Acquisitive Henry Schein tops LI's list of largest public companies
Henry Schein Inc. topped Long Island's pyramid of publicly traded companies in 2014 based on annual revenue, passing the $10 billion mark for the first time. Chief executive Stanley M. Bergman was photographed at Schein headquarters in Melville on Jan. 20, 2010. Credit: Newsday / Mahala Gaylord
Henry Schein Inc. topped Long Island's pyramid of publicly traded companies in 2014 based on annual revenue, passing the $10 billion mark for the first time.
The Melville-based distributor of health care products has expanded its sales and global reach through a steady series of acquisitions, including deals announced in 2015 for Scil Animal Care Co. GmbH, a German distributor of veterinary products, and ADS Florida LLC, of Naples, Florida, a brokerage handling dental practices.
In terms of stock market capitalization, Henry Schein ranked No. 2, as of May 29, at $12.1 billion, edged out of the No. 1 spot in that category by the acquisition premium afforded Pall Corp. On May 13 Washington, D.C., conglomerate Danaher Corp. announced its plan to acquire the filtration and purification company for $13.8 billion.
The No. 2 revenue producer headquartered on the Island was Cablevision Systems Corp. The Bethpage telecommunications provider and owner of Newsday notched annual sales of $6.5 billion.
Rounding out the top 10 by revenue were: Systemax Inc., Pall, MSC Industrial Direct Co., Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc., Hain Celestial Group Inc., New York Community Bancorp Inc., Kimco Realty Corp., and Verint Systems Inc. The data were compiled for Newsday and amNewYork by S&P Capital IQ, a unit of New York-based McGraw Hill Financial Inc.
Dealertrack Technologies Inc., target of a $4 billion acquisition deal announced in June by Atlanta's Cox Automotive, was No. 11. It's the latest large Long Island public company to announce it will be bought.
The Island's roster of public companies is declining as companies are bought by corporate or private-equity acquirers, are delisted from exchanges or move their headquarters away. That decline is occurring nationally as well due to acquisitions and delistings, but at a slower rate.
Domestic company listings on major U.S. stock exchanges shrank 20 percent to 4,206 during the decade, from Jan. 31, 2004, to Jan. 31, 2014, according to statistics from the World Federation of Exchanges.
Long Island's decline has been more precipitous. In 2004 Long Island had 89 companies on major stock exchanges, with a combined stock market capitalization of $65.4 billion. In 2015, 51 Long Island companies -- 42.7 percent fewer -- are trading on major exchanges.
Those companies carried a market capitalization of almost $84 billion as of May 29 (before the Dealertrack deal was announced). But that figure will take a nearly $18 billion hit once the acquisitions of Pall and Dealertrack close and the companies stop trading.
Richard Vogel, chief economist at the Melville Chamber of Commerce and dean of the Farmingdale State College School of Business, said the region's diverse economy may face short-term pain but such losses are part of the normal economic ebb and flow.
"It's neutral overall," he said. "I don't think you're going to see a reduction in economic activity on the Island. Other firms will come in to fill the void."
Though the number of Long Island companies with 1,000 or more employees has fallen more than 10 percent from 1993 to 2013, to 53, the total number of businesses has climbed from 83,540 to 96,372 as smaller companies fill the economic gaps, according to Census Bureau figures.
With James T. Madore
Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.
