ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

Our Company

        We are one of the leading providers of parking management, ground transportation and other ancillary services to commercial, institutional and municipal clients in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Our services include a comprehensive set of on-site parking management and ground transportation services, which include facility maintenance, security services, training, scheduling and supervising all service personnel as well as providing customer service, marketing, and accounting and revenue control functions necessary to facilitate the operation of our clients' facilities. We also provide a range of ancillary services such as airport shuttle operations, valet services, taxi and livery dispatch services and municipal meter revenue collection and enforcement services.

Acquisitions and Investment in Joint Venture

        On October 2, 2012, we completed our acquisition (the "Central Merger") of Central Parking Corporation ("Central") for 6,161,332 shares of our common stock and the assumption of $217.7 million of Central's debt net of cash acquired. Additionally, Central's former stockholders will be entitled to receive $27.0 million to be paid three years after closing, to the extent the $27.0 million is not used to satisfy seller indemnity obligations pursuant to the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated February 28, 2012. Our consolidated results of operations for the twelve months ended December 31, 2014 and 2013 include Central's results of operations for the entire year. Our consolidated results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2012 include Central's results of operations for the period of October 2, 2012 through December 31, 2012.

        On October 31, 2014, we entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture with Parkmobile USA, Inc. ("Parkmobile USA") and contributed all of the assets and liabilities of our proprietary Click and Park ® parking prepayment business in exchange for a 30 percent interest in the newly formed legal entity called Parkmobile, LLC ("Parkmobile"). Parkmobile is a leading provider of on-demand and prepaid transaction processing for on-and off-street parking and transportation services. The Parkmobile joint venture combines two parking transaction engines, with SP Plus contributing the Click and Park ® parking prepayment systems, which enables consumers to reserve and pay for parking online in advance and Parkmobile USA contributing its on demand transaction engine that allows consumers to transact real-time payment for parking privileges in both on- and off-street environments. We account for our investment in the joint venture with Parkmobile under the equity method of accounting.

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Our Operations

        Our history and resulting experience have allowed us to develop and standardize a rigorous system of processes and controls that enable us to deliver consistent, transparent, value-added and high-quality parking facility management services. We serve a variety of industries and have end-market specific specialization in airports, healthcare facilities, hotels, municipalities and government facilities, commercial real estate, residential communities, retail and colleges and universities. The professionals dedicated to each of our SP+ operating divisions and service lines possess subject matter expertise that enables them to meet the specific demands of their clients. Additionally, we complement our core services and help to differentiate our clients' parking facilities by offering to their customers Ambiance in Parking ®, an approach to parking facility management that includes a comprehensive package of amenity and customer service programs. These programs not only make the parking experience more enjoyable, but also convey a sense of the client's sensitivity to and appreciation for the needs of its parking customers. In doing so, we believe the programs serve to enhance the value of the parking properties themselves.

        Our focus on customer service and satisfaction is a key driver of our high location retention rate, which was approximately 90% for the year ended December 31, 2014, and was approximately 87% for the year ended December 31, 2013, excluding dispositions required by the Department of Justice in connection with the Central Merger.

        We operate our clients' facilities through two primary types of arrangements: management contracts and leases.

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Under a management contract, we typically receive a base monthly fee for managing the facility, and we may also receive an incentive fee based on the achievement of facility performance objectives. We also receive fees for ancillary services. Typically, all of the underlying revenue and expenses under a standard management contract flow through to our client rather than to us.



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Under a lease, we generally pay to the property owner either a fixed annual rent, a percentage of gross customer collections, or a combination of both. Under a lease, we collect all revenue and are responsible for most operating expenses, but typically we are not responsible for major maintenance, capital expenditures or real estate taxes.

        As of December 31, 2014, we operated approximately 81% of our locations under management contracts, and approximately 19% of our locations under leases. We held a partial ownership interest in four parking facilities (two leased and two managed) as of December 31, 2014 and 2013.

        Our revenue is derived from a broad and diverse group of clients, industry end-markets and geographies. Our clients include some of North America's largest private and public owners, municipalities, managers and developers of major office buildings, residential properties, commercial properties, shopping centers and other retail properties, sports and special event complexes, hotels, and hospitals and medical centers. No single client accounted for more than 3% of our revenue or more than 2% of our gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2014. Additionally, we have built a diverse geographic footprint that as of December 31, 2014 included operations in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and municipalities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington D.C. and Houston, among others, and four Canadian provinces. Our strategy is focused on building scale and leadership positions in large, strategic markets in order to leverage the advantages of scale across a larger number of parking locations in a single market.

        While a large share of our operating arrangements are fixed-fee management contracts, we continue to grow our lease and management contract businesses. Generally, management contracts provide us with insulation from economic cycles and enhance our earnings visibility because our management contract revenue does not fluctuate materially in relation to variations in parking volumes; our lease contracts experience variability, as revenues typically increase in periods of improving macroeconomic

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conditions through increased parking volumes and typically decrease during periods of deteriorating macroeconomic conditions through reduced parking volumes.

        As of December 31, 2014, we managed approximately 4,200 parking facility locations containing approximately 2.0 million parking spaces in approximately 411 cities, operated 44 parking-related service centers serving 71 airports, operated a fleet of approximately 770 shuttle buses carrying approximately 41.0 million passengers per year, operated 338 valet locations and employed a professional staff of approximately 24,000 people.

