The annual report for Securitas AB for the financial year 2010 is now published at Securitas’ website.
The year 2010 saw Securitas make 15 acquisitions worldwide – including some in the UK, as set out in the company’s 2010 annual report last month.
Writing in March, Alf Göransson, President and CEO of Securitas said in the report: “The security services market is recovering, although performance trends in a few European countries remain stagnant. We grew in line with the market in 2010, and our market share in the USA amounts to 18 percent, in Europe 19 per cent. Through acquisitions and start-ups, we are now present in 45 countries and we intend to strengthen our position in these countries, while continuing to expand geographically with the target of presence in approximately 60 countries within three years. This extended global presence is crucial when serving global customers with a centralised procurement of security services. These new markets are also growing considerably faster than mature markets, and often allow higher margins.
He summed up: “The security industry is highly competitive, and we have to fight hard to secure contracts. Sometimes we win – sometimes we lose, and periods of joy are muddied by losses. This will not go away and may even get worse. But we are not paid to complain about low margins.”
He began by stressing that the multi-national company – which has some 280,000 employees – has a successful business model. The 2010 acquisitions of UK firms mentioned in the report were Nikaro the keyholding and response firm, and the guarding part of Reliance Security.
Göransson wrote: “In 2010, we developed our e-learning capabilities, allowing more employees to take advantage of our training and improving the quality of our local training initiatives by adding content from central training specialists. If you had a serious heart problem – who would you see? A cardiologist or your family doctor? If you had serious security concerns, I would strongly recommend seeing a security specialist rather than a service bundler. We believe in specialisation, not diversification.”
In terms of profitability, the last three years have been the company’s best ever, he wrote. However, the figures for the European part of the company showed the new sales rate was lower in 2010 than in 2009. The operating margin was 5.6 percent (5.7pc the year before). In the guarding operation, the operating margin was flat, in spite of a slight diluting impact from the acquisition of Reliance’s guarding arm in the UK. The aviation arm of the company in Europe’s operating margin declined in 2010 due to provisions for bad debts and a negative impact related to flight interruptions caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud in April 2010. For the 150-page report, to download visit –
