Going national in telecommunications
Six years on from a decision to move beyond its roots as an electrical contractor, Houston’s IES Holdings continues to expand.
From buying up Ohio equipment manufacturer Technibus to growing its national telecommunications contracting business, IES Holdings saw its revenues jump 25 percent last year to $737.4 million.
Combined with a strong year on Wall Street, that was enough to land IES the second spot on the Houston Chronicle 100 list of best-performing publicly traded companies.
But it wasn’t easy, says CEO Robert Lewey. With the aftereffects of the 2008 financial crisis still lingering, activity within IES’s commercial and industrial divisions remains slow.
“You have to make sure that you find a way to perform with compressed margins: Manage through the difficult times and prepare your business to be ready when a rebound comes, which we expect to be at some point,” Lewey said.
There is hope within the company that U.S. construction activity will pick up in the next few years. If President Donald Trump carries through on his promise to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure, that should mean plenty of works for electrical and telecommunications crews at IES.
So far, investors like what they’re seeing. Last year IES’ earnings per share grew by more than 50 percent, the fourth-best performance amongst the Chron 100 rankings.
While the company’s stock price remains far below its 2007 highs, it has grown eight fold since 2011. But Lewey says he and other executives try not to worry to much about Wall Street.
“We execute and let the chips fall where they may,” he said.