Securicor

Last updated

Securicor
Type Public
Industry Security
Founded1935
Defunct2004
FateMerged with Group 4 Falck
Successor G4S
Headquarters London, England, UK
Key people
Lord Sharman (chairman)

Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.

History

The Company was founded by Edward Shortt, a former Liberal Cabinet Minister, in 1935 as Nightwatch Services: [1] its guards rode bicycles and wore old police uniforms. [1] However, in 1939 it was taken over by Lord Willingdon and Henry Tiarks who developed it into a leading security business. [2] It changed its name to Security Corps in 1951 [3] and shortened it to Securicor in 1953. [4]

In 1960, it was acquired by Associated Hotels which itself dated back to 1923. [5]

In 1984, one of its security guards, John James McWilliams, was murdered while working in London. [6]

Securicor, along with co-founder British Telecom, was involved with the creation of mobile phone operator Cellnet in 1985. Securicor sold its share in the company to British Telecom in 1999, resulting in the formation of BT Cellnet, which was later spun off as O2. [7]

In 2004, Securicor merged with Group 4 Falck to become Group 4 Securicor. [8]

Related Research Articles

BT Group plc is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband and mobile services in the UK, and also provides subscription television and IT services.

Telecommunications in the United Kingdom have evolved from the early days of the telegraph to modern broadband and mobile phone networks with Internet services.

The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. Founded in 1886, the company was Britain's largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and made profits of over £1 billion a year at its peak in the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deutsche Telekom</span> German telecommunications company

Deutsche Telekom AG is a German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 1995 when Deutsche Bundespost, a state monopoly at the time, was privatized. Since then, Deutsche Telekom has consistently featured among FortuneMagazine's top Global 500 companies by revenue, with its ranking as of 2022 at number 62. The company operates several subsidiaries worldwide, including the mobile communications brand T-Mobile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G4S</span> British multinational private security services company

G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in July 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, including the supply of security personnel, monitoring equipment, response units and secure prisoner transportation. G4S also works with governments overseas to deliver security services.

O2 (typeset as O2) is a global brand name owned by the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica. The company uses the O2 brand for its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Germany. Since 2018, it is also used as an online-only flanker brand in Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FTSE 100 Index</span> Share index of the London Stock Exchange

The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie", is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation. The index is maintained by the FTSE Group, a subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O2 (Ireland)</span> Former broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland

Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BT Ireland</span>

BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury Communications</span> British telephone company

Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom, formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, to challenge the then-monopoly of British Telecom (BT). Although it proved only moderately successful at challenging BT's dominance, it led the way for new communication companies to attempt the same.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cable & Wireless plc</span> British telecom firm

Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom. The company later offered cable TV to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the Caribbean, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marconi Communications</span> Telecommunications technology company

Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC Hong Kong, and ATC South Africa.

Falck A/S is a Danish organization with activities in most areas of Europe and representation on five continents. It has four business areas: healthcare, assistance, safety services and emergency assistance. The firm has 27,000 employees in 30 countries. The company's current CEO is Jakob Riis.

Openreach Limited is a company wholly owned by BT Group plc, that maintains the telephone cables, ducts, cabinets and exchanges that connect nearly all homes and businesses in the United Kingdom to the national broadband and telephone network. It was established in 2006 following an agreement between BT and the UK's telecoms regulator, Ofcom, to implement certain undertakings, pursuant to the Enterprise Act 2002, to ensure that rival telecom operators have equality of access to BT's local network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BT Global Services</span>

BT Global is a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group that provides global security, cloud and networking services to multinational companies worldwide, with operations in 180 countries. It was established in July 2000 as BT Ignite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O2 (UK)</span> British telecommunications provider

Telefonica UK Limited, trading as O2 UK, is a British telecommunications services provider, headquartered in Slough, England which operates under the O2 brand. It is owned by VMED O2 UK Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between Telefónica and Liberty Global. O2 is the UK's largest mobile network operator, with 23.8 million subscribers as of May 2023.

Howard Ford was born in 1950. He gained a degree in Chemical Engineering from Christ's College, Cambridge.

Richard J M Emanuel is a British businessman and investor. He founded his first company DX Communications at the age of 23, which grew from a one person start-up to an organisation of over 1,000 people within a 5-year period. The company was acquired by British Telecom's subsidiary BT Cellnet in September 1999. Following this, Emanuel has gone on to build a number of successful companies.

Sir Michael Bett, CBE is a retired English business executive, personnel manager and public servant.

Nederlandse Veiligheidsdienst was the largest Dutch private security firm between 1911 and 1999. Ernst van der Lee started the organisation under the name Gecombineerde Nachtveiligheidsdienst (GNVD).

References

  1. 1 2 Group 4's Danes to swoop on Securicor The Times, 1 February 2004
  2. Neighbourhood Watch Schemes Hansard, 27 June 1988
  3. The mt interview - Nick Buckles Management Today, 6 June 2005
  4. Company history Funding Universe
  5. The changing of the guard The Independent, 31 March 1996
  6. "Armed robbers jailed for murder". British Universities Film and Video Council. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  7. BT to get the go-ahead to take full control of Cellnet The Independent, 9 December 1997
  8. Group 4 Falck and Securicor plc announce terms of merger Nordic Business Report, 24 February 2004