Mar. 15--Despite the grim state of the global economy, businesses still want their retail spaces and workplaces to be clean and their employees to present a neat, professional appearance.

That reality offers opportunities for three Twin Cities-based companies that might be regarded as a local "clean team." Yet they, too, are adapting to the recession that's hobbled some of their business customers.

Ecolab, the biggest player in the trio, had $6.1 billion in net sales last year. It makes an array of products for cleaning and sanitizing that it sells to companies ranging from hospitals to hotels. Tennant Co., which generated $701 million in revenue last year, makes industrial-sized large floor cleaning machines. Rounding out the group is G&K Services, which hit the $1 billion revenue mark in fiscal 2008 that ended in June. G & K supplies uniforms to a wide variety of employers as well as products ranging from floor mats to dust mops.

Shares of all three have plummeted from their high values in September.

Ecolab CEO Doug Baker told analysts in February that "we're watching every penny" to control costs as the St. Paul corporation girds itself to ride out the recession.

Analysts seem to think the market has over-reacted in Ecolab's case. According to Bloomberg News, 13 of the 18 analysts who follow the company have buy recommendations on the company. The stock closed Friday at $32.23.

"It is reinvigorating its sales effort by focusing on energy, water and labor savings from its products," Citigroup analyst P.J. Juvekar said in a recent analyst report. He emphasized that approach allowed Ecolab to raise prices by 4 to 6 percent last year, and the company is expected to boost prices another 2 percent this year.

"The company's service staff is impressive and is equipped with high-tech gadgets to help customers do [their] daily chores, such as laundry washing and dish washing," Juvekar wrote. Ecolab's customized analysis on helping businesses save money on energy and water allows the corporation to charge somewhat higher prices for its products, he said.

"Weaker demand trends in the lodging and restaurant sectors could pressure Ecolab earnings throughout 2009," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Koort, but he has maintained a buy rating on the company.

Earlier this month, Oppenheimer analysts indicated that Ecolab is expected to outperform the Standard & Poor's 500 within the next 12 to 18 months and that it normally doubles earnings per share every five years.

Ecolab projects that it will produce earnings per share in the $1.95 to $2.05 range for all of 2009.