1 ServiceMaster Way, Downers Grove 60515; 630-271-1300
Website: www.servicemaster.com
Founded: 1929
Employees: 40,000; 2,900 in Illinois
Year-end: Dec. 31
Foreign sales: 4 percent of $3.46 billion
Chief executive: Carlos H. Cantu, 63, since 1994
Cash compensation: $1,067,000, up 2 percent
Options granted: $545,250, down 40 percent
Options, stock appreciation rights exercised: $2,392,512
Shares owned: 1,334,268 of 142.4 million
Largest stockholder: ServiceMaster Profit Sharing Plan, 4 percent
Stock: 365-day close as of April 15, 1997
High: $30.62
Low: $20.66
April 15: $30.12
April 18, 1997 value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased April 18, 1996: $1,461
Purchased April 18, 1992: $3,523
ServiceMaster is a network of service companies divided into four groups: consumer, management, health-care and international. Leading brands include TruGreen-ChemLawn lawn services, Terminix pest control and Merry Maids housekeeping services.
The recent acquisition of Barefoot Inc. was a highlight, along with its repurchase for $626 million of the 19 percent stake that WMX Technologies Inc. had held.
ServiceMaster’s status as a limited partnership will end Dec. 31. As a corporation, ServiceMaster could become a more inviting investment for investors. But taxes could diminish after-tax cash flow slightly.
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A guide to the Top 100 profiles
The Tribune’s business staff profiles the Chicago area’s Top 100 companies, based on market capitalization as of April 15, 1997. Here’s a quick primer on the information you’ll find.
– The CEO’s cash compensation, including bonus and other compensation paid in 1996, along with the change from the prior year.
– The figure for the CEO’s stock holdings includes shares the CEO had the right to acquire within 60 days of the proxy statement’s issuance.
– The company’s largest shareholder, as listed in the proxy statement.
– Estimated current values of stock options granted the CEO, as reported in the proxy statement, and the change from the prior year, as well as options and stock appreciation rights exercised during the year. In most cases, the current value of options granted is based on the assumption of a 5 percent annual rate of stock price growth.
– Theoretical total-return investment results for shares purchased for $1,000 a year ago and five years ago. The date on which those calculations are based is April 18. The results assume reinvestment of dividends on a quarterly basis.
The information in the profiles was obtained from the following sources:
– Company reports, including annual reports, public stock offering prospectuses and proxy statements.
– Interviews with company officials.
– Reports by securities analysts.
– News reports.
– Dow Jones News/Retrieval, an on-line service of Dow Jones & Co., New York.
– Bloomberg Business News, New York.
– TMS Stocks, a subsidiary of Tribune Media Services Inc., a unit of Tribune Co., Chicago.
– Morningstar Inc., Chicago.
– “First Chicago Guide,” published by Scholl Communications, Deerfield.
– “Hoover’s Handbook,” The Reference Press Inc., Austin, Texas.
