The Shield Group has been named Security Solutions Specialist of the Year at Acquisition International’s (AI’s) M&A Awards 2014.
Now in its third year, AI’s M&A Awards recognises achievements of financial advisers, financiers and service providers for their specialised fields, with each award category being nominated for by clients and peers. The Awards are given solely on the basis of merit to commend exceptional service over the last 12 months. Acquisition International is a monthly financial magazine.
The Shield Group saw an acquisition by Indian security company, TOPSGRUP, which was led by Executive Chairman, Dr Richie Nanda. In July 2012, Dr Nanda completed a £19.5 million acquisition of The Shield Group, initiated with a 51pc controlling stake in 2008. The company has since launched several new offices across the UK, including regional headquarters in Manchester, and increased staff to 2,500 and customers to 400. The Shield Group has hired seven managing and regional Directors, has an NSI Gold certified alarm-monitoring centre in Preston and launched new business divisions – Shield Guarding and Shield Strategic Solutions with sub-verticals Shield Consults, Shield Monitoring Services and Shield Vetting – to offer security services to clients. The business has secured a number of high-profile contracts, including The Imperial War Museum and Bournemouth University as featured in the July print issue of Professional Security magazine.
All of these changes saw increased revenues from £61M (2013) to £81M (projected for 2014). With a growth in EBIDTA of 67 per cent from the last financial year, and the combined turnover for Topsgrup and Shield this financial year is expected to be £170M, according to the firm.
Dr Nanda, pictured left, Executive Chairman of The Shield Group said: ‘We are truly excited to have been named the Security Solutions Specialist of the Year. We have had an exceptional 12 months with increasing growth and new business wins. This award is testament to the team’s remarkable work ethic and our world class services and products. Though this assertion brings great pride to The Shield Group, it also brings a lot of responsibility and we endeavour to uphold the trust and loyalty that our clients put into our services.’
John Roddy, pictured right, Chief Executive of The Shield Group added: ‘This is great news and I am pleased for everyone at The Shield Group. We place a lot of emphasis on our specialised security model, Total Security Solutions (TSS), which is paying dividends. The acquisition from TOPSGRUP has allowed us to combine expertise and innovative knowledge to better our offering to clients whilst benefiting from economies of scale. This is further endorsement of our benchmarking security solution offering and we look forward to the challenge of continuing the tradition of pushing innovation within the industry.’
