Red Hawk Ind. looks to the future

THORNTON, Colo. - Red Hawk Industries, a systems integrator that focuses on the financial market and also provides ATM services to banks, a model similar to that of Diebold, recently opened a new distribution center here to serve its Colorado customers. The new location consolidates two offices and three warehouses into one facility. About 70 people work from the 27,700-square-foot building. Overall, the company employs 550 people in 17 offices in states such as Colorado, California, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. “We really ran out of room,” said Greg Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Red Hawk about the new location. “The offices were spotted across the town, but it just made sense to bring the central dispatch warehouse function, retail selling area and all our sales under one facility.” Streamlining the Colorado distribution center comes at a pivotal time for Red Hawk, which launched in 1999 and grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions. Company officials report that same-store growth has exceeded 15 percent each year. For 2002, the company reported revenues of $75 million. Red Hawk was founded by Dave Charles, who owned a company in the heating and air conditioning business before selling it in the late 1990s. Charles then looked to start up a new company – one that focused on selling and service similar to his previous business – and came up with entering the security market. Red Hawk is a privately funded business, with Florida Capital Partners serving as its primary equity partner, along with financing from GE Capital Corp. and the management team at Red Hawk. Since its inception, the company has made 11 acquisitions. Purchases have included security equipment installation companies like Skylar Security, Financial Commercial Security and Equipment Solutions to Corden, a manufacturer of under the counter security systems for bank teller lines. Building the company through acquisitions will continue to be part of Red Hawk’s expansion strategy, said Johnson. “Starting from scratch is something we would do if there were no other viable candidates in the market,” he said.