        We are a leader in the field of introducing automation and technology as part of our parking facility and transportation operations, having been a leader in the use of mobile payment technology, mobile parking apps that show parking options and shuttle bus locations for customers, implementation of remote parking management operations and the use of License Plate Recognition (LPR) system for parking enforcement operations. We continue to utilize and provide the Click and Park ® technology to our customers through our joint venture with Parkmobile, which is a leading provider of on-demand and prepaid transaction processing for on-and off-street parking and transportation services.

        Our ability to innovate operations by integrating and incorporating appropriate technologies into our service lines allows us to further strengthen our relationships with clients, improve cost efficiency, enhance customer service and introduce new customer facing services. This continuous commitment to using automation and technology to innovate within operations is demonstrated through our continued use of the Click and Park ® and Click and Ride ® technology, as a customer offering through our joint venture partner Parkmobile, and our development of new online parking programs and electronic shuttle pass systems that support large entertainment and sporting venues, various sized urban garages, office buildings and public transportation hubs. We also innovate through application of our in-house interactive marketing expertise and digital advertising to increase parking demand, development of electronic payment tools to increase customer convenience and streamline revenue processes, use of advanced video and intercom services to enhance customer service to parking patrons 24-hours-a-day, the creation of our remote management services technology and operating center that enables us to remotely monitor facilities and parking operations, the use of our LPR system and video analytics for car counting, on-street enforcement and enhanced security and our proprietary MPM Plus ® monthly parker management and billing system provides comprehensive and reliable billing of the parking-related provisions of multi-year commercial tenant leases.

Services

        As a professional parking management company, we provide a comprehensive, turn-key package of parking services to our clients. Under a typical management contract structure, we are responsible for providing and supervising all personnel necessary to facilitate daily parking operations including cashiers, porters, valet attendants, managers, bookkeepers, and a variety of maintenance, marketing, customer service, and accounting and revenue control functions. By way of example, our typical day-to-day operating duties, whether performed using our own personnel or subcontracted vendors, include:

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Collection and deposit of daily and monthly parking revenues from all parking customers.



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Restriping of the parking stalls as necessary.



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Painting of walkways, curbs, ceilings, walls or other facility surfaces.



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Routine maintenance of parking equipment ( e.g. , ticket dispensing machines, parking gate arms, fee computers).



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Marketing efforts designed to maximize gross parking revenues.



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Snow removal from sidewalks and driveways.

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        The scope of our management services typically also includes a number of functions that support the basic daily facility operations, such as:

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Preparation of an annual operating budget reflecting our estimates of the annual gross parking revenues that the facility will generate from its parking customers, as well as the costs and expenses to be incurred in connection with the facility's operation.



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Evaluation and analysis of, and consultation with our clients with respect to, price structures that will optimize our client's revenue objectives.



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Consultation with our clients regarding which of our customer amenities are appropriate and/or desirable for implementation at the client's parking facility.



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Implementation of a wide range of operational and revenue control processes and procedures, including internal audit procedures, designed to maximize and protect the facility's parking revenues. Compliance with our mandated processes and procedures is supervised by dedicated internal audit and contract compliance groups.



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Consultation with our clients regarding any recommended modifications in facility design or traffic flow, or the installation of new or updated parking equipment, designed both to enhance the ease and convenience of the parking experience for the parking customers and to maximize facility profitability.



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Monthly reporting to our clients regarding the facility's operating results. For those clients who wish to directly access their financial reporting information on-line, we offer the use of our proprietary Client View ® client reporting system, which provides on-line access to site-level financial and operating information.

Ancillary Services

        Beyond the conventional parking facility management services described above, we also offer an expanded range of ancillary services. For example:

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We provide shuttle bus vehicles and the drivers to operate, for example; through on-airport car rental operations as well as private off-airport parking locations.



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We provide ground transportation services, such as taxi and livery dispatch services, as well as concierge-type ground transportation information and support services for arriving passengers



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We provide on-street parking meter collection and other forms of parking enforcement services.



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We provide remote parking management services using technology that enables us to monitor a parking operation from a remote, off-site location and provide 24-hour-a-day customer assistance (including remedying equipment malfunctions).

Industry Overview

Overview

        The parking industry is large and fragmented and includes companies that provide temporary parking spaces for vehicles on an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly basis along with providing various ancillary services. A substantial number of companies in the industry offer parking services as a non-core operation in connection with property management or ownership, and the vast majority of companies in the industry are small, private and operate a limited number of parking facilities. Accordingly, the industry remains highly fragmented and dynamic. From time to time, smaller operators find they lack the financial resources, economies of scale and/or management techniques required to compete for the business of increasingly sophisticated clients or family owners face difficult generational transfers. We expect this

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trend to continue and will provide larger parking management companies with opportunities to expand their businesses and acquire smaller operators. We also expect that small new operators will continue to enter the business as they have for decades.

Industry Operating Arrangements

        Parking facilities operate under three general types of arrangements:

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management contract;



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lease; and



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ownership.

