FINANCE

Doubling in Size: Frank Robitaille said he believes in controlled growth--the kind that can double the size of a company in five years.

His insurance agency, Armstrong Robitaille Insurance Services in Tustin, has acquired its ninth Orange County firm since 1989 and is moving into the ranks of a regional organization.

The company acquired Perricone Insurance Agency in Newport Beach last month, picking up seven employees and a solid business writing various policies for companies in the food industry.

With up to 80 employees and $50 million in premiums expected this year, he said, Armstrong Robitaille has doubled its size in five years and plans to double its size again by 1999.

“I like controlled growth,” said Robitaille, the agency’s president. “All the acquisitions have been small operations that were easy to assimilate.”

Future growth, though, is likely to be in other states. The agency recently opened an office in Ann Arbor, Mich., to serve the metal finishing and electroplating industry in the Midwest and East.