LANCASTER, Pa.—With double-digit revenue growth each year since 2010, Ecore International continued to expand its reach beyond the traditional recycled rubber manufacturing industry with an acquisition it closed in early January.
Lancaster-based Ecore International acquired all outstanding ownership interests in Santa Barbara, Calif.-headquartered Centaur Floor Systems from John Donati. Ecore had worked with the acquired business for more than 20 years, according to Ecore President Art Dodge.
Ecore said the acquisition was made largely to expand its product line with Centaur's Sport Weave fitness flooring—made of tiles with bitumen backing—and its Boen engineered wood flooring. Terms of the deal were not released.
But as perhaps the originator of the commercial rubber flooring industry, Ecore remains at heart a rubber flooring company, Dodge said. “We're still the largest manufacturer of recycled rubber, and that is our most well received product line,” he said.
Ecore has set many of the standards in recycled rubber technologies. One example is its ECO98 product, which is made with a backing of up to 97 percent post-consumer recycled rubber from car and truck tires. It also has a surface layer made of 100 percent recycled plastic bottles.
“The functionality and performance of our rubber products work well for high-level settings,” Dodge said.
Ecore's strategy in recent years has worked, he said, as the company just had its best fiscal year ever in terms of revenue, and the company retains a strong franchise in the commercial sports and fitness industry under the Ecore Athletic brand. The firm's recycled rubber products offer superior impact absorption and excellent slip resistance properties that the company said has given it a competitive advantage.
The financial success was one reason that Ecore re-launched ECOsurfaces in December, its successful recycled rubber flooring line for commercial applications. Created more than 20 years ago, ECOsurfaces is a versatile and durable flooring collection that absorbs energy, vibration and noise. The line features 78 patterns, 29 of which are new.
Ecore employs nearly 390, a number that has grown in recent years. And revenue growth also could spur future acquisitions to help the company grow its product lines further, although the primary goal of the company is organic growth, Dodge said.
Centaur's line of flooring products includes recycled rubber—manufactured by Ecore—wood, and carpet. It will give Ecore a stronger West Coast presence.
“There is tremendous growth in flooring and great opportunities in expanding our commercial base there,” Dodge said. “We're looking even more at places we can grow in the consumer market, selling directly to home owners. We want to align our business more closely toward a unique product portfolio among a full range of services.”