“我们属于高端水管工。”Team(代號:TISI) 的CEO Philip J. Hawk骄傲地宣布道，“我们对于业界的同行来说是所向披靡的魔鬼。”不提自我谦虚和自我描述，Philip J. Hawk对自1998年他接管Team以来公司的一路发展历程，引以为傲是理所当然的。Team一直以来专注于为精炼厂和石化企业提供管道修理服务，04 年以来年均每股收益和营收的增长率达到40%；今年五月31日四季度的营收增长达到50%，不包括收购在内的主体营收增长达到30%；净收入增长了 54%；08年管道维修业务为公司创造了4.785亿美元营收，同比增长50% 。
Team有超过一半的业务客户是精炼和石化企业，有25%的业务伙伴是发电厂和管道企业。公司的任务就是确保这些管道系统在高温高压环境下正常运转，从维修到油田加工、检查管道，Team可谓是样样在行。Philip J. Hawk表示：“我们是在与高温高压的管道环境打交道，这可不是给胆小鬼准备的，我们拥有极为稳固的市场需求基础，尽管不是循环性或是高增长率的，但是需求量十分稳定。”
Team的客户必须要经常减持管道是否处于安全状态，一旦存在危险或是问题，Team在全球各地分布的100个维修点将随叫随到。近几年公司保持了较高的增长率，来自精炼和化工企业的客户源于那不断地为公司带来业务。CJS Securities分析师Arnold Ursaner表示：“如果你是一家大型国有石油公司，你就会希望所有的账单和工作文件都来自同一个地方。”因此，冶炼巨头Valero(代號:VLO)在全球许多地方都拥有炼油工厂，并与Team保持良好的业务往来。
近期的飓风天气，包括05年的卡特里娜在内，为Team带来了许多渠道维修业务。由于许多新的炼油工厂尚在建设当中，石油公司不得不沿用旧工厂，因此需要 Team不断为其提供维修服务。Philip J. Hawk对公司业务前景十分看好，他预计年营收增长率为10-15% 。BB&T Capital Markets分析师Holden Lewis表示：“公司管理层将继续达到长期业绩目标。”
Hawk强调Team能够保持每股收益增长率高于增长率，“营收如果能够增长10%，每股收益就能够增长20%，你的基础建设必须处于不断运营当中，但是我们不必追加更多的分支机构。”同时，公司还对各地分支机构进行业务均衡，将优秀的工人送到世界各地需要的地方。
“小型企业能够做到的，我们也能够做到，”这就是Hawk坚信公司能够在较为分散的市场中赢得份额的原因。预计将或的35-50%的市场份额。Team近期收购了两家加拿大和欧洲的公司。并在08年成功收购了荷兰企业Leak Repairs Specam，为公司进军欧洲市场奠定基础。
Investor's Business Daily
Pipeline Maintenance Firm Tries To Consolidate Fragmented Industry
Tuesday August 5, 6:27 pm ET
Norm Alster "We're high-end plumbers," volunteered Philip J. Hawk, chief executive of Team.
And with no trace of apology or shame in his voice, the one-time McKinsey consultant added: "We're a necessary evil."
Ignore those self-effacing self-descriptions. Hawk is proud of the growth engine he's created since taking over as CEO at Team (NasdaqGS:TISI - News) in 1998.
Specialists in maintaining and fixing pipes for refinery and petrochemical plants, Team has grown revenue and profit at a better than 40% annual rate since 2004.
And there are few signs of leakage. For its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31, the Alvin, Texas, firm reported revenue growth of 50%. Organic growth -- not counting an acquisition -- was 30%. Net income grew by 54%. For its fiscal year, the piping maintenance outfit had revenue of $478.5 million, also up 50% from fiscal 2007. Net income grew apace.
Steady Revenue
Team does more than half its business with oil refinery and petrochemical customers. Just over 25% is with power plants and pipelines. Most of the rest is with other industrial plants. Team's work is to maintain high-temperature and high-pressure piping systems, everything from repairing leaks to field machining, bolting and inspecting pipes.
