INSIGHTS - APRIL 2024

UK Security Activities Industry

UK Security Activities Industry Information

The security industry includes investigation and detective services, guard and patrol services, picking up and delivering money and other valuable items, operation of alarm systems and installation of safes.

Active Businesses

14,937

Annual Sales

£10bn +

Employees

180,871

Economic Contribution 

£6bn

Tags

Location of Security Activities Companies

Security Activities Companies by Size

82% Micro

16% Small

2% Mid

1% Large

0% Mega

Security Activities Companies by Age

32% Young

31% Startup

26% Established

11% Mature

0% New

Fastest Growing Security Activities Companies

38% Declining

21% Rapid

18% Healthy

14% High

8% Low

Security Activities Industry Competitive Environment - New Entrants vs Leavers

Security Activities Industry Valuation

EBITDA Multiple

Security Activities Industry Valuation

Turnover Multiple

Security Activities Industry Valuation

Net Asset Multiple

Note - from March 2020 multiples are calculated monthly, prior to this they were calculated on an annual basis.
UK Security and investigation activities Industry Insights

There are 14,937 active Businesses in the UK with combined annual sales of £10 billion .

The Industry employs around 180,870 people and contributes £6 billion to the economy.

The most popular location for Security Activities companies is London with 4,429 and the fewest are located in Northern Ireland with 193.

The largest Security Activities company is Iss Facility Services Limited with a turnover of £657.5m. 82% of the industry is comprised of Micro companies with only 2% Mid companies.

11% of the Security Activities Industry is made up of 11% Mature but the majority are Young businesses (32%) the oldest company is Securitas Technology Limited founded in 1922.

Security Activities industry has a number of high growth companies (14%), the fastest growing company is Bold Security Group (Uk) Ltd with a 3 year growth rate of 163%. Other fast growing companies include Dahua Technology Uk Limited (108%), First Advantage Europe Ltd (93%) and Biosite Systems Limited (40%).

The UK Security Activities Industry’s valuation has been improving over the past 3 years with a current EBITDA multiple of 8.43x, Turnover multiple of 1.15x and a Net Asset multiple of 2.26x.