Holding Steady?
30 Construction Equipment Distribution www.cedmag.com September 2009 Sector Check It's like blind men trying to describe an elephant. Ask a utility expert what he thinks of the market and he will tell you that it is pretty well insulated from major economic swings with one exception, that is. The federal govern-ment's stimulus package will initially delay big projects until each state's public service commission can figure out a format for properly applying for stimulus money. That could take a little time, but once the commis-sions know how to qualify projects for grants, it will set off, a tsunami wave of construction, according to Griffith R. Morris, managing director of utility business development, FMI, Raleigh, N.C. FMI, founded in 1953, is the largest provider of management consulting and investment banking to the worldwide construction industry. That's one market snapshot. Ask an equipment distributor how the utilities market is doing and, more than likely, he will say, very, very soft. Ask a utility contractor the For Utilities Sector, Better Days Lie Ahead Some estimate market improvement by mid-2010. By G.C. SkIpper Holding Steady?