"They're all high-pressure. High-temperature. They're not for sissies," said Hawk.
"We have this very stable demand base," he added. "It's not cyclical. It's not high-growth. It's very stable." Team customers must regularly ensure that their piping is in order. And if there is a crisis, Team, with 100 field offices, is ready to respond.
Several factors have pumped Team's growth in recent years. Large customers in the refinery and chemicals businesses have been narrowing their supplier base, says Arnold Ursaner, a managing director at CJS Securities.
"If you're a major national oil company, you want all the billing and documentation of work coming from the same source," he said. Hence, refiner giant Valero (NYSE:VLO - News) has told its plant managers in different locations that Valero would prefer -- though it would not compel -- them to use Team, according to Ursaner. With multiple facilities, Team also has the infrastructure to service large customers. The only big competitor with similar capabilities, analysts say, is Furmanite (NYSE:FRM - News).
One factor that has juiced recent growth could peter out, argues one industry consultant who has worked for Team but asked that his name be withheld. Recent hurricanes, including 2005 killer storm Katrina, produced lots of refinery repair work for companies like Team. Since then, many have also been doing a lot of expansion and upgrades. With new refineries not being built, and with the industry running at or near capacity, many Team customers opted to bolster older plants.
"What will happen when that activity falls off? Team's growth will fall off," the consultant reasoned.
But Hawk is confident he can continue to build the business. He forecasts sustained 10% to 15% annual revenue growth. And as Holden Lewis, an analyst at BB&T Capital Markets, wrote in a recent report, "management routinely beats its long-term objectives." Of course, such modest forecasting can pay off when companies then report earnings that top analyst estimates. Hawk stresses that Team can grow earnings faster than revenue. "If we can grow revenue at 10%, we can grow profit at 20%," he said. How's that?
In essence, he says, Team can grow its business without the cost of opening new field offices. "You're leveraging your infrastructure. We don't have to add branches." As such, revenue per branch has grown as Team field offices continue to penetrate their markets.
Workers are non-union and are paid by the hour. Technicians start at $10 an hour. But with overtime, many earn $40,000 a year, Hawk says. Some even earn six-figure incomes, he says, though he would not specify how many.
Team trims idle time by balancing workload between its various field offices. It will send workers between units as needed. Thus, Team can shift personnel swiftly from, say, it's San Francisco area field office to Los Angeles if there is major customer emergency there. "We can do things a smaller company can't," said Hawk.
And that's why the CEO believes that Team can continue to win share in a splintered market. "Our market share in North America is still less than 20%," he said. "Market leaders in oligopolist industries have 35% to 50%."
But this industry is not an oligopoly. "It should be," snapped Hawk.
Rest assured that Hawk will do his best to create that oligopoly. "I think we can double our business in North America," he said. Hawk is confident that Team can continue to take market share from smaller players in the U.S.
But he won't stop there. He has his eye on buyout targets in other markets. Team's two most recent takeouts were of Canadian and European firms. In Europe, as in the U.S., the piping systems service business hosts many smaller players.
"There's no player with multibranch capability," Hawk said. The January 2008 takeout of Dutch-based Leak Repairs Specam gave Team its first foothold on the Continent. It is now roughly a $25-million-a-year business by revenue. "If it's not $100 million in five years, I'd be very disappointed," said Hawk.
Danger In The Field
Doing work in dangerous conditions on critical piping systems has its risks. In 2005, for example, a ruptured Consolidated Edison steam line in Manhattan resulted in a death and several injuries. Several lawsuits claim that Team's leak repair services may have played a part.
Team is covered by insurance and shareholders should face no loss even if Team were to lose in court, says Hawk. But the incident reflects the high-stakes nature of Team's services. And Team cannot afford too many such incidents. "The biggest risk is execution on a job-by-job basis. If you lose your reputation in a service business, that's the biggest risk," Ursaner said.
The incessant push for efficiency and profit is not always in the best long-term interest of service companies. They're retained to furnish the costly hand-holding attention customers expect. Hawk says he's aware of the dilemma.
"As you get bigger, you have to keep that small-company responsiveness and dynamism," he said.
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