Any Hour Group watching inflation, playing offense in 2025

Through a series of Google searches, I found that 27 private equity-backed HVAC and plumbing platforms either formed or underwent transactions between 2019 and 2021. 

Given platforms’ typical three to five-year hold period, these companies are approaching their next transaction. One of them is Utah-based Any Hour Group.

Catch up: Any Hour, which received an investment from Knox Lane in 2021, has grown from a single location with roughly $75 million in revenue — Any Hour Services — to 30 locations nationwide over the past three years, mostly via acquisitions.

What they’re saying: “In 2023 and 2024, we saw a dip in the number of companies going to market, and that’s largely because, I’d say, three out of four businesses were flat or down year-over-year,” Covey Cole, Any Hour’s VP of M&A, tells me. 

• “I think in 2024, especially the back half, people started to adapt to the new reality, and we’re starting to see some of these businesses grow again,” he adds. 
• “Within our own portfolio, we’ve been fortunate enough to grow, but it’s been hard fought.”

Zoom out: There’s a rosy case to be made for the HVAC industry next year (falling interest rates, growing shipments, etcetera), but Any Hour’s prepping for it to look a lot like this year, Cole says.

• “I think it’s going to be an inflation question over the next two years,” he explains. “Inflation has honestly just killed Americans.”
• “Trump’s policy initiatives are inflationary, so I think the Fed is gonna be really careful about continuing to lower rates. Now, I’m not an economist, so this is pure guessing.”

Still, the logic is simple: Consumers are battling high prices (food prices are up 28% since 2019, for instance), and contractors will likely continue feeling the effects in 2025.

If that’s the case, organic performance and M&A activity may not boom next year; however, they shouldn’t be worse than this year.

• “Companies have to be performing in a way that they want to put themselves up to market,” Cole notes.
• Yes, but: “It does seem like in the last three months, we’ve seen more companies come to market… maybe that’s a sign of better things to come,” he adds.

Zoom in: Any Hour has been playing “defense” over the past 18 months, per Cole, but next year is going on the offensive.

What’s next: “We’re investing heavily in technologies and processes that we think can be beneficial, and we’ve already seen some early indications that there can be some real pickup as a result,” he says.

• “From an M&A perspective, we plan on being pretty aggressive if some really good targets come to market. We’re hoping to make some big splashes in the next 12 to 18 months.”
• “We’re [also] gonna be playing the ‘tuck-in game,’ if you will. To merge the one to three, maybe five million dollar businesses close to partners we already have.”

The bottom line: Exactly what happens in 2025 is anyone’s guess, but Any Hour’s cautiously optimistic stance paired with aggressive investment plans leaves room for it to capture any positive market surprises as upside.