Although I’ve lived in Fishers for over twenty years and worked from an office downtown Indianapolis for thirty, I went to Shelbyville High School. In 2014, my dad was on Shelbyville City Council, several other boards (Library, Tax, probably others I didn’t know about), and the Shelbyville Airport Board (he had been a helicopter pilot in Vietnam). One of his fellow Airport Board members was John Huber.
One day while talking with my dad, he said John Huber wants to talk to you. He wants to sell his business. Huber Bros, Inc was actually headquartered at the airport in an old industrial building. When I met with John, he said that he didn’t really know if the business was worth anything but he’d like to try to sell it.
John has a degree in Chemistry. He and his two brothers founded Huber Bros Inc in Shelbyville in 1970. The business grew to three divisions - one painted semi tractor trailers, another painted manufactured parts, and the mainstay was commercial painting & industrial coatings. But over time, Huber Bros got out of the part painting business and the semi painting business. And, John’s brothers retired from the business.
John was particularly skilled and knowledgeable in industrial painting and coating. His expertise in selecting chemicals that could bond to various materials made him a preferred vendor to Engineering departments at industrial and manufacturing facilities across Central Indiana. John was also skilled in knowing how to spec & quote very challenging applications for painting and coating. Huber Bros was known for being able to spec and apply paint and coatings to industrial machinery and piping. Many competitors would not even attempt to quote these jobs.
In addition to being a profitable business, Huber Bros had this specialization in industrial applications, skilled staff, and 40 year customer relationships. It was a valuable business even though John had been running the business as if planning to phase into retirement for a few years.
We took this all into consideration in preparing a financial valuation of the business. The gross sales had rebounded after the Great Recession to nearly double their nadir in 2010-2011. And because John was running the business very lean, the business’ net income had rebounded to a health margin for a small business. All the business equipment was owned & paid off and inventory was ordered per project.
Surprisingly when we listed the business for sale on Transworld’s national platform, we had an inquiry from Columbus, Indiana but the business’ owner lived near me in Fishers. The buyer was a corporate IT & staffing firm that worked with many industrial customers in Central Indiana. The owner was looking to add a complimentary business service that was also marketed to similar industrial customers.
After an offer and drafting of an asset purchase agreement by seasoned Shelbyville attorney Peter DePrez, the sale was completed as an all cash transaction. And S&R Resources, Inc of Columbus became the owner of the assets of Huber Bros.
Now in 2023,
Huber Painting Services continues to serve customers throughout Central Indiana. Logan Wood, son of one of the S&R Resources owners, Greg Wood, runs the day to day of Huber.
Comments
Post a Comment