The new man at the head of Securitas has hailed ‘the transformation of the global security industry’ that he says the Swedish multi-national is leading.
Magnus Ahlqvist, who remains head of the Security Services Europe arm of the company, took over as President and President and Chief Executive Officer in March. As in previous reports by the company, he stressed digitalisation and a move from manned security to integrated solutions through use of technology. He said: “With intelligent security we will be able to enhance the value for our customers through better security solutions.”
In the company’s interim report for January to March 2018 he said: “During the first months I have spent a lot of time with our teams and customers in different regions. We have a strong position in the market, our customers believe in our direction and we are in a good position to drive growth.”
The company’s operating margin was stable at 4.7 per cent. It was flat in North America, while Europe declined slightly.
Ahlqvist said: “We continue to be supported by favorable macroeconomic conditions in our main markets. We estimate that we grew faster than the security market in general, where our ability to deliver complete security solutions is a market advantage.”
In Europe the firm has about 120,000 employees, and 760 branch managers; the region’s operating margin was 4.9 percent compared with 5pc for the same period last year; slightly lower in part because of lower ‘refugee-related sales’.
Securitas recently extended their channel partner agreement with the US firm Knightscope to February 2020 for Securitas USA to offer the firm’s autonomous security robots.
