Stanley continues Sonitrol franchise roll-up

NAPERVILLE, Ill.—Stanley CSS continues to build on its $275 million Sonitrol buy of last year, this week purchasing four Sonitrol franchises from Vyanet Capital Group. The four, Sonitrol Cascades, Sonitrol of South Oregon, Sonitrol of Spokane and Sonitrol of Yakima, were collectively operating as Sonitrol Cascades, run by Tracy Jones, who will not join Stanley.

Terms of the deal were not released.

Sonitrol Cascades reported $602,680 in RMR for 2008 and is one of the larger Sonitrol franchise blocks that operates independently of Stanley. Other large remaining franchises include Sonitrol of Sacramento & Sonitrol of Orange County, Sonitrol Pacific, Sonitrol Security Systems of Hartford (Conn.), Sonitrol Security Systems of Buffalo, Rochester, Toronto, Sonitrol of Tallahassee, Sonitrol Tri-County (Mich.), and Sonitrol of Southwest Ohio, all of whom reported more than $300,000 in RMR in 2008.

Tony Byerly, president-North America of Stanley CSS, emphasized that while Stanley is interested in purchasing more Sonitrol franchises, it is committed to supporting its independent franchises, and also noted that Stanley is not exactly in a position to purchase all of the remaining franchises tomorrow, anyway.

“It's a fair amount of recurring revenue,” he said of the remaining franchises' potential impact on Stanley's bottom line. “When you consider our size, you can see from a recurring standpoint, it's a considerable amount. But when you look at total revenue, it becomes less of an impact.”

Stanley CSS will now expand its direct coverage for Sonitrol products and services to include the Eugene and Medford, Ore., and Spokane and Yakima, Wash., areas.