San Diego is Going Green

In San Diego, otherwise known as home to us, I watched this afternoon as my daughter participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony in my neighborhood for the city's newest fire station. As unceremonious as this sounds for most of you, there is a little tidbit here worth noting. As San Diego's Mayor, Jerry Sanders thanked Mike McGee, President and CEO of Pardee Homes (who,

I might add, for all of his notoriety looks and acts a bit shy) for building the "most beautiful fire stations" in the county.

The mayor went on to say that the government building was the first of many in San Diego to have the acclaimed LEED certification. He also stated that San Diego is striving to make all new construction of government buildings to LEED certification standards. As much as I would like to think that this is all because San Diego is progressive and environmentally conscious, I know it is more likely because these "green buildings" save a lot of money for the city.

Pardee Joins the Environmental Party

Pardee Homes now offers a "green house" option on their list of many upgrades and cities across the country are handing out savings of many a kind to those willing to make their homes more energy efficient. This kind of energy conservation has been a long time coming, and who knows, maybe former Senator, Presidential Candidate and Nobel Peace Prize winning author, Al Gore has sped up the process a little, but regardless of the catalyst, it is a burgeoning market with no signs of slowing and little choice but to keep growing.

LEED Certification for commercial buildings, if you remember, is a costly license to acquire for many contractors. Therefore, most LEED jobs go to a limited number of contractors who have this thriving little market virtually cornered while the rest of their industry scrambles to compete.

Financial News from Marmion Industries

Leading full circle to today's coverage of LEEDS certified HVAC contractor and manufacturer, Marmion Industries Corporation (OTCBB: MMIO). With a re-cap of their week ending 1/27/08, MMIO announced purchase orders totaling $211,242.51. The company appears to be benefiting greatly from its position as a local supplier in one of the country's hottest HVAC markets. With Houston's average high temperature between the months of May and October a balmy 88%, we're not being facetious.

Jobs created by Houston's thriving petrochemical industry in addition to the region's relatively low cost of living and recent population influx from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina led it to become the country's 9th fastest growing housing market in 2007 (11.5% annual growth rate). Furthermore, with new residents comes commercial growth. This means new construction of schools, hospitals, large discount shopping warehouses, you name it.

Since 2000 Houston has experienced a population increase of nearly 10% (approx 2.2M residents as of 2007), the average number of students per teacher (18) is already above the national average. And with the region's population heavily weighted in 0 - 50 age range, overcrowding is becoming a big issue within the public school system. Hence the up-tick in construction of new academic facilities and Marmion's increased involvement in the commercial construction sector.

FYI: In addition to a strict focus on the petrochemical space, MMIO also places a secondary focus on commercial projects. By my estimation, the current revenue mix between industrial and commercial jobs is approximately 75% to 25%.

On the petrochemical side of the fence, MMIO recently completed a project for Lucite International, the world's leading producer of acrylic monomers and owner of the popular Lucite(r) and Perspex(r) brands. In addition, the company has recently shipped products to large scale end-users including ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), the fifth-largest global refinery based on crude oil capacity and owner of the sixth-largest total of proved oil & gas reserves in the world.

Financial Milestones

Although, it looks like purchase orders were not flying in during the first three weeks of the year, $211,000 worth in one week is pretty darn good. Particularly when you take into consideration the fact that a number of contracts won during 2007 won't likely hit the books until at least Q1 2008.

Here's a list of some of the company's recent financial highlights:

1. MMIO reported a 37% increase year- over-year revenue growth for the first nine months ended September 30, 2007 from $3.1 million to $4.9 million. The company also recorded a 92% increase in net loss per share for the same time period.

2. MMIO experienced significant year- over-year revenue growth between 2004 and 2006. From 1.09 million to 4.6 million for a 76% increase over the three year period.

3. MMIO outpaced 2006 revenues during the first three quarters of 2007 (Q4 data not yet available).

4. MMIO secured approximately $3,000,000 worth of commercial contracts during 2007 within a relatively short time frame.

5. Industrial sales increased approximately 80% during the second quarter of 2007, on a year-over-year basis.

6. MMIO announced a two year ongoing purchasing agreement with a repeat industrial customer, Powell Industries of Houston, Texas (9/20/07).

7. MMIO secured a contract valued at approximately $2,100,000 for HVAC-related equipment and installation services at Sweeney High School (Sweeney -- TX).