Major regional acquisitions in the US

Acquisitions of two regional market leaders in the US
APS based in Oakland, California, was established in 1945 and is the largest privately-owned security company in the United States and market leader in the western region, which accounts for more than 70 per cent of sales. The company also has a Canadian operation, Meadowvale Inc. in Toronto with annual sales of MSEK 65 (MUSD 8).

First Security based in Boston, Massachusetts, was established in 1972 and is a market leader in security in the north-eastern part of the United States, mainly Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. About 90 percent of the company's sales are guarding services, 5 percent are alarm installation and monitoring sales and 5 percent are investigative services.

The companies have together an operating margin of approximately 3 percent. The total purchase price is MSEK 1,693 (MUSD 204) and will give rise to 1,419 MSEK (MUSD 171) in goodwill which will be amortized over 20 years. Both acquisitions will be included in Securitas from January 1, 2000. The impact on Securitas income will be positive already in year 2000.


Important step for Pinkerton and Securitas in the US security markets
The two acquisitions make Pinkerton market leader in the western part of the US with a new market share of 14 percent and in the north-eastern part of the US with a new market share of 19 percent. The total new market share will increase from 6 percent to 10 percent for guard services equivalent to 4 percent of the total US security market.

Including these two acquisitions, the US operations of Securitas will have annual sales of MSEK 11,600 (MUSD 1,400) where Guarding will account for MSEK 10,500 (MUSD 1,270), Alarms for MSEK 750 (MUSD 90) and consulting and investigation for MSEK 350 (MUSD 40).



Thomas Berglund, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Securitas Group, comments on the acquisitions:

"The acquisitions of these two well established, high-quality regional market leaders are in line with our ambition to achieve regional market leadership in all US markets and demonstrates our long-term commitment to be a leader of the US security industry."


The Securitas Group will after the acquisitions have annual sales of approximately billion SEK 33 (MUSD 4,000) and operations in more than 30 countries and with 140,000 employees.