Verisure

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Verisure
TypePrivately held Aktiebolag[1]
IndustrySecurity
Headquarters
Versoix, Switzerland
Area served
Europe, South America
ProductsAlarm services for business customers and consumers[2]
Websitewww.verisure.com

Verisure, formerly known as Securitas Direct is a security company based in Versoix, close to Geneva in Switzerland and active in 16 countries in Europe and South America.[3] Hellman & Friedman is currently the main shareholder in the group.[4]

The group operates in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru.[5]

The name Securitas Direct is used in two of the group's most prominent markets, Spain and Portugal, but may eventually change to the Verisure name. The Swedish unit addressing the business segment holds the name Securitas Direct and will not change to Verisure.

History[edit]

Verisure was founded in 1988 in Sweden by Dick Seger, under the name Securitas Direct and within Securitas AB, which was founded in 1934.[6] Then it turned into an independent company and during the 1990s the expanded into Europe and Latin America.

In 1993, the company set up remote monitoring and responses by human interlocutors. In 1996, an offer for small businesses was set up, excluding sensitive businesses such as jewelry stores and banks. In 1997, the company was acquired by the Securitas group, the world leader in security services. From 1999, GSM transmission is used10, and one year later an internal mobile application is developed for sales staff.

Becoming Verisure in 2009, the new name of Securitas Direct's consumer branch, this corporate name has changed to Verisure in 2011.[7]

It was listed at Nasdaq OMX Stockholm in 2006, when it was distributed to the shareholders of Securitas AB. In 2008, the company was bought by ESML Intressenter AB and delisted.[1][2][8]

In 2011, EQT sells the company to Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman for €2.3bn.[9]

In a judgement from April 2015 the district court of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, ruled that the direct canvassing (doorstep selling directly to consumers), with alarm systems and associated multiyear PAC subscriptions, one of the primary commercial practices of Verisure (Securitas Direct), is unlawful towards consumers.[10]

Countries[edit]

Belgium[edit]

Material sold in Belgium at the end of the 2010s.

The creation of the Belgian subsidiary is the result of the takeover of Belgacom S.A. by Securitas Direct in 2001.[11]

Brazil[edit]

The company has been expanding in Brazil since 2011.[12] In 2020 it has 100,000 customers and 700 employees and has become the most present company in this sector in the country.[12]

France[edit]

French Verisure headquarters at Antony in Paris metropolitan area.

The French subsidiary have 640,000 customers by 2022, making it the second largest in the group after the Spanish subsidiary.[13]

History[edit]

SDF_Sécurité quotation for a business, in the late 80's or early 90's

The company was created in May 1988[14] with marketing in June[15] by the structure HD 2000,[16] HD being the initials of "Habiter Demain", meaning living tomorrow in French, within the EDF-GDF group and at the initiative of the Caisse des dépôts et consignations.[17] The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations holds 52% of the shares and EDF holds 28%.[18][19] The city chosen was Rennes, where HD 2000 was located, the director was Christian Arsac, and the company's initial name was SDF - Sécurité.[16]

Germany[edit]

Verisure opened its German headquarters in Ratingen[20] near Düsseldorf in November 2018.[21] This is also the location of the emergency call and service control center (NSL) for German customers,[22] which was certified in 2020 by VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH.[23] The company has branches in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Berlin,[24] Baden-Württemberg and, most recently, in Hamburg in 2021.[25]

Spain[edit]

Verisure building at Pozuelo de Alarcón.

The Spanish subsidiary was created in 1989.[26] About 2,500 salespeople worked for the company in 2018, this large number makes it tricky to control,[27] in 2013 a salesperson, who was later punished, encouraged account managers to fake the existence of flights in order to get more customers.[27] In 2019 it had 1.2 million clients and is the most developed of the group.[28] In March 2020 Corporación Financiera Alba made a change in its portfolio, including an investment in Verisure[29] of 7.5% or 557 million euros.[30]

Critics[edit]

The Spanish subsidiary has been denounced by Facua and sanctioned[31] for bad practices in its advertising, using fear of the elderly as a commercial strategy,[32] for hiding unfair clauses in its contracts[33] and for the lack of efficiency of its alarm systems.[34][35]

Two fictitious articles were published on the satirical website El Mundo Today about Verisure: one stating that Netflix had launched a horror film based on the company's advertisements [36] and the other about the fact that the company was burglarizing people who had not yet subscribed to its offer.[37]

United Kingdom[edit]

