Investment Banking

Are You Ready To Transfer Ownership of Your Company? By Landon Funsten According to “FMI’s Ownership Transfer and Management Succession Survey,” only 47% of respondents believe they have capable, strong managers who could run the company in their absence. Furthermore, only 44% said they have a formal plan in place to transition themselves out of managing the business, and just 64% have a formal plan in place to ensure continuity of operations in event of their death.

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Financing Energy Efficiency Projects By Tim Huckaby Buildings use more than 70% of the electricity generated and more than 40% of the natural gas used in the U.S. The existing U.S. building stock is extremely energy inefficient. The DOE’s Energy Information Agency estimates that 30% of energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. In a 2009 report, McKinsey & Company estimated that energy savings worth $1.2 trillion are available if the full amount of economically viable and commercially available energy efficiency projects is implemented in the U.S. through 2020. Achieving these savings would require an upfront investment of $520 billion. Of course, not all economically viable and commercially available energy efficiency projects will be built, and it will take a number of years to approach the deep market penetration referenced in the McKinsey study. At the same time, energy efficiency technologies and applications are advancing at a rapid pace, resulting in an ever-growing market. As is often said in the industry, energy efficiency is the “low hanging fruit that continues to regrow.”

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Engineering and Design Survey By Michael Landry FMI recently interviewed and surveyed 61 CEOs and other leaders of engineering and architecture firms. The largest firm had revenues of over $23B, and the smallest had $10M in revenues. The results reinforced our experience in the market. Primary challenges and concerns of firms are:

• High levels of uncertainty regarding the future
• Consolidation of the industry through M&A activity
• Limited funding for projects
• Intense competition for work
• Retaining top talent and finding new staff
• Responding to changes in technology
• Responding to evolving delivery methods

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Architects and Engineers Prepare for the Future By Michael Landry Architects and engineers have faced strong headwinds in the past two years. Most of my clients – large and small – have faced lower revenues, intense competition, downward pricing pressure and margin compression. Many of you have responded to these market forces by reducing the size of your organizations and focusing on cash flow. It is difficult in this environment to focus on the future when the present is so difficult. Yet we all need to focus on the future. My recent discussions with CEOs and others in the industry indicate that the worst of this recession may be behind us. Project backlogs are stabilizing. Margins are ticking up slightly in some areas. Bidding opportunities have increased. These are good signs, and make my clients more optimistic about 2011 and 2012.

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