Securitas: ‘We are taking actions to improve performance’

STOCKHOLM — Securitas saw a welcome improvement in the U.S. but fell short in Europe due to integration issues and its airport security business, according to the company’s interim report for the months of January-March. Overall, Securitas saw an operating income before amortization of MSEK 2.357 billion, or roughly $217 million USD. It gained an impressive 6% increased operating margin improvement thanks to North American operations and its performance in Ibero-America. Seasonality was among the troubles blamed for other performance issues.  “The decline driven by the related quarter within the airport security business and the poor performance in aviation is related to efficiency and productivity challenges after ramping up a few larger contracts,” said Magnus Ahlqvist referring to the continuing integration of Stanley Security. “We are taking actions to improve performance and we're driving good progress in terms of recruiting and also training. And this will have a positive impact on the performance in Q2 and in Q3. But I should also mention that the aviation business also has to support our operating margin target by the end of 2025 by 8%. So, we’ll look to the tension in terms of the actions that we are taking but are also confident in terms of driving improvement in the coming quarters.” Ahlqvist clarified that Securitas is also planning to drive improvement in the second quarter by looking at the success in technology and solutions and replicating those cost synergies. Pointing to the company’s investment into technology in recent years, he vowed to continue to invest in a balanced way to continue executing on the company’s strategy of long-term sustainable shareholder value. Full financial details are listed in the interim report online at www.securitas.com/en/investors.