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Stran & Company Completes Fourth Acquisition Since Becoming a Publicly Traded Company

The Top 40 distributor announced that it has sealed the deal to purchase the business and assets of T.R. Miller Co. Inc., an industry firm with a 47-year history and a 20,000-square-foot decoration, fulfillment and distribution center.

Make it four.

Stran & Company (asi/337725), a Top 40 promotional products distributor, has closed on the acquisition of T.R. Miller Co. Inc. (asi/272250) – a branded merchandise provider that generated fiscal-year 2022 revenue of about $19 million, executives said. Financial terms were not immediately available.

The deal marks the fourth acquisition that Quincy, MA-headquartered Stran has made since becoming a publicly traded company in late 2021.

Andy Shape

Andy Shape, Stran & Company

With a 47-year history, T.R. Miller brings skilled employees, a strong client roster that includes Liberty Mutual, Keurig and Grubhub, and a Walpole, MA-based 20,000-square-foot decoration, fulfillment and distribution center, executives said.

Stran CEO Andy Shape, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people, said T.R. Miller’s facility and talent will help enhance “our operational and fulfillment capabilities, which will help support our anticipated growth.”

“The acquisition of T.R. Miller marks a significant milestone for Stran as it once again illustrates our scalable, accretive and synergistic M&A strategy,” Shape continued. “We look forward to leveraging T.R. Miller’s established presence within the industry and deepening our relationships with their existing roster of elite clientele.”

Tom Miller, founder and CEO of T.R. Miller, will serve as a consultant going forward. Stacy Miller, T.R.’s vice president of sales and marketing, is joining Stran as vice president of integration and sales development.

As Stran’s latest deal indicates, merger and acquisition activity has continued in the promo industry despite economic headwinds. This ASI Media article helps those interested in selling or purchasing understand how to value a business.

“We are thrilled to become part of the Stran family, as we believe Stran is home to great people and a strong culture with opportunities for significant growth,” said Tom Miller. “We are confident in our combined abilities to deliver on customer expectations given the synergies between the companies.”

Since Stran’s stock began trading on the NASDAQ, the company has been aggressive about making strategic acquisitions. Stran closed on Premier Business Services (Premier NYC) in December 2022. Last year, Stran also purchased Gloucester, MA-based GAP Promotions (asi/199882) and Houston-area Trend Brand Solutions (asi/346428).

In May, Stran reported that its sales increased nearly 29% year over year to $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2023 – a rise that included 17.7% organic sales growth. Still, profitability eluded the firm as a host of expenses – many tied to business-growth investment initiatives – weighed on earnings, leading to a quarterly loss.

For the full year of 2022, Stran engineered a double-digit annual revenue increase. Based on reported 2021 North American promotional product revenue of $47.3 million, Stran & Company ranked 34th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The new rankings, based on 2022 performance, are due out in the summer.