The CEO of Groupe Vertdure, Philippe Tremblay, has a good batting average, as they say in baseball. The lawn treatment specialist would now like to hit the white ball with the red seams as far as our neighbors to the south by attacking the markets in the north of the United States.
“We are expanding,” said the baseball fan. He is co-owner of the Capitales de Québec and the Aigles de Trois-Rivières.
New York, Boston, Pittsburgh. Discussions are underway with various groups in the land of Uncle Sam who could join the Quebec company. This expansion could be achieved through an acquisition.
Mr. Tremblay plans to deploy his lawn maintenance offer there, but the crusade could also be done with a new residential service. Management says it is working on various projects to improve its services.
The United States market is also not unknown to Mr. Tremblay, who brought the Lake company into the world.
This company had about ten branches and more than 200 employees.
“It allowed me to develop the expertise of doing business in the United States and to overcome the language barrier,” says the president.
While setting foot in our southern neighbors in the coming years, the Vertdure Group also wishes to continue its expansion in Quebec and also in Ontario. Several scenarios are currently under study.
Busy first year
The one who took over from his father, Jean, at the head of the Vertdure Group in 2019, a few months before COVID-19 hit Quebec soil, does not hide having had heat in his first year as boss.
“It was a lot of emotions. It was difficult at the beginning with the context of uncertainty. We still had two superb years of pandemic [for the company], ”he says, adding that his troops have notably participated in the search for N95 masks to meet the need in the field of health. They unearthed more or less 30,000.
Groupe Vertdure’s turnover today fluctuates around $40 million if we take into account its V Extermination division. It was around $30 million in 2018.
Within three years, Mr. Tremblay wants to double the size of Groupe Vertdure, which has 23 branches in Quebec and one in Ontario.
The growth of this company, which develops its own fertilizers and seeds, is based on a franchise model.
Mr. Tremblay is also the boss of the tool and machinery company Location Beauport since 2009, which has four stores in Quebec.
New headquarters
To support the growth projects of the group, which is celebrating its 35th birthday, management is currently building a new $3 million head office in the Capitale-Nationale with a space devoted to music and a games room for employees.
The opening is scheduled for the spring of 2023. All the administrative activities of Mr. Tremblay’s companies will be grouped there.
Like all other companies, the Vertdure Group is not immune to inflationary pressures. The cost of the invoice for customers has jumped about 10% this year compared to last year.
“Inflation, gasoline, employees. Indeed, prices for consumers had to be adjusted. The increase in our prices does not even cover the increase in our expenses, ”concludes the president.
VERTDURE GROUP
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