Vijay Manthripragada, president and CEO of Montrose Environmental Group (Photo provided by Montrose Environmental)

Montrose Environmental Group Inc. of North Little Rock (NYSE: MEG) is back in buy mode after it paused a long series of acquisitions 15 months ago.

The environmental services company announced that it plans to resume purchasing “smaller, bolt-on” companies this year. “We see acquisitions as a multiplier to already robust organic growth and continued margin expansion in 2026,” CEO Vijay Manthripragada said in a statement.

Acquisitions have been key to Montrose’s growth. Over the past 10-plus years, it has purchased more than 70 companies, from a Canadian consultancy with expertise in soil, vegetation and wetlands development to a California firm specializing in natural resources and wildfire mitigation.

Montrose’s expansion resumes after the company posted record annual revenue of $830.5 million, up 19.3% from $696.4 million in 2024. The increase was primarily driven by organic growth across the company’s three segments: remediation and reuse; measurement and analysis; and assessment, permitting and response.

Revenue growth helped dramatically narrow the company’s annual loss to $843,000 from $62.3 million in 2024.

Montrose capped the year with a fourth-quarter loss of $8.2 million, improving on a loss of $28.2 million a year ago. Per share, the loss came to 23 cents.

Adjusted earnings per share was 35 cents, which surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 24 cents per share.

The company posted fourth-quarter revenue of $193.3 million, up 2.2% from $189.1 million a year ago and above Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $185.8 million.

Montrose raised its guidance for 2026, with revenue now expected to be between $840 million and $900 million. This outlook does not include any benefit from future acquisitions.

Shares of the company rose more than 3% Wednesday to close at $23.38. The stock jumped another 4.79% in after-hours trading.

Over the past 12 months, shares were up more than 34%.

Montrose in January announced the sale of its water treatment subsidiary in Denmark to water-cleantech firm Chromafora of Stockholm, Sweden. As part of the transaction, Montrose became an investor and shareholder in Chromafora, marking the beginning of an expanded collaboration between the two companies.