ISS acquires large pest control provider in India
ISS becomes the second largest provider of pest control in India through the acquisition of Godrej HiCare Ltd. The acquisition increases ISS’ revenues in India by 30 percent.
Copenhagen, 4. May 2009 – ISS has acquired Godrej HiCare Ltd., which is the second largest company in pest control in India. This brings ISS one step closer to reaching its strategic objective of becoming a nation wide multi-facility services provider in India.
”Through the acquisition of Godrej HiCare we will reach critical mass ena-bling us to offer pest control to customers in all geographic regions in India. We see a great opportunity in offering this service to our existing customers and expect that particularly our customers in the transport sector, such as airports and railways, as well as call centres and banks will show an increasing demand for pest control in the coming years,” says Martin Gaarn Thomsen, COO Asia & Pacific, ISS A/S.
Godrej HiCare has been in pest control for less than five year. Despite its short history the company has build a strong brand in India and has grown to a position as the second largest provider of pest control in the country. The company has a customer base of approximately 7,500 commercial customers and more than 60,000 residential customers. Godrej HiCare gener-ates revenues of around DKK 60m a year. During the past years the annual organic growth has been between 30 and 50 percent and ISS expect this growth to continue.
The total size of the pest control market in India is estimated by ISS to be approximately DKK 1bn.
”The warm climate in India makes it a large market for pest control. Greater attention is given to hygiene as living standards in the country improve. And with the acquisition of Godrej HiCare we are well positioned to get a share of the growth, which we expect to be around 30 percent annually,” explains Martin Gaarn Thomsen.
The past two years ISS has acquired to smaller providers of pest control in the Southern part of India. They will now be integrated with the company’s latest acquisition.
ISS entered the Indian market in 2005 and has achieved soaring annual growth rates in the country, being one of the company’s primary growth areas in the Asian region. In 2008 ISS achieved revenues of approximately DKK 200m. This is twice as much as in 2007. With the acquisition of Godrej HiCare ISS now employs more than 13,000 people in India.
ISS already delivers catering, cleaning, office support and property services to more than 800 customers in India. ISS expects growth of more than 50 percent in India in 2009.
For further information, please contact:
Martin Gaarn Thomsen
COO, Asia & Pacific
ISS A/S
Tel. +45 38 17 00 00 / +45 22 12 63 38
Henrik Langebæk
Regional CFO, Asia & Pacific
ISS A/S
Tel. +45 38 17 00 00 / +45 40 32 19 16
About the ISS Group
The ISS Group is one of the world's leading Facility Services Groups, pro-viding integrated service solutions based on the core business areas of Cleaning, Catering, Office Support, Property Service and Security. The ISS Group generated revenue of almost DKK 69 billion in 2008 and employs more than 470,000 people in over 50 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Pacific.