Securitas makes gains in Morocco and Mexico

02 Dec 09

Securitas has agreed to acquire 75% of the shares in the Moroccan security services company GMCE Gardiennage, at the same time as buying Mexican company Grupo Argos.

By Brian Sims

The purchase of the remaining 25% of the GMCE Gardiennage shares is agreed to take place in 2013, and will be based on the financial performance of the company until the year 2012. Enterprise value is estimated to approximately MSEK 22 (2.1 million Euro).

GMCE Gardiennage has 400 employees and annual sales of approximately MSEK 13

(or 1.3 million Euro). The company is providing security services all over the country, with half of the operations in the cities of Casablanca and Rabat.

The security services market in Morocco is growing fast and is expected to become more regulated in the near future.

Guarding services in Mexico

The enterprise value of Grupo Argos is estimated to be MSEK 22 (MMXN 42).

Grupo Argos has annual sales of approximately MSEK 48 (MMXN 93) and approximately 900 employees. A majority of the operations are guarding services.

The Mexican security services market is very fragmented, with approximately 6,000 security services companies registered. Securitas is currently the second largest private security services company in the country.

With this acquisition, Securitas will strengthen its position in the Mexico City area.

Both acquisitions are consolidated within Securitas AB as of December 1, 2009.