Private Company Index Drops to 2007 Starting Point; CEO Survey Report Published

 

Chicago, IL - March 19, 2007 – The February Private Company Index (PCI) indicates that, on average, sales performance was down 3.46% for this collection of “Blue Chip” private companies in February. 

This brings the PCI back to its starting point for the year – similar to the NASDAQ and DOW indices.   NASDAQ’s February performance saw a drop of 1.95% and the Dow ended the month down 2.80%. 

These figures are not surprising due to the fact that the PCI grew a whopping 52.5% for calendar year 2006, which means the PCI is coming off an all-time high—so even with the slight decline February marks the third highest Index figure since its inception in Q3 2005.

The recently completed report, “Survey of Private Company CEOs:  Reality, Trends and Expectations,” indicates that private sector chiefs felt great about the economic and business climate for last year and are overwhelmingly positive about the current and future environment for private company performance—not just for 2007, but for the coming five years.   

John Ratliff, CEO of PCI portfolio company Appletree (a Wilmington, Delaware, based firm providing corporate telephone answering and support services), shares his thoughts; “We’ve experienced tremendous growth every year since 1998—on average about 42% per year.  But, I feel that 2007 will represent our most significant growth year ever. [The] business climate is poised for a dramatic upturn solidifying the last 4-6 solid quarters. I could not be more excited!”

An additional piece of good news from the PCI CEO Survey Report was recently quoted by the New York Times as they noted that these private sector chiefs find their roles “more rewarding, more fun and more creative…” now than they did five years ago.  The paper also drew a comparison to public sector CEO’s by stating, “Their counterparts at public companies, meanwhile, are stressed-out and pressed for time as they answer to the relentless demands of directors and shareholders, and labor under the Sarbanes-Oxley law and other time-consuming rules.”

Companies interested in applying for membership in the Private Company Index and anyone interested in receiving a copy of the new CEO Survey Report should visit www.privatecompanyindex.com to contact the organization directly. 

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.