        The general terms and benefits of these three types of arrangements are as follows:

Management Contract

        Under a management contract, the facility operator generally receives a base monthly fee for managing the facility and may receive an incentive fee based on the achievement of facility performance objectives. Facility operators also generally charge fees for various ancillary services such as accounting support services, equipment leasing and consulting. Primary responsibilities under a management contract include hiring, training and staffing parking personnel, and providing revenue collection, accounting, record-keeping, insurance and facility marketing services. The facility owner usually is responsible for operating expenses associated with the facility's operation, such as taxes, license and permit fees, insurance costs, payroll and accounts receivable processing and wages of personnel assigned to the facility, although some management contracts, typically referred to as "reverse" management contracts, require the facility operator to pay certain of these cost categories but provide for payment to the operator of a larger management fee. Under a management contract, the facility owner usually is responsible for non-routine maintenance and repairs and capital improvements, such as structural and significant mechanical repairs. Management contracts are typically for a term of one to three years (although the contracts may often be terminated, without cause, on 30-days' notice or less) and may contain renewal clauses.

Lease

        Under a lease, the parking facility operator generally pays to the property owner either a fixed base rent, percentage rent that is tied to the facility's financial performance, or a combination of both. The parking facility operator collects all revenue and is responsible for most operating expenses, but typically is not responsible for major maintenance, capital expenditures or real estate taxes. In contrast to management contracts, leases typically are for terms of three to ten years, often contain a renewal term, and provide for a fixed payment to the facility owner regardless of the facility's operating earnings. However, many of these leases may be cancelled by the client for various reasons, including development of the real estate for other uses and other leases may be cancelled by the client on as little as 30 days' notice without cause. Leased facilities generally require larger capital investment by the parking facility operator than do managed facilities and therefore tend to have longer contract periods.

Ownership

        Ownership of parking facilities, either independently or through joint ventures entails greater potential risks and rewards than either managed or leased facilities. All owned facility revenue flows directly to the owner, and the owner has the potential to realize benefits of appreciation in the value of the underlying real estate. Ownership of parking facilities usually requires large capital investments, and the owner is responsible for all obligations related to the property, including all structural, mechanical and electrical maintenance and repairs and property taxes.

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Industry Growth Dynamics

        A number of industry trends should facilitate growth for larger outsourced commercial parking facility management providers, including the following:

        Opportunities From Large Property Managers, Owners and Developers.     As a result of past industry consolidation, there is a significant number of national property managers, owners and developers that own or manage multiple locations. Sophisticated property owners consider parking a profit center that experienced parking facility management companies can maximize. This dynamic favors larger parking facility operators that can provide specialized, value-added professional services with nationwide coverage.

        Outsourcing of Parking Management and Related Services.     Growth in the parking management industry has resulted from a trend by parking facility owners to outsource the management of their parking and related operations to independent operators. We believe that entities such as large property managers, owners and developers, as well as cities, municipal authorities, hospitals and universities, in an effort to focus on their core competencies, reduce operating budgets and increase efficiency and profitability, will continue and perhaps increase the practice of retaining parking management companies to operate facilities and provide related services, including shuttle bus operations, municipal meter collection and valet parking.

        Vendor Consolidation.     Based on interactions with our clients, we believe that many parking facility owners and managers are evaluating the benefits of reducing the number of parking facility management relationships they maintain. We believe this is a function of the desire to reduce costs associated with interacting with a large number of third-party suppliers coupled with the desire to foster closer inter-company relationships. By limiting the number of outsourcing vendors, companies will benefit from suppliers who will invest the time and effort to understand every facet of the client's business and industry and who can effectively manage and handle all aspects of their daily requirements. We believe a trend towards vendor consolidation can benefit a company like ours, given our national footprint and scale, extensive experience, broad process capabilities and a demonstrated ability to create value for our clients.

        Industry Consolidation.     The parking management industry is highly fragmented, with hundreds of small regional or local operators. We believe national parking facility operators have a competitive advantage over local and regional operators by reason of their:

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broad product and service offerings;



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deeper and more experienced management;



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efficient cost structure due to economies of scale; and



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financial resources to invest in infrastructure and information systems.

Our Competitive Strengths

        We believe we have the following key competitive strengths:

        A Leading Market Position with a Unique Value Proposition.     We are one of the leading providers of parking management, ground transportation and other ancillary services, to commercial, institutional, and municipal clients in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. We market and offer many of our services under our SP+ brand, which reflects our ability to provide customized solutions and meet the varied demands of our diverse client base and their wide array of property types, and supplement them with Ambiance in Parking ®, a comprehensive package of amenity and customer service programs. We can augment our parking services by providing our clients with related services through our SP+ Facility Maintenance , SP+ Transportation , SP+ Event Logistics and, in certain sections of the country, SP+

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Security service lines, thus enabling our clients to efficiently address various needs through a single vendor relationship. We believe our ability to offer a comprehensive range of services on a national basis is a significant competitive advantage and allows our clients to attract, service and retain customers, gain access to the breadth and depth of our service and process expertise, leverage our significant technology capabilities and enhance their parking facility revenue, profitability and cash flow.

        Our Scale and Diversification.     Expanding our client base, industry end-markets and geographic locations has enabled us to significantly enhance our operating efficiency over the past several years by standardizing processes and managing overhead.

