Item 1. Business

General

Rollins, Inc. (the “Company”) was originally incorporated in 1948 under the laws of the state of Delaware as Rollins Broadcasting, Inc.

The Company is an international service company with headquarters located in Atlanta, Georgia, providing pest and termite control services through its wholly-owned subsidiaries to both residential and commercial customers in North America, Australia, and Europe with international franchises in Central America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, Canada, Australia, and Mexico. Services are performed through a contract that specifies the pricing arrangement with the customer.

Orkin, LLC. (“Orkin”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company founded in 1901, is the world’s largest pest and termite control company. It provides customized services from over 400 locations. Orkin either serves customers, directly or through franchise operations, in the United States, Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, and Mexico providing essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects to homes and businesses, including hotels, food service establishments, food manufacturers, retailers and transportation companies. Orkin operates under the Orkin®, and Orkin Canada® trademarks and the AcuridSM service mark. The Orkin® brand name makes Orkin the most recognized pest and termite company throughout the United States. The Orkin Canada brand name provides similar brand recognition throughout Canada.

Orkin Canada, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orkin founded in 1952, was acquired by Orkin in 1999. Orkin Canada is Canada’s largest pest control provider and a leader in the development of fast, effective and environmentally responsible pest control solutions.

Western Pest Services (“Western”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company founded in 1928, was acquired by Rollins, Inc. in 2004. Western is primarily a commercial pest control service company and its business complements most of the services Orkin offers focusing on the northeastern United States.

The Industrial Fumigant Company (“IFC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company founded in 1937, was acquired by Rollins, Inc. in 2005. IFC is a leading provider of pest management and sanitation services and products to the food and commodity industries.

HomeTeam Pest Defense (“HomeTeam”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company established in 1996, was acquired by Rollins, Inc. in April 2008. At the time of the acquisition, HomeTeam, with its unique Taexx® tubes in the wall pest control system, was recognized as a premier pest control business and ranked as the 4th largest company in the industry. HomeTeam services home builders nationally.

Rollins Australia (“Rollins Australia”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired Allpest WA (“Allpest”), in February 2014. Allpest was established in 1959 and is headquartered in Perth, Australia. Allpest provides traditional commercial, residential, and termite service as well as consulting services on border protection related to Australia’s biosecurity program and provides specialized services to Australia’s mining and oil and gas sectors.

Rollins Wildlife Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired Critter Control on February 27, 2015. Critter Control was established by 1983 and has operations in 40 states and 2 Canadian provinces.

Rollins UK was formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company to acquire Safeguard Pest Control (“Safeguard”). Safeguard, which was acquired in June 2016, is a pest control company established in the United Kingdom in 1991 with a history of providing superior pest control, bird control, and specialist services to residential and commercial customers.

The Company has several smaller wholly-owned subsidiaries that in total make up less than 5% of the Company’s total revenues.

The Company has only one reportable segment, its pest and termite control business. Revenue, operating profit and identifiable assets for this segment, which includes the United States, Canada, Australia, Central America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, and Mexico are included in Item 8 of this document, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” on pages 25 and 26. The Company’s results of operations and its financial condition are not reliant upon any single customer or a few customers or the Company’s foreign operations.

Common Stock Repurchase Program

All share and per share data presented have been adjusted to account for the three-for-two stock split effective March 10, 2015. At the July 24, 2012 Board of Directors’ meeting, the Board authorized the purchase of 7.5 million shares of the Company’s common stock. During the years ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, the Company repurchased on the open market 0.8 million shares and 19 thousand shares at a weighted average price of $27.19 and $22.42, respectively. In total, there are 5.1 million additional shares authorized to be repurchased under prior Board approval. The repurchase program does not have an expiration date.

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Backlog

Backlog services and orders are usually provided within the month following the month of order receipt, except in the area of prepaid pest control and bait monitoring services, which are usually provided within twelve months of order receipt. The Company does not have a material portion of its business that may be subject to renegotiation of profits or termination of contracts at the election of a governmental entity.

