Private Company Index Up 3.72% for January; CEOs are Positive About 2007

Chicago, IL - February 20, 2007 – The January Private Company Index (PCI) indicates that, on average, sales are up 3.72% for this collection of “Blue Chip” private companies located throughout North America.  January’s index reading of 722 is a benchmark—highest peak since the birth of the PCI in 2005.  Comparatively, NASDAQ’s January performance saw an increase of 2.01% while the Dow saw a slighter rise of 1.27%; reflecting that the PCI nearly doubled the performance of these two public market indicators.

CEOs of PCI companies are enthusiastic about their January sales and were happy to share insights about their month as compared to their industry sector and market space.  According to Louis Stack, President of the fitness equipment manufacturer Fitter International, “January [was] a strong month for consumer spending in the health and wellness sector. The demand for ourbalance training products is growing via web and catalog. The most interesting change is the increased number of web based orders, over all other order channels. I feel 2007 will be a year of significant change in the way we deal with clients.”  

Timothy G. Staub, President of the home maintenance solution company Elko Products, explains his strategy on gaining market share in a very competitive sector; “With fierce competition in all distribution channels, our focus is on business model reinvention and development of stronger brand identity with our core contractor customer.  We anticipate remarkable growth in 2007.”

Many CEOs compared January 2007 to this time last year.  “Our month saw a 37.4% increase from January 2006.” said Paul Conforti, President of Finale Dessert Company.  Rob Alley, of E. Rob Alley and Associates, chimes in to say “[January 2007] saw a 46% increase in revenues over January 2006,by far our strongest start to a year. From our perspective, the overall manufacturing environment remains very strong; which in turn creates a strong demand for environmental engineering and consulting.” 

The PCI launched a recruitment campaign at the beginning of this year to expand their already diverse portfolio.  To date, over 40 new companies have applied for membership via www.privatecompanyindex.com; this “open enrollment” period will continue throughout Q1 then be closed so a consistent group of companies will be measured for the remainder of 2007.

In the next two weeks the PCI will publish the “2006 Annual Report and Private Company CEO Survey.”  This is in response to myriad media requests for greater and more detailed information about their findings.  To request a copy of this report, contact econefry@entrex.net.

About Private Company Index

The Private Company Index (www.privatecompanyindex.com) provides the financial and investment community a resource to objectively measure private business activity. The Index also allows business owners and the general public the ability to follow the trends and productivity of privately owned businesses.

The Index was created by Entrex (www.entrex.net)-the global source to find, research, track, manage and invest in private companies- along with the Private Business Channel (PBC) (www.privatebusinesschannel.com) an online video and television production company featuring the best-of-breed private companies on the path to open their equity to private investors.