This is a sentiment shared by a number of chief executives at local private companies when contacted for participation in Nashville Post's ninth annual ranking of Middle Tennessee's top private companies. That some companies surveyed would elect not to divulge closely held revenue figures isn't surprising. Perennial placeholders on our list such as Mount Juliet-based construction firm Jones Brothers Inc. (No. 17 this year) again declined participation. But when companies that have traditionally volunteered data suddenly refuse, one needs look no further than the depressed state of the local and national economy for the reason behind their newfound reluctance.
Still, the majority of companies on this year’s list voluntarily responded to our survey, and roughly half of the top 100 appear to have posted revenue gains. Interestingly, the combined revenues for the 2002 Top Private 100 crop topped figures from last year (up to $18 billion from $16.2 billion)—in spite of the stagnant business climate that prevailed throughout many industry sectors. This remarkable increase can be attributed to the addition of a handful of high-revenue newcomers to our list, including Franklin hospital operator Iasis Healthcare Corp. (No. 4 with an estimated $890 million in revenues for 2001) and former Shoney’s subsidiary COI Foodservice (No. 10 at $420 million).
Methodology
This year’s rankings, as in the past, are determined solely by revenues from the previous year (2001, in this case). To compile the list, our staff contacted approximately 175 companies known or believed to have annual revenues at or above $40 million. This database included those companies ranking among the top 100 last year, as well as many of those that held down positions 101 through 150. For companies that did not return survey forms or confirm previously reported figures for revenues and employee counts, Nashville Post relied on Dun & Bradstreet’s Million Dollar Directory of America’s Leading Public & Private Companies, Hoover’s Online, and in a few cases, previous company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Though acquisitions by out-of-state companies or investors often result in a local company being dropped or excluded from our ranking, this is not always the case. The parent company of Nashville-based Medifax-EDI (No. 92 this year) was purchased by the private equity arm of First Islamic Investment Bank in 2001 for $117 million. Even so, the health care transaction company remains privately held and headquartered in Middle Tennessee.
Newcomers
Our 2002 Top 100 Private Companies ranking includes a total of 25 new companies. Several of these new additions made last year’s expanded list (which also recognized companies that ranked No. 101 through No. 150). Among the newcomers in this category are: Rock City Mechanical (No. 81 this year), Overton Distributors (No. 95), Elk Brand Manufacturing (No. 97), Robert S. Biscan & Co. (No. 98), Freeman Webb Companies (No. 99), and Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon (No. 100).
Two of this year’s additions are companies that were formerly publicly traded or part of publicly traded companies such as Keystone Education & Youth Services (No. 36) and COI Foodservice, mentioned above. Keystone joins this year’s list after Ameris Acquisition, a subsidiary of Kids Holdings Inc., acquired the publicly traded Children’s Comprehensive Services last year for $43.2 million. Now private and still based in Nashville but under the Keystone name, the company continues to offer behavioral youth health care and education services.
As for COI Foodservice, former Shoney’s executives Haney Long Jr., Lloyd Baldridge and Dan Staudt acquired the ailing restaurant company’s substantial commissary division in a leveraged buyout last June.
Other newcomers, a few of which were omitted last year because reliable revenues figures were unavailable, include: Iasis Healthcare Corp., the Danner Co., Alexander Automotive Group, Gibson Guitar Corp., Nu-Kote International, Tennessee Titans LLP, JRN Inc., Western Express, Lee Co., America’s PowerSports, Hippodrome Oldsmobile-Nissan, Southeast Waffles/Waffle House, Regent Dodge, Rivergate Toyota, Digby Trucking, Medifax-EDI and Ole South Properties.
Departures
Twenty-five new additions to our list means 25 companies were displaced for one reason or another. Last year, publicly traded A.O. Smith Corp. gobbled up Ashland City’s State Industries, one of the nation’s largest makers of water heaters, for $58 million. State Industries (No. 7 last year) consistently ranked among the top 10 privately held companies in Middle Tennessee.
American Greetings’ purchase of CPS Corp. (No. 80 last year), caused the Franklin-based wrapping paper company to be dropped from our list. American Greetings merged CPS with its gift wrap and boxed greeting card unit, called Plus Mart.
Aladdin Industries (No. 51 last year) and Del-Met (No. 72) were removed from our list because both companies experienced shrinking revenues and a shrinking local presence during the last 12 months. Earlier this year, Aladdin sold its Stanley division, which produced the best-selling insulated vacuum bottle in the country, to Pacific Market International. That move and the subsequent sale of additional assets has reduced the company’s local workforce from 550 to 150 through mid-July. A spokesperson with the company said most of the remaining employees would be phased out by the end of the year. Automotive parts manufacturer Del-Met trimmed roughly 200 employees from its local payroll after shutting down two of its three Middle Tennessee manufacturing facilities last summer (in Portland and Fayetteville).
Other departures include: Harpeth Ford Mercury and Alexander Ford Lincoln Mercury (now both grouped under this year’s No. 13 entry, Alexander Automotive Group), Proline Carriers (which was acquired by this year’s No. 57 entry, Western Express), and Outdoor Resorts of America.
Growth |
A. O. Smith Water Products Co. |
State Industries Inc.
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