December 31,		2016				2015				2014
Backlog		$	5,303			$	4,352			$	3,676

Franchising Programs

Orkin Franchises

The Company continues to expand its growth through Orkin’s franchise program. This program is primarily used in smaller markets where it is currently not economically feasible to locate a conventional Orkin branch. Domestic franchisees are subject to a contractual buyback provision at Orkin’s option with a pre-determined purchase price using a formula applied to revenues of the franchise. International franchise agreements also contain an optional buyback provision; however, the franchisee has the prior right of renewal of agreement. The Company through its wholly-owned Orkin subsidiary began its Orkin franchise program in the U.S. in 1994, and established its first international franchise in 2000 and since has expanded to Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, Africa, and Mexico.

		At December 31,
Orkin Franchises		2016				2015				2014
Domestic Franchises			50				51				55
International Franchises			70				48				37
Total Franchises			120				99				92

Critter Control Franchises

The Company expands its animal control growth through Critter Control’s franchise program. The Company has purchased several Critter Control locations from its franchise owners while renaming and converting several TruTech locations to Critter Control. The majority of Critter Control’s locations are franchised. Critter Control had 94 franchises and 108 franchises in the United States and Canada as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 respectively. The Company purchased Critter Control in 2015.

		At December 31,
Franchises		2016				2015
Critter Control Franchises			94				108

Murray Pest Control Franchises

The Company has Australian franchises through Rollins Australia’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Murray Pest Control. Murray Pest Control had four franchises as of December 31, 2016. The Company purchased Murray Pest Control in 2016.

		At December 31,
Franchises		2016
Murray Pest Control Franchises			4

Seasonality

The business of the Company is affected by the seasonal nature of the Company’s pest and termite control services. The increase in pest presence and activity, as well as the metamorphosis of termites in the spring and summer (the occurrence of which is determined by the timing of the change in seasons), has historically resulted in an increase in the revenue of the Company’s pest and termite control operations during such periods as evidenced by the following chart.

		Total Net Revenues
(in thousands)		2016				2015				2014
First Quarter		$	352,736			$	330,909			$	313,388
Second Quarter			411,133				392,150				369,357
Third Quarter			423,994				399,746				384,870
Fourth Quarter			385,614				362,500				343,951
Years ended December 31,		$	1,573,477			$	1,485,305			$	1,411,566

Inventories

The Company has relationships with a national pest control product distributor and other vendors for pest and termite control treatment products. The Company maintains a sufficient level of chemicals, materials and other supplies to fulfill its immediate servicing needs and to alleviate any potential short-term shortage in availability from its national network of suppliers.

Competition

The Company believes that Rollins, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Orkin, Orkin Canada, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, Crane Pest Control, Waltham Services, Trutech, Permatreat, Rollins Australia, Critter Control and Safeguard Pest Control compete favorably with competitors as the world’s largest pest and termite control company. The Company’s competitors include Terminix, Ecolab and Rentokil.

The principal methods of competition in the Company’s pest and termite control markets are quality of service, customer proximity and guarantee terms, reputation for safety, technical proficiency, and price.

Research and Development

Expenditures by the Company on research activities relating to the development of new products or services are not significant. Some of the new and improved service methods and products are researched, developed and produced by unaffiliated universities and companies. Also, a portion of these methods and products are produced to the specifications provided by the Company.

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The Company maintains a close relationship with several universities for research and validation of treatment procedures and material selection.

The Company conducts tests of new products with the specific manufacturers of such products. The Company also works closely with leading scientists, educators, industry consultants and suppliers to improve service protocols and materials.

Environmental and Regulatory Considerations

The Company’s pest control business is subject to various legislative and regulatory enactments that are designed to protect the environment, public health and consumers. Compliance with these requirements has not had a material negative impact on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or liquidity.

Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodentcide Act (“FIFRA”)

This federal law (as amended) grants to the states the responsibility to be the primary agent in enforcement and conditions under which pest control companies operate. Each state must meet certain guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency in regulating the following: licensing, record keeping, contracts, standards of application, training and registration of products. This allows each state to institute certain features that set their regulatory programs in keeping with special interests of the citizens’ wishes in each state. The pest control industry is impacted by these federal and state regulations.

Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (“FQPA”)

The FQPA governs the manufacture, labeling, handling and use of pesticides and does not have a direct impact on how the Company conducts its business.

