Houzz Scholarship, PremierPRO Bermudagrass for WII Memorial: This Week’s Industry News

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Want to keep up with the latest news in lawn care and landscaping? Check back every Thursday for a quick recap of recent happenings in the green industry.

SiteOne Reports Soft Third Quarter Growth, Acquisition Activity
SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc., in announcing earnings for its third quarter ending October 2, 2016, reported strong year-over-year growth in net sales, gross profit, net income and adjusted EBITDA. SiteOne third quarter results at a glance:

  • Net sales increased by 10 percent year-over-year to $444.5 million
  • Organic sales increased by 2 percent reflecting soft market conditions during the summer
  • Gross profit increased by 17 percent to $138.4 million; gross margin expanded by 180 basis points to 31.1 percent
  • Net income of $14.9 million, an increase of 31 percent year-over-year
  • Adjusted EBITDA increased by 30 percent to $43.7 million; Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 150 basis points to 9.8 percent
  • Completed the acquisitions of Bissett Nursery & Equipment Companies and Glen Allen Nursery

DBi Services Tabs RogerZino as CEO
DBi Services
has named Roger Zino as its CEO. Zino is the former president ValleyCrest of Valley Crest Landscape Maintenance where he grew revenue from $140 million to over $650 million. He later served as the first non-family CEO of ValleyCrest. Most recently he served as vice chairman of Brickman-ValleyCrest, focusing on integrating a $2 billion landscape services company with 300 locations and 23,000 employees. DBi Services, headquartered in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, grew from a small commercial residential maintenance company to a global network of more than 50 locations and 1800 employees in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

Houzz Offers Scholarship for Landscape Architecture
The scholarship is geared toward students studying architecture, interior design and landscape architecture. All students 17 and older can fill out a form about their education and answer an essay question. Students must include a link to their Houzz profile, complete with images from your portfolio. The landscape architecture scholarship can be found on the Houzz website.

Andrew Masterman Joins BrightView as President and CEO
BrightView named Andrew Masterman as its new president and CEO effective in December. Masterman joins BrightView after serving as executive vice president at Precision Castparts, a Berkshire Hathaway company. Pat Velasco, who replacd Andrew Kerin who left the company this past summer, had served as interim chief executive. Velasco will remain on BrightView’s board of directors.

Massey Services Promotes Eric Brown to Director of Agronomy
Tony Massey, President of Massey Services, has announced the promotion of Eric A. Brown, Ph.D., to Director of Agronomy. Brown is responsible for managing agronomic programs for Massey Services’ GreenUP Landscape division. Brown joined Massey Services in 2009 as a service manager and most recently held the role of field training manager. Brown earned his doctoral and master’s degrees in soil and water science from the University of Florida.

Ariens Honors 100th Anniversary of Gravely Brand in Company Museum
Ariens Company renovated its Museum to include a new display dedicated to the Gravely brand of professional outdoor power equipment, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the original “Gravely Motor Plow” patent awarded in 1916. The newly renovated space includes a 3,000 square feet of display area filled with refurbished vintage equipment, historical wall murals and memorabilia that provide a glimpse into the company’s 100-year history.

The central feature of the new display is a replica of the red-brick façade and entryway to the original Gravely factory built in 1922 in Dunbar, West Virginia. On display are several milestone products from the company’s history including a working replica of Ben Gravely’s original “Motor Plow” built by local metal artist, Paul Kaufmann of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

NPS Selects PremierPRO Bermudagrass for WII Memorial
The National Park Service recently installed 11,000 square feet of PremierPRO Bermudagrass developed by Dr. Milt Engelke and Dr. Virginia Lehman, and licensed and marketed by Sod Production Services of Charles City, Virginia, as a part of a trial of turfgrasses varieties across a number of national parks. Bill Warpinski, co-owner and manager of Central Sod Farms of Maryland, Inc., Centreville, Maryland, grew the PremierPRO that is now incorporated into the landscape of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in our nation’s Capital. The grass was grown on the 1,200-acre sod farm that he and his brother, Tom, the company’s president, run as business partners.

ONLA Hosts Successful High School Landscape Olympics
The Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association (ONLA) hosted its first Ohio High School Landscape Olympics recently. ONLA welcomed 150 students from 17 schools. Hands-on competition included landscape plant and hardscape installs, compact excavator operation, skid steer operation, irrigation assembly, cost estimating and more. ONLA awarded bronze, silver and gold medals for each of the 10 competitions. Individual scores were compiled to award the top five teams in the state.

  • Champion Team: Knox County Career Center
  • Second Place: Ohio Hi-Point
  • Third Place: Medina County Career Center
  • Fourth Place: Talawanda-Butler Tech
  • Fifth Place: Upper Valley Career Center

Read last week’s industry news here: Toro Buys Perrot, ASIC Scholarship: This Week’s Industry News