Guarding contractor Securiplan has bought out GB pound 12 million-turnover Empire Security and the Feltham-based Midas Security Group as part of a concerted bid to gain significant market share in the retail sector. As a result of the deal, the Securiplan Group now boasts a combined annual turnover of GB pound 60 million.
The short-term plan is to integrate Empire and Midas within the Securiplan business, forming a specialist retail arm – likely to be called ‘Securiplan Retail’ – for launch in April 2002.
The Midas Security Group was set up in 1992 by managing director Steve Boyden, a retail specialist who numbers Argus Shield and Pinkerton Security Services among his previous employers. Operating in the Midlands and the south of England, its retail clients – including Sainsbury’s and Safeway – make up 70% of the company’s business.
Midas employs 1,000 officers, recently posting an annual turnover of GB pound 16 million.
Also set up in 1992, Bristol-based Empire Security’s 1,200 officers watch over branches of B&Q, Homebase, the Co-op and Mothercare as well as several prestigious sites owned by a number of recognised Blue Chip companies.
Speaking exclusively to SMT about the new deal, Securiplan’s managing director Phillip Ullmann said: “We identified the need for a retail strand to our business some time ago, and we’ve received excellent reports from the marketplace concerning the ways in which Empire and Midas conduct their business.”
The retail guarding sector is not without its problems, though, most notably concerning pay rates, an unacceptably high level of officer ‘churn’ and the poor quality of relief officers – all issues which Ullmann plans to address.
“Pay rates should not be part of the tendering process,” added Ullmann. “To meet the conditions laid down by the Working Time Directive you need a large team of quality relief officers, and that’s what we’re putting in place.”
Ullmann added: “There’s a great deal of top class management expertise in the Midas and Empire set-ups that both ourselves and our clients will be able to access at any time.”
