Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) applauds the House Education and the Workforce Committee on approving the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act(H.R. 2353).
Uponor North America is expanding its manufacturing facility in Apple Valley, Minnesota, with completion expected by January 2018. The $17.4 million investment will be used toward the expansion of an additional 58,000 square feet to increase manufacturing capacity to meet customer demand. This is the 10th expansion since Uponor began operations in Apple Valley in 1990. The most recent expansion took place in 2016 when the company invested $18 million and added 88,000 square feet to its manufacturing facility.
Bacharach Inc. announced the completion of the acquisition of Parasense Inc. The combined resources of Bacharach and Parasense will significantly strengthen the company’s ability to provide the best solutions to the worldwide HVACR market with fixed and portable gas detection instrumentation and performance monitoring offerings.
According to the “Heating Equipment Market in the U.S.” study from The Freedonia Group, forced-air heating is the preferred comfort delivery method in the U.S. Of those, warm-air furnaces comprise the vast majority of the overall demand with 64 percent of the total value of sales in 2016.
Finally, and at long last, we are entering a time of high growth. This information comes not just from anecdotal reports from distributors across the country but also from some pretty respected economists. While speaking to the National Association of Wholesale/Distributors Executive Summit, economist Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics confirmed much of what distributors were noticing in their local territories: business is expanding.
Executives in every industry are forced to confront the immediate future, and yet, they must ensure that the longer view — a strategic plan — is in the mix to ensure the business thrives. And the glue to all this planning is, unsurprisingly, the finances.
The home automation system market is expected to be valued at $79.57 billion by 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3 percent between 2017 and 2022.
Quite frankly, I can’t imagine any distributor not assigning a value to their service and recouping at least a portion of the expenses tied to the service. While I personally believe 10 percent is a bit low, it is a start in the right direction.
Microf LLC, a provider of residential lease-to-own products for the HVAC industry, raised $96.7 million in growth capital. The combined debt and equity raise is funded through a new $40 million committed senior debt facility provided by Atalaya Capital Management with an additional $40 million accordion feature; a new $10 million senior debt facility provided by Microf’s existing lender, BrandBank; and $6.67 million in equity provided by current equity investors.
HOUSTON — Goodman Manufacturing will be the first heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) manufacturer to launch Emerson’s new Copeland Scroll™ two-stage compressor that’s designed to provide budget-minded homeowners high-energy efficiencies with enhanced indoor comfort at an affordable, mid-tier price, the companies have announced.