Industrial and Construction Services Newsletter - Q3 2021

TKO Miller Market Analysis 

Market Landscape

• Labor shortages continue to be the prevailing pain point facing not just the construction/industrial services markets, but all industries; personnel shortages are becoming universal across unskilled labor, skilled trade, and professional positions
• Most construction industry experts expect labor shortages to be a lingering issue that will impact the industry for the foreseeable future
• Supply chain issues and shortages of materials and equipment are nearly as problematic as labor issues; supply chain constraints and significant price increases, which early in the year led to record prices for building materials, have expanded to include finished goods such as heavy equipment, tools, and safety products
• Net inputs to the construction industry have increased over 20% YoY since August of 2020, according to the producer price index, with prices for key input materials such as lumber and steel driving much of the increase
• Congress is still deliberating but is expected to vote by the end of October, on the INVEST in America Act, a bill that would extend current infrastructure budgets as well as establish new spending programs for transportation, environmental, and natural resource infrastructure

M&A Conditions

• M&A conditions continue to be strong through the latter part of the year, with activity, as well as valuations, in the industrial and construction services sector remaining high
• This, combined with looming corporate and capital gains tax reform from the Biden administration, created a strong incentive for owners and operators in the industry to launch transaction processes prior to year-end; however, now that the expected tax increase is lower, this may no longer be as large a factor as it once was
• These factors have created something of a log jam of companies wishing to transact by year-end, and buyers and their advisors are struggling to find the capacity to pursue new transactions; this dynamic may create slight (likely temporary) downward pressure on deal volume
• TKO Miller expects to see record overall transaction activity both in terms of volume and value in 2021, but 1Q22 may regress to the mean as fewer transaction processes are launched in the latter half of 2021 in order to accommodate the saturated M&A market

By Timothy Oleszczuk on Oct 18, 2021 2:06:38 PM