Industry up 10 percent in November, per Blair/PCO M&A Specialists index

The William Blair/PCO M&A Specialists Pest Index is a proprietary compilation of the monthly sales for 158 different U.S. pest control companies across 36 states. For November, the index increased 10 percent year-over-year, in line with the average growth rate over the previous three months and the long-term historical average index growth rate of 11 percent.

The November result shows continued normalization after two years of above-average growth in 2021 and 2022.

“November’s results were in line with our expectation, and there is no change to our model at this time,” William Blair Equity Researcher Tim Mulrooney said in the news release. “Our model currently projects Rollins organic growth of 8 percent in the fourth quarter, in line with the third quarter. This is above Rentokil, which reported third-quarter organic growth of 2.3 percent in North America (2.7 percent excluding product sales). Rentokil referenced a ‘softer consumer demand environment’ in its third-quarter trading update, and Rollins said digital leads were ‘flat or maybe even slightly down’ in the third quarter.”

Dan Gordon, CPA, who is Pest Management Professional’s financial columnist as well as a partner in PCO Bookkeepers & M&A Specialists, added, “There are definitely crosswinds from the overall economy as well as upward pressures on marketing costs, but our great industry continues to grow at a nice pace, which is a testament to our recurring revenue model that is a needed service among commercial and residential customers.”

The November results by segment include:

• The Residential Pest Index increased 12 percent year-over-year.
• The Commercial Pest Index increased 12 percent year-over-year.
• The Termite Index increased 3 percent year-over-year.
• The Bed Bug Index increased 10 percent year-over-year.
• The Mosquito Index decreased 8 percent year-over-year.

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