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Client Base.   Our clients include some of the nation's largest private and public owners, municipalities, managers and developers of major office buildings, residential properties, commercial properties, shopping centers and other retail properties, sports and special event complexes, hotels, and hospitals and medical centers. No single client accounted for more than 3% of our revenue or more than 2% of our gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2014.



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Industry End-Markets.   We believe that our industry end-market diversification, such as colleges and universities, hospitals and medical centers, municipalities and event services, allows us to minimize our exposure to industry-specific seasonality and volatility. We believe that the breadth of end-markets we serve and the depth of services we offer to those end-markets provide us with a broader base of customers that we can target.



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Geographic Locations.   We have a diverse geographic footprint that includes operations in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and four Canadian provinces as of December 31, 2014. We strive to be the #1 or #2 provider in each of the core markets in which we operate, and our strategy is focused on building size and leadership positions in large, strategic markets in order to leverage the advantages of scale across a larger number of parking locations in a single market.

        Stable Client Relationships.     We have a track record of providing our clients and parking customers with a consistent, value-added and high quality parking facility management experience, as reflected by our high location retention rates. As our clients continue to outsource the management of their parking operations and look to consolidate the number of their outsourcing providers, we believe this trend has meaningful benefits to companies like ours, which has a national footprint and scale, extensive industry experience, broad process capabilities, and a demonstrated ability to create value for our clients.

        Established Platform for Future Growth.     We have invested resources and developed a national infrastructure and technology platform that is complemented by significant management expertise, which enables us to scale our business for future growth effectively and efficiently. We have the ability to transition into a new location very quickly, from the simplest to the most complex operation, and have experience working with incumbent facility managers to affect smooth and efficient takeovers and integrate new locations seamlessly into our operations.

        Visible and Predictable Business Model.     We believe that our business model provides us with a measure of insulation from broader economic cycles, because a significant portion of our combined locations operates on fixed-fee and reverse management fee management contracts that for the most part are not dependent upon the level of utilization of those parking facilities. Additionally, because we only have a partial ownership interest in four parking facilities, we have limited the risks of real estate ownership. We benefit further from visibility provided by a recurring revenue model reinforced by high location retention rates.

        Highly Capital Efficient Business with Attractive Cash Flow Characteristics.     Our business generates attractive cash flow due to negative working capital dynamics and our low capital expenditure requirements. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014, we generated approximately $51.6 million of cash flow from operating activities, and during the same period our capital expenditures for the purpose of

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leasehold improvements and equipment were $13.5 million. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, we generated approximately $34.9 million of cash flow from operating activities, and during the same period our capital expenditures for the purpose of leasehold improvements and equipment were $15.7 million.

        Focus on Operational Excellence and Human Capital Management.     Our culture and training programs place a continuing focus on excellence in the execution of all aspects of day-to-day parking facility operation. This focus is reflected in our ability to deliver to our clients a professional, high-quality product through well-trained, service-oriented personnel, which we believe differentiates us from our competitors. To support our focus on operational excellence, we manage our human capital through a comprehensive, structured program that evaluates the competencies and performance of all of our key operations and administrative support personnel on an annual basis. Based on those evaluations, we create detailed developmental plans designed to provide our personnel with the skills and tools needed to perform their current duties effectively and to prepare themselves for future growth and advancement. We have also dedicated significant resources to human capital management, providing comprehensive training for our employees, delivered primarily through the use of our web-based SP+ University ^TM learning management system, which promotes customer service and client retention in addition to providing our employees with continued training and career development opportunities.

Our Growth Strategy

        Building on these competitive strengths, we believe we are well positioned to execute on the following growth strategies:

        Leverage Benefits from Central Merger.     Our acquisition of Central in October 2012 resulted in a combined company offering a broader range of services, with greater quality and cost effectiveness, which we believe will enable us to become a vendor of choice for outsourced parking facility management, maintenance, ground transportation and security services. More specifically and as a result of our acquisition of Central, we have effectively doubled our location footprint by adding more than 2,200 locations and approximately one million parking spaces to our portfolio, and we continue to focus on promoting revenue growth selling our current products and services to these new locations. In addition, we are focused on further strengthening our ability to serve our customers by integrating Central's customer-facing products and services, such as its centralized customer service centers, direct-to-consumer marketing programs, various web-based applications (including iPhone and Android apps) and enhanced technology applications, such as those used by its remote management services division, as well as its USA Parking System, Inc. ("USA Parking") valet expertise. In addition, we continue to take advantage of scale efficiencies by consolidating back-office processes and eliminating duplicate infrastructure, and to leverage increased purchasing volume, all of which are collectively expected to generate significant cost synergies and enable us to expand our client base and grow the business from a lower cost platform. We expect that our combined company will generate sufficient free cash flow to enable us to make additional investments in parking-related technology to accelerate development of new products and services that further improve our clients' satisfaction and our customers' parking experience. We also believe that sharing of complementary capabilities will allow the combined company to leverage customer information and technology to deliver services to our customers more effectively and to better understand customer preferences while also providing client-focused services, such as automated and web-based transportation, security, maintenance, parking enforcement and meter collection products and services; customer relationship management systems and the capability to capture parking data on a large scale; and enhanced property management technology, including electronic marketing services, billing systems and automated reporting. We believe these complementary capabilities also will bolster our ability to build upon existing relationships with, and attract, employees, clients and customers.

