LP Gas, May 2017
Independent retailers are stepping up as buyers today in hopes of making deals to regain lost gallons Buying back msmalley@ northcoastmedia net GROWTH PHOTO COURTESY OF ISTOCK COM BESTDESIGNS BY MEGAN SMALLEY ASSOCIATE EDITOR D avenport Energy CEO Lewis Wall Jr noticed a fair amount of organic growth in the propane industry in the 1980s and 1990s The residential market was booming and propane was affordable compared to other energy options Yet that growth stalled upon the turn of the millennium Too many companies were doing the same thing in too many markets Wall says We felt the market would shrink and we knew the growth of the 1990s had to slow down Walls predictions proved to be fairly accurate as propane prices spiked in the late 1990s In addition Davenport Energy lost a number of residential and commercial customers after a few big manufacturers in North Carolina and Virginia moved their businesses to Central America That contributed to a lack of new homes being built that would have used propane Wall adds Despite losses in the residential market Wall wanted to continue to grow Davenport Energy With organic growth still hard to come by in the early 2000s he looked to acquisitions as a way to supplant lost gallons Since then the company has acquired at least one to two companies almost every year More independent retailers like Davenport Energy have become buyers in the propane industry the past few years sources say Lack of organic growth tends to be the No 1 factor driving independent retailers to become buyers 32 LPGas May 2017 www LPGasmagazine com
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