Environmental Remediation

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), also known as Superfund, is the primary Federal statute regulating the cleanup of inactive hazardous substance sites and imposing liability for cleanup on the responsible parties. Responsibilities governed by this statute include the management of hazardous substances, reporting releases of hazardous substances, and establishing the necessary contracts and agreements to conduct cleanup. Customarily, the parties involved will work with the EPA and under the direction of the responsible state agency to agree and implement a plan for site remediation. Consistent with the Company’s responsibilities under these regulations, the Company undertakes environmental assessments and remediation of hazardous substances from time to time as the Company determines its responsibilities for these purposes. As these situations arise, the Company accrues management’s best estimate of future costs for these activities. Based on management’s current estimates of these costs, management does not believe these costs are material to the Company’s financial condition or operating results.

Employees

The number of persons employed by the Company as of January 31, 2017 was approximately 12,000.

December 31,		2016				2015				2014
Employees			12,153				11,268				10,936

Available Information

Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports, are available free of charge on our web site at www.rollins.com as soon as reasonably practicable after those reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Item 1.A. Risk Factors

We may not be able to maintain our competitive position in the pest control industry in the future.

We operate in a highly competitive industry. Our revenues and earnings may be affected by changes in competitors’ prices, and general economic issues. We compete with other large pest control companies, as well as numerous smaller pest control companies, for a finite number of customers. We believe that the principal competitive factors in the market areas that we serve are service quality, and product availability, terms of guarantees, reputation for safety, technical proficiency and price. Although we believe that our experience and reputation for safety and quality service is excellent, we cannot assure investors that we will be able to maintain our competitive position.

Economic conditions may adversely affect our business

Pest and termite services represent discretionary expenditures to many of our residential customers. As consumers restrict their discretionary expenditures, we may suffer a decline in revenues from our residential service lines. Economic downturns can also adversely affect our commercial customers, including food service, hospitality and food processing industries whose business levels are particularly sensitive to adverse economies. For example, we may lose commercial customers and related revenues because of consolidation or cessation of commercial businesses or because these businesses switch to a lower cost provider.

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Our business depends on our strong brands, and failing to maintain and enhance our brands could hurt our ability to retain and expand our base of customers.

Our strong brands, Rollins, Orkin, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, Crane Pest Control, Waltham Services, Trutech, Perma Treat, Critter Control, Allpest, and Safeguard Pest Control have significantly contributed to the success of our business. Maintaining and enhancing our brands increases our ability to enter new markets and launch new and innovative services that better serve the needs of our customers. Our brands may be negatively impacted by a number of factors, including, among others, reputational issues and product/technical failures. Further, if our brands are significantly damaged, our business, operating results, and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected. Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to remain a service leader and continue to provide high-quality, pest control products and services that are truly useful and play a meaningful role in people’s lives.

We may not be able to identify, complete or successfully integrate acquisitions.

Acquisitions have been and may continue to be an important element of our business strategy. We cannot assure investors that we will be able to identify and acquire acceptable acquisition candidates on terms favorable to us in the future. We cannot assure investors that we will be able to integrate successfully the operations and assets of any acquired business with our own business. Any inability on our part to integrate and manage the growth from acquired businesses could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our operations are affected by adverse weather conditions.

Our operations are directly impacted by the weather conditions worldwide. The business of the Company is affected by the seasonal nature of the Company’s pest and termite control services. The increase in pest presence and activity, as well as the metamorphosis of termites in the spring and summer (the occurrence of which is determined by the timing of the change in seasons), has historically resulted in an increase in the revenue and income of the Company’s pest and termite control operations during such periods. The business of the Company is also affected by extreme weather such as drought which can greatly reduce the pest population for extended periods.

Our inability to attract and retain skilled workers may impair growth potential and profitability.

Our ability to remain productive and profitable will depend substantially on our ability to attract and retain skilled workers. Our ability to expand our operations is in part impacted by our ability to increase our labor force. The demand for skilled employees is high, and the supply is very limited. A significant increase in the wages paid by competing employers could result in a reduction in our skilled labor force, increases in wage rates paid by us, or both. If either of these events occurred, our capacity and profitability could be diminished, and our growth potential could be impaired.

