Skip to Content

Customers' growing demand for bonded jobs prompts purchase

Customers' growing demand for bonded jobs prompts purchase Securus, now part of Henry Bros., obtains financial backing

SADDLE BROOK, N.J.--With more of its commercial security customers requiring a financial guarantee on their installation projects, systems integrator Securus Inc. has joined up with Henry Bros. Electronics for those resources. The two companies, which are both members of the PSA Security Network, came together in early October when Henry Bros. Electronics bought the Colorado-based systems integrator for an undisclosed price. "We're seeing more and more requests for bonding jobs," said Jeff Marcus, president of Securus, noting that one 15-year customer asked for a bond on a recent project. "It used to be that we would have one or two a year. Now we see a couple of dozen." While Securus had the resources to issue a performance bond for its jobs, its bonding capability was limited as a small company. The company, with branches in Denver and Colorado Springs, reports annual revenues of $5 million and employs 30 people. "They saw that opportunities were escaping them," said Jim Henry, chief executive officer of Henry Bros. Electronics. Marcus said the company received other acquisition offers over the years, but the one from Henry Bros. Electronics was the first to interest him. He noted that both companies come from similar backgrounds as family-run businesses and their founding member status in PSA Security Network, a network of systems integrators that come together to buy product and for educational purposes. For Henry Bros. Electronics, the acquisition is the company's first purchase of a systems integrator in three years. Its last buy was in 2002 when it bought Photo-Scan Systems and National Safe. Those two deals propelled the systems integrator to $18 million in annual revenues. Despite that, its sales were flat in 2003, said Henry. "We really wanted to hold back on the acquisitions until we saw business coming in and we could organically grow the businesses we bought," he said. Now with $30 million in sales in 2004, Henry said the timing was right for an acquisition. Buying Securus also enables Henry Bros. Electronics to branch into a new geographic area and will help it serve Denver's mass transportation business, which is a focus them. "A big part of our market is mass transit and Denver has a good size mass transportation infrastructure," said Henry.

Comments

To comment on this post, please log in to your account or set up an account now.