June 2026
Security Systems M&A in 2026: Where Intruder Alarms and CCTV Sit
James Dixey
Founder and Managing Director
Security Systems M&A in 2026: Where Intruder Alarms and CCTV Sit
James Dixey — Founder and Managing Director · 8 min read · James Dixey Limited
Security systems has matured into a credible PE-active sub-sector of Fire & Security, with NSI Gold and SSAIB accreditation as the principal moat. Here is where multiples sit, who is buying, and what separates a premium-grade business from a median one.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Security systems M&A sits inside the broader Fire & Security consolidation wave. andwis Group (H.I.G. Capital) has completed 29 acquisitions since March 2023, four of them in 2026 to date. Ranger Fire & Security has completed more than 25 acquisitions since its February 2024 launch and, on 15 June 2026, took majority investment from Inflexion — with backer Hyperion Equity Partners re-investing alongside as the platform's next growth phase begins.
• NSI Gold and SSAIB are the two recognised accreditation frameworks; buyers treat NSI Gold as the standard for police-response intruder and high-spec commercial work, with SSAIB fully credible for residential and lower-mid commercial — the gap is narrowing, but accreditation remains the single biggest driver of multiple within the sub-sector.
• EBITDA multiples for accredited, recurring-revenue-rich security systems businesses sit in the 4–8x sector-median range for sub-£15m EV deals, consistent with the firm's broader Fire & Security positioning — with the premium segment (above-60% recurring revenue, current accreditation, £500k+ EBITDA) routinely clearing 8–10x, and 11x reached in exceptional auction outcomes.
• Four distinct bidder camps now compete for the same supply: F&S consolidators (andwis, and Fire & Security platforms more broadly), dedicated security and fire platforms (Ranger, Obsequio), TIC-adjacent strategics (Mitie post-Marlowe, OCS) and IT/cybersecurity-adjacent trade — and that competitive tension is what has firmed the top of the range.
Selling an NSI Gold or SSAIB-accredited security systems business?
The first conversation is always confidential and never costs anything. We will tell you, on that first call, where your business sits in the 4–8x range and what would move it towards the premium segment. Fee terms — an engagement fee on instruction and a separate success fee on completion — are shared on that call.
UK security systems M&A in 2026
Security systems used to be the quieter cousin of fire detection within the broader Fire & Security space. That has changed. The consolidation that swept fire over 2022–2024 has now arrived properly in security, with a smaller universe of accredited operators, higher recurring revenue ratios in well-run businesses, and a growing set of trade buyers coming in from the IT and cybersecurity adjacencies.
Buyers want accredited, recurring-revenue-rich, geographically defensible installers and monitoring providers. The supply of those businesses is finite. Multiples have firmed accordingly.
The sub-sector and its value drivers
Security systems, for M&A purposes, covers intruder alarms (including police-response), CCTV and video surveillance, access control, and the maintenance and monitoring contracts behind each. A typical sub-£15m EV target combines two or three of these disciplines with a recurring service book.
The value drivers buyers focus on, in order: recurring revenue mix, accreditation, customer concentration, engineer retention and capacity, and manufacturer relationships (gold-tier installer status with the likes of Hikvision, Avigilon, Honeywell, Texecom and Paxton). The first two do most of the work on the multiple. The rest move it within the range.
NSI Gold vs SSAIB — and why the accreditation question matters
Both the National Security Inspectorate and the Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board are UKAS-accredited certification bodies. Both certify to the relevant BS EN and PD standards. Both are accepted by police forces for police-response intruder alarms and by insurers for high-value commercial cover.
Buyers treat the two differently. NSI Gold is widely viewed as the standard for police-response intruder, high-spec commercial, and government work. SSAIB is treated as fully credible for residential and lower-mid commercial, and increasingly so at higher tiers. A business with NSI Gold across intruder, CCTV and access control will typically attract a stronger premium than the same business with SSAIB-only — but the gap is narrowing, and a well-run SSAIB business with a strong recurring book will out-multiple a sloppy NSI Gold one every time.
What buyers will not tolerate is documentation drift. Lapsed scope, expired certificates, gaps in engineer competency records, or unrecorded subcontract work. These items get picked up in week three of due diligence and start to chip at the headline number.