Our operations could be affected if we fail to protect the security of personal information about our customers, employees and third parties, we could be subject to interruption of our business operations, private litigation, reputational damage and costly penalties.

We rely on, among other things, commercially available vendors, cyber protection systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmission and storage of confidential information of customers, employees and third parties, such as payment card and personal information. The systems currently used for transmission and approval of payment card transactions, and the technology utilized in payment cards themselves, all of which can put payment card data at risk, meeting standards set by the payment card industry (“PCI”). We continue to evaluate and modify our systems and protocols for PCI compliance purposes, and such PCI standards may change from time to time. Activities by third parties, advances in computer and software capabilities and encryption technology, new tools and discoveries and other events or developments may facilitate or result in a compromise or breach of our systems. Any compromises, breaches or errors in applications related to our systems or failures to comply with standards set by the PCI could cause damage to our reputation and interruptions in our operations, including our customers’ ability to pay for our services and products by credit card or their willingness to purchase our services and products and could result in a violation of applicable laws, regulations, orders, industry standards or agreements and subject us to costs, penalties and liabilities which could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business, financial position, results of operations and cash flows. Also, a breach of credit card data security could expose us to customer litigation.

Our operations could be affected by pending and ongoing litigation.

In the normal course of business, some of the Company’s subsidiaries are defendants in a number of lawsuits or arbitrations, which allege that plaintiffs have been damaged. The Company does not believe that any pending claim, proceeding or litigation, either alone or in the aggregate, will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position; however, it is possible that an unfavorable outcome of some or all of the matters, however unlikely, could result in a charge that might be material to the results of an individual year.

Our operations may be adversely affected if we are unable to comply with regulatory and environmental laws.

Our business is significantly affected by environmental laws and other regulations relating to the pest control industry and by changes in such laws and the level of enforcement of such laws. We are unable to predict the level of enforcement of existing laws and regulations, how such laws and regulations may be interpreted by enforcement agencies or court rulings, or whether additional laws and regulations will be adopted. We believe our present operations substantially comply with applicable federal and state environmental laws and regulations. We also believe that compliance with such laws has had no material adverse effect on our operations to date. However, such environmental laws are changed frequently. We are unable to predict whether environmental laws will, in the future, materially affect our operations and financial condition. Penalties for noncompliance with these laws may include cancellation of licenses, fines, and other corrective actions, which would negatively affect our future financial results.

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The Company’s management has a substantial ownership interest; public stockholders may have no effective voice in the Company’s management.

The Company has elected the “Controlled Company” exemption under Section 303A of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) Listed Company Manual. The Company is a “Controlled Company” because a group that includes the Company’s Chairman of the Board, R. Randall Rollins and his brother, Gary W. Rollins, who is the Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and a director of the Company and certain companies under their control, controls in excess of fifty percent of the Company’s voting power. As a “Controlled Company,” the Company need not comply with certain NYSE rules.

Rollins, Inc.’s executive officers, directors and their affiliates hold directly or through indirect beneficial ownership, in the aggregate, approximately 57 percent of the Company’s outstanding shares of common stock. As a result, these persons will effectively control the operations of the Company, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions such as acquisitions and approval of matters requiring stockholder approval. This concentration of ownership could also have the effect of delaying or preventing a third party from acquiring control of the Company at a premium.

Our management has a substantial ownership interest, and the availability of the Company’s common stock to the investing public may be limited.

The availability of Rollins’ common stock to the investing public would be limited to those shares not held by the executive officers, directors and their affiliates, which could negatively impact Rollins’ stock trading prices and affect the ability of minority stockholders to sell their shares. Future sales by executive officers, directors and their affiliates of all or a portion of their shares could also negatively affect the trading price of our common stock.

Provisions in Rollins, Inc.’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws may inhibit a takeover of the Company.

Rollins, Inc.’s certificate of incorporation, bylaws and other documents contain provisions including advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and staggered terms for the Board of Directors. These provisions may make a tender offer, change in control or takeover attempt that is opposed by the Company’s Board of Directors more difficult or expensive.

Item 1.B. Unresolved Staff Comments

None

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