April's pricing, fuel, and backlog numbers all land the same way once somebody from outside pulls them apart.
This week, worth a click
[Pricing] A net 30% of small business owners raised prices in April and 27% plan more — but outside eyes only credit a price increase that shows up in contracts, customer notices, and invoices. -> NFIB monthly report
[Materials] Gasoline up 28% year over year in April; on route or fleet businesses, the gap between what the fuel-surcharge clause allows and what's actually been billed is where outside reviewers start cutting the value. -> BLS CPI release
[Backlog] Construction backlog hit 8.8 months in April, but the headline is carried by data centers and large contractors — a buyer or lender cuts backlog by customer mix, signed vs. probable, and time-to-bill, not by the top-line number. -> ABC release
[Deal] Trinity Hunt-backed Visterra acquired a Nashville commercial landscape company — commercial landscaping platforms are still paying premiums for tight regional density and recurring maintenance, not for headline size. -> Announcement
[Report] NAM's Q1 manufacturers' outlook covers pricing pressure, health-care costs, and supply-chain exposure — worth reading even if you're not a manufacturer, as a customer-and-supplier signal. -> NAM survey
What outside eyes pull first
Before any serious conversation with a buyer or a lender, expect them to ask for these. If you can hand them over in a day, you've answered most of the early questions before they're asked.
Revenue by customer for the last three years (this is where customer concentration shows up — not on the P&L)
Contract list with renewal terms and price-escalator language
Fuel surcharge and pass-through billing history against what the clause allows
Owner and family compensation, including non-cash benefits
A three-year P&L with the same accounting treatment in each year
Eric's Take
Three offers, three different lives.
When a real process gets run on a business, the offers converge. The decision then stops being about price and starts being about what the owner lives with afterward — how long they stay, how much cash up front, what happens to the team, whose name ends up on the door. The headline number is what gets compared in the boardroom. The structure is what gets lived with at the kitchen table.
- Eric
That’s a wrap! Enjoy your weekend.
Eric Kern
Principal - Lighthouse Capital - Dallas, TX