Multiples and segmentation
For sub-£15m EV transactions in UK security systems, the working range follows the firm's broader Fire & Security segmentation:
• Sector-median (4–8x): typical owner-managed operations with mixed installation and maintenance revenue, decent but not exceptional accreditation, and EBITDA below £500k — or, at the lower end, SSAIB-only at residential scope and top-three customer concentration above 40%.
• Premium segment (8–10x): businesses with above-60% recurring revenue, a current accreditation stack — typically NSI Gold across multiple scopes — and £500k+ EBITDA.
• Exceptional auction outcomes (11x): reserved for businesses that are not just good but rare — NSI Gold across intruder, CCTV and access control, directly-employed engineering, multi-year public-sector framework contracts, and a credible second-tier management team.
A well-run SSAIB business with a strong recurring book will out-multiple a sloppy NSI Gold one every time.
The buyer universe
Four distinct camps now bid for accredited UK security systems businesses in the £3–15m EV range.
F&S consolidators. andwis Group (H.I.G. Capital) is the most prolific UK F&S consolidator of the current cycle — 29 acquisitions since the March 2023 partnership, including its fourth in 2026 to date, the April 2026 acquisition of Senseco Systems. Andwis has physical security capability across multiple subsidiaries dating back to its founding acquisition of Meesons, a portals-and-entrance-control specialist, and continues to expand into access and security as part of its core M&E and lifts platform.
Dedicated security and fire platforms. Ranger Fire & Security has completed more than 25 acquisitions since its February 2024 launch, reaching revenues in excess of £75m and over 500 employees. On 15 June 2026, Ranger took majority investment from Inflexion, the European mid-market private equity firm, with original backer Hyperion Equity Partners materially re-investing alongside the new sponsor — a clear signal that the buy-and-build strategy accelerates rather than slows from here. Obsequio Group is owned by Warren Equity Partners (acquired from Beech Tree Private Equity on 24 October 2025, having grown from £17m to over £70m revenue under Beech Tree ownership) and remains an active acquirer in the sector.
TIC-adjacent strategics. Mitie's acquisition of Marlowe plc, completed 4 August 2025 for an enterprise value of approximately £366m, positioned the combined group as the UK's largest TIC provider across fire safety, security systems, water and air hygiene, and asbestos management. OCS Group (Clayton, Dubilier & Rice) has completed seven UK acquisitions since the 2023 CD&R-backed merger with Atalian Servest, including Profile Security Services and, most recently, EMCOR UK (£190m enterprise value, completed December 2025).
IT and cybersecurity-adjacent trade. This is the newer entrant pool. As IP-based CCTV, cloud video management and access control converge with network infrastructure and cybersecurity, IT integrators and managed service providers are starting to bid for security installers as a route into the physical security recurring revenue base.
Four bidder camps competing for the same supply means well-run processes generate genuine competitive tension, and headline multiples have firmed at the top of the range for premium assets.
The IT and cybersecurity convergence
The technological convergence is real and is being priced in. Modern CCTV is IP-networked, cloud-recorded, and increasingly analytics-driven. Access control is network-integrated and often cloud-managed. Intruder systems are remotely monitored over IP. The boundary between “security systems” and “managed IT” is dissolving.
For sellers, this matters in two ways. First, engineering capability matters — buyers will pay more for businesses whose engineers are competent in network configuration, not just cable-and-bracket installation. Second, the recurring revenue generated from cloud-based and managed services typically carries higher gross margins than legacy monitoring, and buyers will give credit for that mix where it can be evidenced.
Recurring revenue as the principal moat
If accreditation is the gate, recurring revenue is the moat. A business with above-60% of revenue from contracted monitoring, maintenance, managed services and cloud subscriptions is treated as fundamentally different from a 15%-recurring project-led business — even where the headline EBITDA is similar.
Buyers underwrite recurring revenue at higher multiples because it is contractually defensible, evidenceable in due diligence, and resilient to economic cycles in a way that project pipeline is not. The cleanest way to lift your multiple between now and a sale process is to grow the recurring book — both in absolute terms and as a percentage of revenue — and to document every contract properly.
