Instalco (INSTAL)

Instalco is a recent success story proving that businesses in highly competitive industries with low barriers to entry can perform incredibly well if their management has the vision and knows how to take advantage of resources neglected by others. Per Sjöstrand, ex-CEO and founder, who still owns 8.5% of the company, saw a clear opportunity to consolidate the maintenance and installation industry in the Nordic countries – a nearly €20-billion and highly fragmented industry. In just 7 years, Instalco has become one of the largest multidisciplinary players in technical installation in the region, with activities and services in different verticals such as electricity, plumbing and HVAC. Even when sales have increased by 49% CAGR since the company was established in 2014, Instalco can still compete effectively in projects of different scales and complexities thanks to its decentralized structure.

While in the future activities may easily expand to neighboring geographies through strategic acquisitions, today Instalco is focused solely on providing services in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. GDP growth in these countries has historically been double that in Southern or Eastern European countries and, in addition, their relatively low levels of public debt give governments enough leeway to accelerate their investment programs in public infrastructure. In some way, Instalco's activities could be considered a “toll road” on these public investment programs, which are less cyclical than the residential, commercial and industrial segments where the company carries out other activities.