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        Grow the Hospitality Business.     USA Parking, one of the subsidiaries we acquired in the Central Merger, is a leader in the valet industry, and management continues to believe there is significant opportunity to use USA Parking's capability to develop a national valet business. Our objective is to focus on the most important aspects of the valet business promptly upon obtaining a new location, from the first contact with a potential customer to the execution of our services. Given the importance of neat, clean and polite service, the success of our valet business is dependent upon ensuring that its valet associates deliver excellent service every day. To accomplish this objective, our USA University subsidiary provides training to its valet associates. USA University, which began operating in 1995, trained approximately 2,000 employees during our past fiscal year to become an integrated extension of our clients' staff and blend seamlessly into the overall hospitality experience. In addition, we are expanding USA University to train a growing number of employees in valet operations serving other parking locations, including Class A office buildings and residences, municipalities, airports and stadiums and entertainment complexes, to provide high-quality service.

        Grow Our Portfolio of Contracts in Existing Geographic Markets.     Our strategy is to capitalize on economies of scale and operating efficiencies by expanding our contract portfolio in our existing geographic markets, especially in our core markets. As a given geographic market achieves a threshold operational size, we typically will establish a local office in order to promote increased operating efficiency by enabling local managers to use a common staff for recruiting, training and human resources support. This concentration of operating locations allows for increased operating efficiency and superior levels of customer service and retention through the accessibility of local managers and support resources.

        Increase Penetration in Our Current Vertical End-Markets.     We believe that a significant opportunity exists for us to further expand our presence into certain industry end-markets, such as colleges and universities, hospitals and medical centers as well as municipalities. In order to effectively target these new markets, we have implemented a go-to-market strategy of aligning our business by vertical end-markets and branding our domain expertise through our SP+ operating division designations to highlight the specialized expertise, competencies and services that we provide to meet the needs of each particular industry and customer. Our developed SP+ brand, which emphasizes our specialized market expertise and distinguishes our ancillary service lines from the traditional parking, includes a broad array of our operating divisions such as, SP+ Airport Services , SP+ GAMEDAY , SP+ Healthcare Services , SP+ Hotel Services , SP+ Municipal Services , SP+ Office Services , SP+ Residential Services , SP+ Retail Services and SP+ University Services , which further highlight the market-specific subject matter expertise that enables our professionals to meet the varied parking and transportation-related demands of those specific property types. Because our capabilities range beyond parking facility management, our SP+ Transportation , SP+ Facility Maintenance , SP+ Event Logistics and SP+ Security brands more clearly distinguish those service lines from the traditional parking services that we provide under our Standard Parking, Central Parking and USA Parking brands.

        Expand and Cross-Sell Additional Services to Drive Incremental Revenue.     We believe we have significant opportunities to further strengthen our relationships with existing clients, and to attract new clients, by continuing to cross-sell value-added services that complement our core parking operations. These services include shuttle bus operations, taxi and livery dispatch services, valet services, concierge-type ground transportation, on-street parking meter collection and enforcement, facility maintenance services, remote management, parking consulting and billing services.

        Expand Our Geographic Platform.     We believe that opportunities exist to further develop new geographic markets either through new contract wins, acquisitions, alliances, joint ventures or partnerships. Clients who outsource the management of their parking operations often have a presence in a variety of urban markets and seek to outsource the management of their parking facilities to a national provider. We continue to focus on leveraging relationships with existing clients that have locations in multiple markets as one potential entry point into developing new core markets.

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        Focus on Operational Efficiencies to Further Improve Profitability.     We have invested substantial resources in information technology and continually seek to consolidate various corporate functions where possible in order to improve our processes and service offerings. In addition, we will continue to evaluate and improve our human capital management to ensure a consistent and high-level of service for our clients. The initiatives undertaken to date in these areas have improved our cost structure and enhanced our financial strength, which we believe will continue to yield future benefits.

        Pursue Opportunistic, Accretive Acquisitions.     The outsourced parking management industry remains highly fragmented and presents a significant opportunity for us. Given the scale in our existing operating platform, we have a demonstrated ability to successfully identify, acquire and integrate accretive tuck-in acquisitions through our acquisition of Gameday Management Group U.S. in 2009 and more recently Central Parking Corporation in 2012 and our investment in Parkmobile in 2014. We will continue to selectively pursue acquisitions or joint venture opportunities that help us acquire scale or further enhance our service capabilities.

Amenities and Customer Service Programs

        We offer a comprehensive package of amenity and customer service programs, branded as Ambiance in Parking ®, many at nominal or no cost to the client. These programs not only make the parking experience more enjoyable, but also convey a sense of the client's sensitivity to and appreciation of the needs of its parking customers. In doing so, we believe the programs serve to enhance the value of the parking properties themselves.

        Musical Theme Floor Reminder System.     Our musical theme floor reminder system is designed to help customers remember the garage level on which they parked. A different song is played on each floor of the parking garage. Each floor also displays distinctive signage and graphics that correspond with the floor's theme. For example, in one parking facility with U.S. colleges as a theme, a different college logo is displayed, and that college's specific fight song is heard, on each parking level. Other parking facilities have themes such as famous recording artists, musical instruments, and professional sports teams.

