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Layne Christensen Co  (LAYN)
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    Sector  Capital Goods    Industry Construction Services

Layne Christensen Co's

Competitiveness


 

LAYN Sales vs. its Competitors Q1 2018



Comparing the current results to its competitors, Layne Christensen Co reported Revenue increase in the 1 quarter 2018 by 2.73 % year on year.
The revenue growth was below Layne Christensen Co's competitors' average revenue growth of 16.78 %, achieved in the same quarter.

List of LAYN Competitors

With a net margin of 2.36 % Layne Christensen Co achieved higher profitability than its competitors.

More on LAYN Profitability Comparisons



Revenue Growth Comparisons




Net Income Comparison


Layne Christensen Co achieved net profit of $2.71 millions compared to a net loss of $-22.90 millions recorded in the same quarter a year ago.

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Layne Christensen Co's Comment on Competitors and Industry Peers


The U.S. water well drilling industry is highly fragmented; consisting of several thousand regionally and locally based contractors. The majority of these contractors are primarily involved in drilling low-volume water wells for agricultural and residential customers, markets in which we do not generally participate.


Competition for Water Resources’ services are primarily local and regional specialty general contractors, while our competition in the water well drilling business consists primarily of small, local water well drilling operations and some larger regional competitors. Oil and conventional natural gas well drillers generally do not compete in the water well drilling business because the typical well depths are greater for oil and conventional natural gas and, to a lesser extent, the technology and equipment utilized in these businesses are different. Only a small percentage of all companies that perform water well drilling services have the technical competence and drilling expertise to compete effectively for high-volume municipal and industrial projects, which typically are more demanding than projects in the agricultural or residential well markets. In addition, smaller companies often do not have the financial resources or bonding capacity to compete for large projects. However, there are no proprietary technologies or other significant factors that prevent other firms from entering these local or regional markets or from consolidating into larger companies more comparable in size to us. Water well drilling work is usually obtained on a competitive bid basis for government agencies, while work for industrial customers is obtained on a negotiated or informal bid basis.


As is the case in the water well drilling business, the well and pump rehabilitation business is characterized by a large number of relatively small competitors. We believe only a small percentage of the companies performing these services have the technical expertise necessary to diagnose complex problems, perform many of the sophisticated rehabilitation techniques we offer or repair a wide range of pumps in their own facilities. In addition, many of these companies have only a small number of pump service rigs. Rehabilitation projects are typically negotiated at the time of repair or contracted for in advance depending upon the lead-time available for the repair work. Since well and pump rehabilitation work is typically negotiated on an emergency basis or within a relatively short period of time, those companies with available rigs and the requisite expertise have a competitive advantage by being able to respond quickly to repair requests.

The CIPP industry has a small number of contractors with nationwide coverage, the largest being Insituform, a subsidiary of Aegion Corporation, and several more regionalized competitors. Municipal work is typically obtained on a competitive bid basis with rare exceptions of design build proposals being used for contractor selection. Industrial work can be either competitive bid or negotiated.

Larger competitors share the same vertical integration (tube manufacturing/assembly, wetout and installation) as Inliner, while smaller competitors rely on third party tube supply and wetout. This saturated tube supply and the lack of having to construct wetout facilities allows smaller competitors to enter and remain in the CIPP business. In addition, the entrance of fiberglass products cured with ultraviolet light has opened up competition even further. Despite widespread competition, Inliner remains one of the most diversified providers in the industry by offering more than just CIPP.

Management believes that many of the competitors in this industry do not possess the capabilities for end-to-end water management systems in the same manner as Heavy Civil, due to our ability to draw from Water Resources for expertise and resources. This differentiates Heavy Civil from its competitors. Treatment plant and pipeline competitors consist mostly of a few national and many regional companies. The majority of the municipal market is contracted through a public bidding process.

In the specialized foundation construction arena, management believes there are few competitors. Customers are targeted that require compliance with detailed and demanding specifications and regulations and that often require bonding and insurance, areas in which management believes Geoconstruction has competitive advantages due to its extensive expertise. Geoconstruction owns and operates what management believes to be one of the largest fleet of hydromills and related equipment in North America. In addition, Geoconstruction has implemented a sophisticated quality control system that allows it to follow each phase of work in real-time.

Mineral Services competes with a number of drilling companies, the largest being Boart Longyear, Major Drilling Group International Inc., and Foraco International S.A., as well as vertically integrated mining companies that conduct their own exploration drilling activities, and some of these competitors have greater capital and other resources than we have. In the mineral exploration drilling market, Mineral Services competes based on price, technical expertise and reputation. Management believes Layne has a well-recognized reputation for expertise and performance in this market. Mineral Services work is typically performed on a negotiated basis.

Competition in this area is primarily from local small and mid-sized contractors offering one part sourcing, transfer or treatment of the water management cycle, but not the complete end-to-end solution offered by Energy Services. For many E & P companies, price is a driving factor. As Energy Services continues to penetrate the marketplace, the focus is to assist these companies in understanding the value of having an end-to-end solution rather than engaging many contractors to perform similar services.