Direct Energy buys Sarasota's Clockwork Home Services for $183 million

What happened. Centrica's North American arm Direct Energy agreed to buy Clockwork Home Services, the Sarasota-based franchisor of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning, Benjamin Franklin Plumbing and Mister Sparky, for $183 million. Clockwork also owned the AirTime 500, Plumbers' Success International and Electricians' Success International contractor coaching programs and the BuyMax purchasing group. Direct Energy Services president Eddy Collier said the combination created 'the category leader with network revenues of almost $4 billion,' and Direct Energy CEO Chris Weston said it would 'increase the proportion of households where we offer both services and energy supply.' Clockwork CEO Jim Abrams was blunt about why he sold: 'Capital was the great constraint for us going forward.' The deal closed on 1 July 2010 and is the largest transaction involving a Tampa Bay-headquartered home-services company in the decade.