        SPokes.     Monthly parkers at participating facilities can check out a cruiser bike, free of charge, for their personal use. Parking customers make their reservations through the facility manager, and all riders are provided with helmets. Returned bikes and helmets are inspected and cleaned by a facility employee before reuse.

        Complimentary Driver Assistance Services.     Parking facility attendants provide a wide range of complimentary services to customers with car problems. Assistance can include charging weak batteries, inflating/changing tires, cleaning windshields and refilling windshield washer fluid. Attendants also can help customers locate their vehicles and escort them to their cars.

        SP Equipment & Technology Upgrade Program® Services (SETUP®).     We provide clients with a complete turnkey solution to managing all phases of new equipment projects, from initial design to installation to ongoing maintenance. Our design team will suggest a complete solution intended to return to our clients the greatest value for their investment based upon consideration of a wide array of choices as to both equipment (such as Pay-On-Foot, Automated Vehicle Identification and Automated Credit/Debit Card machine technology) and services (procurement, project management, installation and maintenance).

        SPare ^TM Emergency Care Services.     Under our SPare ^TM Emergency Care Services program, customers experiencing vehicle problems beyond weak batteries and low tire pressure call our toll-free number to receive, on a pay-per-use basis, a basic package of emergency services, including towing, jump starting, flat tire changing, fuel delivery, extracting a vehicle from the side of the road and lock-out service. The emergency services are provided at the parking facility or anywhere on the road.

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        CarCare Maintenance Services.     A car service vendor will pick-up a customer's car from the parking facility, contact the customer with an estimate, service the car during normal working hours and return it to the facility before the end of the business day.

        Automated Teller Machines.     On-site ATM machines provide customers access to cash from bankcards and credit cards. We arrange for the installation of the machine, operated and maintained by an outside vendor. The parking facility realizes supplemental income from a fixed monthly rent and a share of usage transaction fees.

        Complimentary Courtesy Umbrellas and Flashlights.     Courtesy umbrellas are loaned to customers on rainy days. A similar lending program can be implemented to provide flashlights in emergency situations or power outages.

        Complimentary Services/Customer Appreciation Days.     Our clients select from a variety of complimentary services that we provide as a special way of saying "thank you" to our parking customers. Depending on client preferences, coffee, donuts and/or newspapers occasionally are provided to customers during the morning rush hour. On certain holidays, candy, with wrappers that can be customized with the facility logo, can be distributed to customers as they exit. We also can distribute personalized promotional items, such as ice scrapers and key-chains.

        Web-Based Applications.     As a result of the Central Merger, we acquired and utilize a portfolio of PC-based applications that are also supported with iPhone and Android apps. These advanced technology and feature rich applications are designed to support client and customer acquisition and retention, deliver business programs that benefit employees and other organizational members, and include direct-to-consumer programs intended to enhance daily, monthly and event parking revenue at our locations. These platforms are easily integrated with ecommerce capabilities such as the Click and Park ® online reservation and payment engine through our joint venture partner Parkmobile.

        Centralized Contact Center.     We deliver a high level of customer service by bringing our national customer service expertise to local markets through a centralized system designed to enhance consistency and performance. A centralized team of trained Contact Center professionals offer increased availability and improved responsiveness to meet customer needs. Whether via email, phone or other communication channels, our customer support team is readily accessible by our customers, and centralized databases provide the team with necessary customer-related information on a city-by-city basis.

Business Development

        Our efforts to attract new clients are primarily concentrated in and coordinated by a dedicated business development group, whose background and expertise is in the field of sales and marketing, and whose financial compensation is determined to a significant extent by their business development success. This business development group is responsible for forecasting sales, maintaining a pipeline of prospective and existing clients, initiating contacts with such clients, and then following through to coordinate meetings involving those clients and the appropriate members of our operations hierarchy. By concentrating our sales efforts through this dedicated group, we enable our operations personnel to focus on achieving excellence in our parking facility operations and maximizing our clients' parking profits and our own profitability.

        We also place a specific focus on marketing and client relationship efforts that pertain to those clients having a large regional or national presence. Accordingly, we assign a dedicated executive to those clients to address any existing portfolio issues, as well as to reinforce existing and develop new account relationships and to take any other action that may further our business development interests.

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Support Operations

        We maintain regional and city offices throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada in order to support approximately 24,000 employees and approximately 4,200 locations. These offices serve as the central bases through which we provide the employees to staff our parking facilities as well as the on-site and support management staff to oversee those operations. Our administrative staff accountants are based in those same offices and facilitate the efficient, accurate and timely production and delivery to our clients of our monthly reports. Having these all-inclusive operations and accounting teams located in regional and city offices throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada allows us to add new locations quickly and in a cost-efficient manner.

        Our overall basic corporate functions in the areas of finance, human resources, risk management, legal, purchasing and procurement, general administration, strategy and information and technology are based in our Chicago corporate office and Nashville support office.

Clients and Properties

        Our client base includes a diverse cross-section of public and private owners of commercial, institutional and municipal real estate.

