Industry up 11 percent over June 2021, per Blair/PCO M&A Specialists index

The William Blair/PCO M&A Specialists Pest Index is a proprietary index of the monthly sales for 140 different U.S. pest control companies across 30 states. For June 2021, the total U.S. pest index increased 11.6 percent over June 2020. This marks a deceleration from May 2021, which was up 15 percent year-over-year.

According to a news release from Newton, N.J.-based PCO M&A Specialists, which is led by Pest Management Professional financial columnist Dan Gordon, the deceleration in June is due to more difficult comparisons with last year. Specifically, the total pest index decreased 5 percent in May 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased 10 percent in June 2020.

“Taking into account this 15 percentage point swing, we view the June 2021 results as positive and indicative of continued strength across the U.S. pest control market,” William Blair Equity Researcher Tim Mulrooney said in the news release. “Growth of (nearly) 12 percent year-over-year in June remains well above the long-term historical average monthly growth trend of 8 percent to 9 percent.”

On a sequential basis from May 2021 to June 2021, the index increased 5.6 percent year-over-year.

The Residential Pest Index increased 8.8 percent year-over-year and 5.8 percent on a sequential basis. The Commercial Pest Index increased 17.7 percent year-over-year and 6.7 percent on a sequential basis. The Wood Destroying (Termite) Index increased 10.9 percent year-over-year and 1.7 percent on a sequential basis. The Bed Bug Index increase 1 percent year-over-year and 27.6 percent on a sequential basis.

For context, the combined annual revenue of these companies was $320 million in 2019, and $292 million in 2018. The largest 15 companies in the index represented 35 percent of total sales in 2019. By segment, combined annual revenues in 2019 were $149 million (residential), $96 million (commercial), $61 million (termite), and $13 million (bed bug). The residential door-to-door index includes 61 separate pest control companies and/or branches across the U.S. with combined annual revenue of $156 million in 2019.

View the full June report and the archive of past reports at SellMyPCOBusiness.com.