Physical Security Industry

This survey is about the state of the physical security industry and its most important challenge today; consolidation. Without a major restructuring, the industry will be unable to properly deliver the benefits of new technology (such as improved performance and increased productivity), to its clients and thereby sustain profitable future growth for all industry stakeholders. […]

Almost a year ago, we forecast for 2009 a slowing down in merger and acquisition activity, but more ‘stock for stock’ deals and a significant growth in alliances. Alliance arrangements have grown in abundance and ‘stock for stock’ mergers have increased but not to the extent that we anticipated. However, the volume of mergers measured […]

There has been a slowing down in the consolidation process since the start of 2008 but it was not until August 2008 and the financial meltdown that this trend became manifest. The reason for the fall in activity is the credit squeeze and resultant lack of finance which first became apparent in August 2007 and […]

On 12th November, UTC announced that it had agreed to purchase GE Fire & Security for $1.82 billion which will be the biggest security and safety deal recorded in the last five years. Many column inches have since been written about why this was such a good deal for UTC but in the short term […]

UTC announced today that they will buy GE Security for $1.8 billion. The full details have not yet been disclosed but this looks to be an exit price based on sales revenue of around unity. This seems like a good buy particularly considering that it cost GE Security at least $2 billion to assemble the […]

The third quarter results of the major security players reported this month would suggest that the market for electronic security products and systems has not yet bottomed out. The decline in security sales, where reported, was around 15% compared with the same period last year. As also noted last month it is evident that the […]

Despite the fact that in September we identified 10 acquisition / merger transactions (double the number in the same month last year), the consolidation process has dramatically slowed down this year, when measured by value. This is hardly surprising given the liquidity crisis and the financial melt-down over the last two years, which has dislocated […]

There is no further factual news on the sale of GE Fire & Security since Bloomberg News announcement last month that GE Security had hired J P Morgan Chase to find a buyer. So the speculation continues and the list of potential suitors grows. But unfortunately GE, like all major corporates, is obliged to continue […]