Information Technology

        We believe that automation and technology can enhance customer convenience, lower labor costs, improve cash management and increase overall profitability. We have been a leader in the field of introducing automation and technology to the parking business and we were among the first to adopt electronic fund transfer (EFT) payment options, pay-on-foot (ATM) technology and bar code decal technology. Our continuous commitment to using automation and technology to innovate within operations is demonstrated through our continued use of the Click and Park ® and Click and Ride ® technology, as a customer offering through our joint venture partner Parkmobile, which is a leading provider of on-demand and prepaid transaction processing for on-and off-street parking and transportation services, and our development of new online parking programs and electronic shuttle pass systems that support large entertainment and sporting venues, various sized urban garages, office buildings and public transportation hubs. We also innovate through application of our in-house interactive marketing expertise and digital advertising to increase parking demand, development of electronic payment tools to increase customer convenience and streamline revenue processes, use of advanced video and intercom services to enhance customer service to parking patrons 24-hours-a-day, the creation of our SP+ Remote Management Services technology and operating center, the use of our LPR system and video analytics for car counting, on-street enforcement and enhanced security and our proprietary MPM Plus ® monthly parker management and billing system provides comprehensive and reliable billing of the parking-related provisions of multi-year commercial tenant leases. SP+ Remote Management Services allows us to provide remote parking management services, whereby personnel are able to monitor revenue and other aspects of a parking operation and provide 24-hour-a-day customer assistance (including remedying equipment malfunctions). After consolidating remote operations, we have begun expanding the locations where our remote management technology is installed. As of December 31, 2014, we provided SP+ Remote Management Services to approximately 200 locations. We expect this business to grow as clients focus on improving the profitability of their parking operations by decreasing labor costs at their locations through remote management.

Employees

        As of December 31, 2014, we employed 24,030 individuals, including 14,057 full-time and 9,973 part-time employees and as of December 31, 2013, we employed 23,937 individuals, including 14,225 full-time and 9,682 part-time employees. Approximately 32% of our employees are covered by collective

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bargaining agreements and represented by labor unions. Various union locals represent parking attendants and cashiers in the following cities: Atlanta, Akron (OH), Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Jersey City, Kansas City, Long Beach (CA), Los Angeles, Manchester (NH), Miami, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Rochester, San Francisco, San Jose, San Juan (Puerto Rico), Santa Monica, Seattle, Syracuse and Washington, DC.

        We are frequently engaged in collective bargaining negotiations with various union locals. No single collective bargaining agreement covers a material number of our employees. We believe that our employee relations are generally good.

Insurance

        We purchase comprehensive liability insurance covering certain claims that occur in the operations that we lease or manage. The primary amount of such coverage is $1.75 million per occurrence and $1.75 million in the aggregate per facility for our general/garage liability, $2.0 million per occurrence and $2.0 million in the aggregate per facility for our garagekeepers legal liability coverage and $2.0 million per occurrence for auto liability coverage. In addition, we purchase workers' compensation insurance for all eligible employees and umbrella/excess liability coverage. Under our various liability and workers' compensation insurance policies, we are obligated to pay directly or reimburse the insurance carrier for the first $0.5 million of each loss covered by our general/garage liability or automobile liability policies and $0.25 million for each loss covered by our workers' compensation and garagekeepers legal liability policies. As a result, we are effectively self-insured for all claims up to those levels. We also purchase property insurance that provides coverage for loss or damage to our property and in some cases our clients' property, as well as business interruption coverage for lost operating income and certain associated expenses. Because of the size of the operations covered and our claims experience, we purchase insurance policies at prices that we believe represent a discount to the prices that would typically be charged to parking facility owners on a stand-alone basis. The clients for whom we operate parking facilities pursuant to management contracts have the option of purchasing their own liability insurance policies (provided that we are named as an additional insured pursuant to an additional insured endorsement), but historically most of our clients have chosen to obtain insurance coverage by being named as additional insureds under our master liability insurance policies.

        We provide group health insurance with respect to eligible full-time employees (whether they work at leased facilities, managed facilities or in our support offices). For the year ended December 31, 2014, we self-insured the cost of the medical claims for these participants up to a stop-loss limit of $0.3 million per individual. Pursuant to our management contracts, we charge those clients an allocated portion of our insurance-related costs.

Competition

        The parking industry is fragmented and highly competitive, with limited barriers to entry. We face direct competition for additional facilities to manage or lease, while our facilities themselves compete with nearby facilities for our parking customers and in the labor market generally for qualified employees. Moreover, the construction of new parking facilities near our existing facilities can adversely affect our business. There are only a few national parking management companies that compete with us. However, we also face competition from numerous smaller, locally owned independent parking operators, as well as from developers, hotels, national financial services companies and other institutions that manage their own parking facilities as well as facilities owned by others. Many municipalities and other governmental entities also operate their own parking facilities, potentially eliminating those facilities as management or lease opportunities for us. Some of our present and potential competitors have or may obtain greater financial and marketing resources than we have, which may negatively impact our ability to retain existing contracts and gain new contracts. We also face significant competition in our efforts to provide ancillary services such as shuttle bus services and on-street parking enforcement because a number of large

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companies specialize in these services. In addition, entry barriers into these ancillary service businesses are low.

