With the onset of old age, there invariably comes the tweaking of this or the fine-tuning of that, and with industrial infrastructure it is no different. Furmanite Corporation (NYSE: FRM) and Team, Inc. (Nasdaq: TISI) are capitalizing on the growth opportunities in this sector by providing the repair services that keep it operating.

Refineries and power generation plants worldwide are operating at record high utilization rates to keep pace with rising demand. These plants suffer from frequent leaks and breakdowns because of overworked, poorly maintained equipment. In North American alone, the market for on-stream leak repairs consists of more than 10,000 plants and represents a $2.5 billion annual market opportunity. Demand is stable since repair services are considered a “necessary evil” and performed regardless of plant profit margins.  

One company performing the necessary evil is Furmanite, a provider of on-site repair of leaks in valves, pipes and other flow process system components. In addition to leak repair, Furmanite provides hot tapping services, fugitive emissions monitoring, passive fire protection, concrete repair, heat exchanger design, manufacturing design and repair and diagnostic services for valves and motors.

Formerly known as Xanser Corp., the company took the name of its principal subsidiary, Furmanite, in May 2007.

Furmanite’s customers come from the offshore drilling, refinery and power generation, chemical and petrochemical, pipeline, steel-making, automotive, pulp and paper, food and beverage processing, semiconductor and pharmaceutical manufacturing industries. The company operates from 50 locations across five continents.

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