What makes a security systems business premium-grade
In our experience, premium-grade security systems businesses share six characteristics:
1. NSI Gold accreditation across the relevant scopes, with clean documentation history.
2. Above-60% recurring revenue mix, evidenced by signed multi-year contracts.
3. Top-five customer concentration under 35% of revenue.
4. Predominantly directly-employed engineering, with documented competency records.
5. Gold-tier or equivalent manufacturer status with at least two principal suppliers.
6. Clean reconciliation between certificate-issued work, customer billing, and engineer time records.
The sixth point is where many otherwise good businesses lose value in due diligence. Get it right twelve to eighteen months ahead of a process and the work is invisible. Try to fix it during a live deal and it costs real money. With BADR rising from 14% to 18% on 6 April 2026, the after-tax cost of leaving multiple on the table only grows the longer a sale is delayed — worth bearing in mind as you plan timing.
Related: Why Private Equity Is Paying Record Multiples for Fire and Security Businesses. (/insights/why-pe-paying-record-multiples-fire-security)
Where does your security systems business sit in the 4–10x range — and what would move it?
A first call covers your recurring revenue mix, accreditation scope, customer concentration and likely buyer camps; fee terms (an engagement fee on instruction and a separate success fee on completion) are shared on that call.
SOURCES
[1] Mitie Group plc completion announcement, 4 August 2025, and contemporaneous trade press coverage (Facilities Compliance, FMJ, SecurityWorldMarket) — acquisition of Marlowe plc for an enterprise value of approximately £366m; positioning as the UK's largest TIC provider across fire safety, security systems, water and air hygiene, and asbestos management.
[2] andwis Group acquisition pace: company and H.I.G. Capital disclosures and trade press coverage 2023–2026, including PE Hub's coverage of the April 2026 Senseco Systems acquisition (the platform's 29th since the March 2023 partnership and fourth of 2026).
[3] Ranger Fire & Security: company announcements and trade press coverage 2024–2026 (more than 25 acquisitions since February 2024 launch; revenues in excess of £75m and over 500 employees); Inflexion and Freeths press releases, 15–16 June 2026, confirming Inflexion's majority investment with Hyperion Equity Partners re-investing alongside as a minority partner.
[4] Obsequio Group: Beech Tree Private Equity and Warren Equity Partners press releases, 24 October 2025, and Clearwater transaction coverage — growth from £17m to over £70m revenue under Beech Tree ownership prior to the Warren Equity Partners transaction.
[5] OCS Group: EMCOR Group Inc. press releases, September and December 2025, and TWinFM coverage — acquisition of EMCOR UK for an enterprise value of approximately £190m, completed December 2025, the seventh UK acquisition by OCS since its 2023 Clayton, Dubilier & Rice-backed merger with Atalian Servest, including Profile Security Services.
[6] Accreditation references: National Security Inspectorate (NSI) and Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB) public scheme documentation; BADR rate change from 14% to 18% effective 6 April 2026 per HMRC and contemporaneous professional commentary (BDO, Cowgills, Brodies).
GLOSSARY
BADR (Business Asset Disposal Relief): A reduced UK capital gains tax rate for qualifying business sellers.
BS EN standards: Shared British and European technical standards that products and services are certified against.
Buy-and-build: A strategy of buying one platform company and adding further acquisitions to grow it.
Cloud video management: Storing and managing CCTV footage over the internet rather than on local hardware.
Due diligence: The detailed checks a buyer makes before completing a purchase.
EBITDA: Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation — a standard measure of underlying profit.
Enterprise value (EV): The total value of a business including debt, not just its shares.
Gross margin: Sales revenue left after the direct costs of providing goods or services.
Managed service provider (MSP): A company that runs IT or technology services for clients on an ongoing basis.
M&E (Mechanical and Electrical): Building services such as heating, ventilation, power and lifts.
Moat: A durable advantage (such as accreditation) that protects a business from competitors.
Multiple: A number multiplied by profit to estimate a business's value.
NSI Gold: The highest grade of National Security Inspectorate approval for security and fire firms.
PD standards: Published Documents — supporting UK technical standards used alongside the main standards.
PE-active: A sector in which private equity is actively buying businesses.
Private equity (PE): Funds that buy companies, grow them, and sell at a profit.
SSAIB (Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board): A UK certification body for security and fire firms.
Sub-£15m EV: Businesses worth less than £15 million in enterprise value.
TIC (Testing, Inspection and Certification): Businesses that independently test, inspect and certify that standards are met.
UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service): The official body that accredits certification organisations such as NSI and SSAIB.
James Dixey Limited — Specialist M&A for regulated, owner-managed businesses in Care, Education, Fire & Security and Other Regulated Services.
