Our Services Press Career Investor About ISS Responsibility

History

ISS History
1901 ISS was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark as a small security company with 20 night watchmen named Kjøbenhavn-Frederiksberg Nattevagt (Copenhagen-Frederiksberg Night Watch)
   
1934 ISS entered the cleaning business with the establishment of Det Danske Rengørings Selskab A/S (The Danish Cleaning Company) as an independent subsidiary of the security company
   
1946 The first geographical expansion outside Denmark: Swedish subsidiary established
   
1968  The company adopted the ISS name
     
1973  Overseas expansion started
     
1975  Group revenue reached DKK 1 billion
     
1977  ISS shares listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange
       
1989  The total number of employees in the Group reached 100,000
     
1997 Strategy “aim2002“ was launched. This strategy focused on Multi Services – selling a number of services to the same customer
   
1999  ISS acquired Abilis, the second largest European provider of cleaning and specialised services, in a DKK 3.6 billion acquisition, the Group’s largest ever. Abilis had about 50,000 employees and annual revenues of DKK 5.2 billion in 1998. The total number of employees in the Group reached 200,000
   
2000 A new five-year strategy “create2005“ was launched, introducing the Facility Services concept
   
2003 ISS’s first major pan-European Integrated Facility Services contract signed
     
2005 A new strategy was introduced aiming at a continuous transformation of ISS towards an Integrated Facility Services company. ISS A/S was acquired by funds advised by EQT Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and de-listed from the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. The total number of employees in the Group reached 300,000
     
2006 Group revenue passed DKK 50 billion. ISS made the second-largest acquisition in company history, when acquiring the outstanding 51% of the shares in Tempo Services Ltd. in Australia
     
2007 Group revenue passed DKK 60 billion. ISS entered the US market through the acquisition of Sanitors Inc. The total number of employees in the Group reached 400,000
     
2008 Introduction of ISS’s strategy plan “The ISS Way”, which is built on four strategic cornerstones: customer focus, people management, the IFS strategy and a multi-local approach. ISS’s largest ever international Integrated Facility Services contract was signed
   
2010 Group revenue passed DKK 70 billion. The total number of employees in the Group reached 500,000

Annual report 2011

ISS annual report
Read our latest Annual report here

News from our world

News from our world
Read News from our world here

Learning zone

ISS Learning zone
The global market for outsourced Facility Services is growing, and will keep doing so in the coming years. Learn more about our thoughts on outsourcing and processes here

Global offices & contacts 

ISS is present globally in 50
countries in Europe, Asia,
Pacific, Latin America and
North America.

Social media  

Join us on Facebook, follow us
on Twitter, and subscribe to our
Youtube channel or RSS feed


Join ISS on Facebook
Join ISS on LinkedIn Follow ISS on Twitter Watch ISS on Youtube Subscribe to RSS
Bredgade 30, DK-1260 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Tel: +45 38 17 00 00