ADS growth plan: 'one branch a year'

NASHVILLE—ADS Security's recent acquisition of a Mississippi security company not only gave ADS an entry into a new state but also fulfilled the company's growth plan of adding a new office each year, according to John Cerasuolo, ADS president and CEO.

“That's kind of the pace that we're on: about one new branch location a year,” Cerasuolo told Security Systems News. He said the company, based here, also continues to add a couple of  “what people would call fold-in or tuck-in acquisitions each year … in addition to the aggressive internal growth that we pursue.”

He continued: “We expect to continue to grow in that manner … [and] we have very high expectations for closing one more branch location in 2013.”

ADS announced in October that it acquired the accounts and related assets of Golden Triangle Security Alliance in Columbus, Miss. The accounts were 70 percent residential.

Mississippi is the seventh state that ADS services in the Southeast. The company also serves Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, Cerasuolo said. It now has 15 branch offices, he said.

Cerasuolo said that Golden Triangle's office “is essentially our latest branch office.” He said the company's seven employees now work for ADS. “We're going to manage and aggressively grow our Mississippi presence starting there in Columbus,” he said.

Columbus is the anchor city of rapidly growing region in Mississippi known as the Golden Triangle.

John Beard, the owner of Golden Triangle Security Alliance, which Cerasuolo said had been in business for 27 years, will be the branch's lead sales consultant, Cerasuolo said.

Beard explained in a prepared statement why he sold his company to ADS. “I personally chose ADS Security because of their impeccable reputation within the security alarm industry. I have known their management and ownership team for over 15 years and their company is one of the most admired, distinguished and awarded security alarm companies in the industry,” he said. “The decision to partner with ADS was in the best interest of my customers and my employees. I am proud to be part of this great company.”

Cerasuolo declined to reveal terms of the deal or say how many accounts ADS acquired. “It will add a meaningful amount of recurring revenue for us but we're not disclosing specifics,” he said.

ADS said Golden Triangle customers “will now have access to ADS' customer service, suite of security technologies, CSAA monitoring facility and the ADS website, which includes a customer portal with online bill pay.”

“In addition to the great way they've been supported by Golden Triangle all these years, we're going to bring them some technologies that just by virtue of our size are much easier for us to develop than they would be for a small company like John's,” Cerasuolo said of the 280-employee ADS, which has annual revenues between $30 million and $35 million.

Acquiring Golden Triangle is part of ADS' slow-but-steady growth plan, he said.

“Some companies are growth at all costs, but we're kind of for smart growth, if you will,” he said. “We want to expand into markets that match with our strategy and are close to us in the Southeast. We're focused on the Southeast. … It makes it easier to manage branches because geographically we're close by and we just feel like we've got a good formula for being successful in the Southeastern states.”