        We believe that we compete for management clients based on a variety of factors, including fees charged for services, ability to generate revenues and control expenses for clients, accurate and timely reporting of operational results, quality of customer service, and ability to anticipate and respond to industry changes. Factors that affect our ability to compete for leased locations include the ability to make financial commitments, long-term financial stability, and the ability to generate revenues and control expenses. Factors affecting our ability to compete for employees include wages, benefits and working conditions.

Regulation

        Our business is subject to numerous federal, state and local laws and regulations, and in some cases, municipal and state authorities directly regulate parking facilities. Our facilities in New York City are, for example, subject to extensive governmental restrictions concerning automobile capacity, pricing, structural integrity and certain prohibited practices. Many cities impose a tax or surcharge on parking services, which generally range from 10% to 50% of revenues collected. We collect and remit sales/parking taxes and file tax returns for and on behalf of our clients and ourselves. We are affected by laws and regulations that may impose a direct assessment on us for failure to remit sales/parking taxes or to file tax returns for ourselves and on behalf of our clients.

        Under various federal, state and local environmental laws, ordinances and regulations, a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances on, under or in such property. Such laws typically impose liability without regard to whether the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such hazardous or toxic substances. In connection with the operation of parking facilities, we may be potentially liable for any such costs.

        Several state and local laws have been passed in recent years that encourage car-pooling and the use of mass transit or impose certain restrictions on automobile usage. These types of laws have adversely affected our revenues and could continue to do so in the future. For example, the City of New York imposed restrictions in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, which included street closures, traffic flow restrictions and a requirement for passenger cars entering certain bridges and tunnels to have more than one occupant during the morning rush hour. It is possible that cities could enact additional measures such as higher tolls, increased taxes and vehicle occupancy requirements in certain circumstances, which could adversely impact us. We are also affected by zoning and use restrictions and other laws and regulations that are common to any business that deals with real estate.

        In addition, we are subject to laws generally applicable to businesses, including but not limited to federal, state and local regulations relating to wage and hour matters, employee classification, mandatory healthcare benefits, unlawful workplace discrimination, human rights laws and whistle blowing. Several cities in which we have operations either have adopted or are considering the adoption of so-called "living wage" ordinances, which could adversely impact our profitability by requiring companies that contract with local governmental authorities and other employers to increase wages to levels substantially above the federal minimum wage. In addition, we are subject to provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as amended ("OSHA"), and related regulations. Any actual or alleged failure to comply with any regulation applicable to our business or any whistle-blowing claim, even if without merit, could result in costly litigation, regulatory action or otherwise harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

        In connection with certain transportation services provided to our clients, including shuttle bus operations, we provide the vehicles and the drivers to operate these transportation services. The U.S. Department of Transportation and various state agencies exercise broad powers over these

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transportation services, including, licensing and authorizations, safety and insurance requirements. Our employee drivers must also comply with the safety and fitness regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation, including those related to drug and alcohol testing and service hours. We may become subject to new and more restrictive federal and state regulations. Compliance with such regulations could hamper our ability to provide qualified drivers and increase our operating costs.

        We are also subject to consumer credit laws and credit card industry rules and regulations relating to the processing of credit card transactions, including the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and the Payment Card Data Security Standard. These laws and these industry standards impose substantial financial penalties for non-compliance.

        Various other governmental regulations affect our operation of parking facilities, both directly and indirectly, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (the "ADA"). Under the ADA, all public accommodations, including parking facilities, are required to meet certain federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. For example, the ADA requires parking facilities to include handicapped spaces, headroom for wheelchair vans, attendants' booths that accommodate wheelchairs and elevators that are operable by disabled persons. When negotiating management contracts and leases with clients, we generally require that the property owner contractually assume responsibility for any ADA liability in connection with the property. There can be no assurance, however, that the property owner has assumed such liability for any given property and there can be no assurance that we would not be held liable despite assumption of responsibility for such liability by the property owner. Management believes that the parking facilities we operate are in substantial compliance with ADA requirements.

        Regulations by the Federal Aviation Administration may affect our business. The FAA generally prohibits parking within 300 feet of airport terminals during times of heightened alert. The 300 foot rule and new regulations may prevent us from using a number of existing spaces during heightened security alerts at airports. Reductions in the number of parking spaces may reduce our gross profit and cash flow for both our leased facilities and those facilities we operate under management contracts.

Intellectual Property

        SP Plus® and the SP+® and the SP+ logo, SP+ GAMEDAY®, Innovation In Operation®, Standard Parking® and the Standard Parking logo, CPC®, Central Parking System®, Central Parking Corporation®, USA Parking®, Focus Point Parking® and Allright Parking® are service marks registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, we have registered the names and, as applicable, the logos of all of our material subsidiaries and divisions as service marks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the equivalent state registry. We invented the Multi-Level Vehicle Parking Facility musical Theme Floor Reminder System. We have also registered the copyright rights in our proprietary software, such as Client View ©, Hand Held Program ©, License Plate Inventory Programs © and ParkStat © with the United States Copyright Office. We also own the URL parking.com.

Corporate Information

        Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 are also available free charge at www.spplus.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material with, or furnish it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We provide references to our website for convenience, but our website does not constitute, and should not be viewed as, part hereof, and our website is not incorporated into this or any of our other filings with the SEC.

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