In 2018, it was the first subsidiary of the group to market the opacifying fog system, £5 million were invested to develop it.[38] During 2021–2022, the company is moving to North Tyneside to the Quorum Business Park.[39]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Shareholders". Securitas Direct SA. 2008-10-28. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  2. ^ a b "Our offer". Securitas Direct. 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  3. ^ "Expertise, innovation, proximité : Verisure réaffirme sa stratégie de marque". strategies.fr (in French). Verisure. 2019-05-21. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  4. ^ "Onze geschiedenis". Verisure. August 9, 2017.
  5. ^ "The History of Verisure: the alarm company". verisure.co.uk. Verisure. 18 February 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  6. ^ "Webcast - Understanding Revenue Models for Smart Home Technologies". parksassociates.com. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  7. ^ "Verisure, The Pioneer Protecting Individuals And Small Businesses For More Than 30 Years". globalthoughtleaders.org. Verisure. 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
  8. ^ "Annual Report 2006" (PDF). Securitas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  9. ^ Daniel Schäfer (2011-06-11). "EQT sells Securitas Direct for €2.3bn". ft.com. Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  10. ^ "Een kudtkoekiewall. Omdat dat moet, van de kudtkoekiewet". daskapital.nl.
  11. ^ "Securitas completes Belgacom transaction". securitas.com. securitas. 2005-01-05. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  12. ^ a b "Verisure é a número 1 em alarmes no Brasil!". segs.com.br (in Portuguese). Eliana Miranda. 2020-03-03. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  13. ^ "Équipé d'opportunity, Verisure améliore sa prospection téléphonique". en-contact.com (in French). En-Contact. 2022-07-04. Retrieved 2022-08-30.
  14. ^ "Verisure". www.verif.com (in French). verif.com. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  15. ^ "La diversification d'EDF Câble, télésécurité, immeubles intelligents". Le Monde (in French). Le Monde. 1988-04-20. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  16. ^ a b "HD 2000 une "première" unique en Europe" (PDF). www.espace-sciences.org (in French). Réseau mensuel de l'innovation régionale. 1989-12-01. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  17. ^ "Système d'alarme et télésurveillance maison – Securitas Direct". www.mysecurite.com (in French). MySecurite. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  18. ^ Sabirau-Perez, Marie-Agnès (1988). Secteur public et concurrence (in French). Perpignan: Presses universitaires de Perpignan. ISBN 978-2-908912-34-0.
  19. ^ "Journal officiel "Lois et Décrets" - JORF n° 0193 du 22 août 1990". www.legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Légifrance. 1990-08-22. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  20. ^ "Schweizer eröffnen Kontrollzentrum". rp-online.de (in German). Joachim Preuß. 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  21. ^ "Verisure baut Deutschland-Zentrale aus". rp-online.de (in German). Stefan Mülders. 2019-07-23. Retrieved 2022-02-14.
  22. ^ "Neuigkeiten aus dem Hause Verisure". fenster-tueren-technik.de (in German). fenster-tueren-technik. 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  23. ^ "Zertifikat W 120005". vds.de (in German). vds. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  24. ^ "Verisure eröffnet neue Filialen". fenster-tueren-technik.de (in German). fenster-tueren-technik. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
  25. ^ "Eröffnung in Hamburg". fenster-tueren-technik.de (in German). fenster-tueren-technik. 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  26. ^ "Securitas Direct Espana SA". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  27. ^ a b Ferrer Morini, Thiago (2018-05-08). "Inteligencia artificial que protege". elpais.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  28. ^ Contreras, Rufino (2019-11-14). "Hace 25 años Securitas Direct inventó IoT". computing.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  29. ^ Cotizalia (2020-03-02). "Alba mantiene el ritmo de inversión pero aprovecha 2019 para deshacer posiciones". lavanguardia.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  30. ^ "Alba tomará participación indirecta del 7,5 % en Verisure (Securitas Direct)". lavanguardia.com (in Spanish). 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  31. ^ "Madrid sanciona con 3.500 euros a Securitas Direct tras la denuncia de FACUA por publicidad engañosa". facua.org (in Spanish). 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  32. ^ "Denuncian cómo Securitas Direct asusta a un anciano para que contrate su alarma". digitalsevilla.com (in Spanish). 2020-09-17. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  33. ^ "Una cliente de Securitas Direct: "Jamás imaginé que podría timarme"". metropoliabierta.com (in Spanish). 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2022-10-12.
  34. ^ "Un abogado denuncia que Securitas Direct falla por segunda vez en un robo". metropoliabierta.com (in Spanish). 2020-09-18. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  35. ^ "Alarmados con Securitas Direct: un "modelo depredador"". atlantico.net (in Spanish). 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  36. ^ "Netflix estrena una película de terror basada en un anuncio de Securitas Direct". elmundotoday.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  37. ^ "Securitas Direct robará directamente en las casas de la gente que no contrate sus servicios". elmundotoday.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-10-13.
  38. ^ Parsons, Jeff (2018-07-10). "Unique 'fog bomb' burglar alarm system promises to keep homes and offices safe from thieves". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  39. ^ Whitfield, Graeme (2021-11-03). "Alarm Verisure takes on new office as it drives towards 1,000 jobs on Tyneside". business-live.co.uk. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
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