Mercer Capital has its finger on the pulse of the minerals market. An important trend has been the rise of mineral aggregators, which have largely supplanted the trusts as the primary method of publicly traded minerals ownership.
Mercer Capital has its finger on the pulse of the minerals market. An important trend has been the rise of mineral aggregators, which have largely supplanted the trusts as the primary method of publicly traded minerals ownership.
As we turn the calendar to March, 2022 is in the rearview mirror, and year-end statistics for the auto industry have been released. How did the industry perform, and what do the metrics tell us about the direction of the industry in 2023? In this post, we discuss the key metrics we track for the industry: new vehicle profitability, the supply of new vehicles, average trade-in equity values of used vehicles, the used-to-new vehicle retail unit sales ratio, fleet sales, and vehicle miles traveled.
This week we focus on the key takeaways from oilfield service operators’ Q4 2022 earnings call. Common themes include capital investment planning, supply and workforce constraints, and dipping commodity prices.
This week we focus on the key takeaways from the Upstream Q4 2022 earnings calls, which include buyback and distribution policies, organic growth opportunities, and an outlook for the rest of 2023.
Revenue multiples are cited perhaps as much as any other valuation metric in the RIA industry. In this week’s post, we focus on their key drivers and ways to improve the value of your management fees.
In this two-part series, we continue our exploration of the “Levels of Value.” The Levels of Value refer to the idea that while “price” and “value” may be synonymous, they don’t quite mean the same thing. A nonmarketable minority interest level of value is very different from a strategic control interest level of value. Last week we described each Level of Value and why the concept is so important to auto dealers.
This week, we discuss four potential transactions in which selecting the appropriate level of value is critical and explain why: 1) estate planning, 2) corporate development, 3) divestitures, and 4) shareholder redemptions.
Early last year, as market conditions began to deteriorate, we (along with many others) predicted a coming slowdown in RIA M&A activity. Despite this environment, we were initially proven wrong: RIA M&A activity seemingly defied gravity as the pace of deal activity continued to keep pace with record 2021 levels. Now, the data suggests that deal activity is beginning to lose momentum. So, is the slowdown here to stay? What does this mean for the future of deal activity? In this week’s post, we discuss a few predictions for the year ahead.
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we cover a topic that may seem too theoretical; however, the shareholders in your business must understand it – LOV – or the “Levels of Value.” The Levels of Value refers to the idea that while “price” and “value” may be synonymous, they don’t quite mean the same thing. A nonmarketable minority interest level of value is very different from a strategic control interest level of value. In this week’s post, we explain what each level means and how each specifically relates to auto dealers. This will be the first part of a two-part blog series.
Investment management is a people business, and there are aspects to a people business which do not yield to financial modeling. This week, Matt Crow addresses industry conundrums for which there are no easy answers.
Understanding the value of an oilfield services (OFS) company is by its very nature, a complex matter. The unpredictable cyclicality of the oilfield services industry requires careful consideration of many industry-wide and company-specific factors in developing a reasonable forecast of future operating results. In our blog this week we feature a whitepaper that provides invaluable guidance in regard to these aspects of the OFS industry.
For this week’s post we’re introducing our whitepaper on compensation structures for investment management firms. This whitepaper is designed to help you navigate the various compensation models to optimize firm growth and employee retention.
In part 2 of our series on floorplan interest, we take a closer look at floorplan relevant factors and macroeconomic forces to keep an eye on throughout the coming year and beyond as dealers plan their floorplan expenditures and budgeting.
In this quarter’s newsletter, we focus on the Appalachian. Notable topics include Russia-Ukraine War’s effect on the demand for LNG exports to Europe in the face of winter, tight valuations between major operators, flat production levels in the region despite a high commodity price environment, as well as increased M&A activity in 2022 highlighted by Sitio Royalties and Brigham Minerals merger — creating the largest public minerals owner.
We’ve turned the page on 2022, another year defined by challenges, record profitability and elevated valuations for auto dealers. As we enter 2023, there will likely be unique challenges and opportunities for auto dealers regarding business valuations. We will dedicate future posts to the discussion of these opportunities from the perspective of succession planning in an environment with sunsetting tax exemptions and depressed asset values, especially if interest rates continue to rise and profitability subsides in 2023.
We previously discussed six events that could trigger the need for a business valuation. In this week’s post, we discuss six things that attorneys and auto dealers should consider when selecting or working with a business appraiser.
The December SAAR was 13.3 million units, down 5.3% from last month but up 4.7% from this time last year. This month’s SAAR data is a bit concerning for the auto industry, as supply chain improvements do not seem to be translating to improvements in the sales pace of vehicles as quickly as the last couple months have indicated. Over the past month, it has seemed more and more likely that plummeting trade-in equity, persistently high interest rates and growing fears of an economic recession are keeping the sale of automobiles low, which could spell trouble for auto dealers that have thrived in a high price environment over the past eighteen months.
Three years ago, Bryce Erickson wrote an article about struggling Appalachian gas companies amid depressed valuations. They would still be struggling if that world had remained. It has not remained. A lot has changed since then, and the future looks very bright indeed.
The RIA industry saw a strong fourth quarter rally, driving most categories of publicly traded investment managers to outperform the S&P in the last quarter of the year. Alternative asset managers, however, declined from their early-November peak to perform in line with the S&P during this period. In our blog this week, we take a look at the performance of the RIA industry by sector and AUM in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It has become a tradition for the Auto Dealer team at Mercer Capital to end the blog year with a “unique” summary of industry events, riffing off Clement Clark Moore’s classic “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” We hope all of you enjoy the holiday season. We look forward to hearing from you in 2023.
It has become a tradition for the RIA team at Mercer Capital to end the blog year with a “unique” annual summary of industry events, riffing off Clement Clark Moore’s classic “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” We hope all of you in the investment management community are enjoying the holiday season and looking forward to the many opportunities of the new year. We look forward to hearing from you in 2023. For now, please enjoy the finest only holiday poem written about money management.
Despite existing operational headwinds and new economic headwinds in 2022, auto dealers continued to produce record profits. As we wind down the year and look towards next year, we look back to see what was popular with you—our loyal readers. Here are some of your favorite posts from 2022.
This week we compare the FIFA rankings of the world’s largest vehicle producing countries. Spoiler alert: there is no correlation. But in our research, we found plenty of interesting nuggets and talking points. We also discuss top vehicle producing nations that did not qualify for the World Cup, nations that did qualify but do not have a large presence in auto production. We also get into brand presence and Blue Sky multiples of these nations’ vehicle brands.
This week, we focus on the key takeaways from the Q3 2022 Upstream earnings calls including the continued focus on share buybacks, moderate production growth, and how inflation is limiting that growth.
In each “Meet the Team” segment, we highlight a different professional on our Auto Dealer Industry team. This week we highlight Harrison Holt, Financial Analyst. We hope you enjoy getting to know us a bit better.
Most of the 9/30 quarterly results are in, and public RIA performance was all over the map. Mostly, it was a rough quarter in a rough year. Sagging AUM led to revenue cuts which dropped straight to the bottom line. Some firms mitigated their downside by cutting bonus compensation and marking down earnout payments for acquisitions. We did a survey of a cross-section of asset and wealth management firms. Ultimately, it appears some business models are working better than others.