ASH buys Telecom Security

AUTOMATED Security Holdings has bought BT's Telecom Security for pounds 6m in cash plus a further pounds 1.4m related to performance, payable in 1997 and 1998, writes Mary Fagan.

Telecom Security, the market leader in domestic electronic security systems, was launched in 1986 and has a customer base of 36,000 systems. The company had accumulated losses of about pounds 30m by 31 March 1992, including interest on loans from BT, but has since reached break-even. TSL employs 250 people at its headquarters at Feltham, Middlesex, and sites around the UK.

ASH said Telecom Security would make a positive contribution to profits this year, after financing costs. Telecom Security's annual turnover is about pounds 11m, of which pounds 6m is recurring. BT said the sale continued its policy of divesting itself of non-core operations.