LONDON, UK: Water Intelligence plc announced reacquisition of its American Leak Detection (ALD) franchise in Reno, Nevada and acquisition of PlumbRight Services Inc., a Kentucky corporation.
The Group continues to build on its exceptional growth momentum. Both acquisitions are immediately accretive and will contribute to sales and profit growth for 2H and beyond. In both cases, the leadership of the acquired companies will be joining the Group thus also adding to execution capabilities.
The reacquisition of Reno, Nevada strengthens corporate presence in the western part of the United States and links its ALD innovation centers in Silicon Valley and Seattle. The owner of the ALD franchise in Reno has been an early adopter by testing new technologies for the Group, such as its proprietary sewer diagnostic tool, and by reselling cutting-edge water monitoring devices such as that produced by FloMoen.
The purchase price of $0.25 million is based on $0.25 million of sales during 2020. It is believed that strong growth will occur in this location with additional corporate working capital and the end of Covid restrictions. During 2020 Reno has suffered from extreme economic disruptions produced during lock-down because of its significant casino presence.
The acquisition of PlumbRight Services, extends the plumbing services capabilities of the Group’s fast-growing, multimillion dollar Louisville, Kentucky location. The PlumbRight team will enable the Louisville office to take on larger scale repair jobs as follow-through sales beyond current pinpoint leak detection solutions for its existing business and municipal customers. The purchase price of $0.7 million is based on 2020 sales of approximately $1 million.
The Group also announces the appointment of John Spenard as Chief People Officer to further strengthen its leadership team. Mr. Spenard has significant experience in the industry having formerly served as Chief People Officer of HomeServe USA and Vice President, Employee and Labor Relations for CEMEX, a global infrastructure company built in part through acquisition.
Mr. Spenard will assist along three dimensions: (i) addition of execution personnel to meet the growth in market demand, (ii) integration of personnel from acquisitions, both franchise and third parties and (iii) support of field service automation via the Group’s Salesforce application.
Executive Chairman, Dr. Patrick DeSouza commented: “We are pleased with today’s series of announcements. We plan to finish 1H in very strong fashion. 1Q results were very strong marked by organic growth and two acquisitions – one franchise and a technology asset transaction. We kicked off 2Q by strengthening our leadership team by announcing the appointment to our Board of a leader in the financial services industry – Dan Ewell – who brings significant depth of experience in both capital markets and strategic transactions.
We are now completing 2H executing the same formula for success. Today’s acquisitions will fuel growth. We are also adding an important set of skills to our management team as we execute our growth plan. We look forward very much to working with John Spenard.
Last year about this time, we appointed a Silicon Valley leader – Dan McDonald – to our management team to help guide our technology development both through internal investment and through acquisition. We are now rewarded by the prospects for 2H with commercialization of our sewer diagnostic product and early sales from our investment in Intelliditch. Similarly, we expect John will make an immediate impact with our organization as we continue to distinguish ourselves among companies in the Covid marketplace.
Chief People Officer John Spenard added: “It truly is an exceptional opportunity to join Water Intelligence and be a part of its future success. WI has an incredibly skilled and engaged group of people that will serve as a solid foundation for attracting, and developing, even more outstanding talent so essential to fueling its continued growth. I am incredibly honored to have the chance to work with such an outstanding team.”
Water Intelligence PLC
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1 Jun, 3:47 pm GMT+1 · Disclaimer
LON: WATR
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