focus on the national level and will consider expansion into other markets, including possibly the West Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions. McGinnis Farms’ future growth will likely come from other distributorships and businesses available for acquisition, since this is the company’s preferred method of expansion, Walker said, adding that McGinnis has a number of start-ups in the works as well.
INDUSTRY NEWS
VW&R Pursues Turf Industry
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Van Waters & Rogers (VW&R), one of the largest distributors of specialty chemical products for the structural pest control industry, continued its initiative to develop a presence in the turf and ornamental market by acquiring Turf Industries, Dallas, Texas. Turf Industries adds two locations to VW&R’s more than 110 locations across the country, and the company has plans for additional acquisitions to further strengthen its position in the turf industry.
John Bolano, vice president of VW&R’s Professional Products & Services, said this acquisition "sets the pace for our growth as a key national distributor to the professional turf and ornamental marketplace."
Frank Gasperini, industry manager, turf and ornamentals for VW&R, acknowledged that the company’s plan is to be a key player in the turf industry nationally – beginning with the Sun Belt. "Acquisition is the primary way we’ve grown our pest control business in the last 20 years, and now we’re the leading distributor in the pest control market," he related. "The fact that we’re looking for good acquisitions to take us into the turf market isn’t a secret, and most of our people with turf expertise are in Florida and California, so we think that’s a logical place to focus initially."
Gasperini noted that the turf industry’s growth potential, combined with the limited remaining growth potential for distributors in the pest control industry, made the company’s new focus an obvious move. "The turf market is probably four times the size of the pest control industry in terms of distributor sales potential, and our locations are in urban and suburban areas that lawn and landscape companies are located in already," he explained, adding that approximately two-thirds of VW&R’s North American locations currently handle some turf business.
INDUSTRY NEWS
TruGreen-ChemLawn Buys Leisure Lawn
DAYTON, OHIO – TruGreen-ChemLawn continued to distance itself from the rest of the lawn care industry with the acquisition of Leisure Lawn.
Representatives from Leisure Lawn, which was founded in 1970 and marketed itself as the "nation’s largest privately held lawn care company," weren’t available for comment, but the chemical lawn care company had 1999 revenue of about $22 million from 11 different markets, including: Cleveland, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.; Indianapolis, Ind.; St. Louis, Mo.; Detroit, Mich.; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta, Ga.
Lawn & Landscape also learned that TruGreen-ChemLawn was not the only company interested in acquiring Leisure Lawn. Scotts Lawn Service, Marysville, Ohio, is also believed to have submitted a bid to acquire the company.
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