Said a report in the Business Line
“Essential services like security, facility management and cash logistics are either witnessing a demand recovery or steady flow across “pockets” in the country”, said Rituraj Kishore Sinha, MD, SIS India. There has been a rise in demand (for security services and facility management) from hospitals, nursing homes, warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
According to Sinha, March 2021 collections stood at over ₹860 crore, a near 14% upward movement, from the ₹720 crore it reported in the 12-month-window on a same-month basis.
Breaking it down further, he pointed out that India’s security business saw a 102% jump in March 2021 as compared to March 2020.
“We believe that the current Covid surge may delay the recovery, but will help generate demand going ahead. Essential services will continue to see steady demand recoveries depending on the pockets and segments of impact,” Sinha added with reference to the facility management business.
Interestingly, the cash logistics vertical reported better than expected numbers. Higher revenues apart, it saw an “improved margin performance” with EBITDA at 8%. Pockets of price escalation, diversified non-ATM business and steep increase in cash in circulation bode well for the vertical in the near future, he pointed out.
SIS’s international business – security services – has been the outlier with over 22% Y-o-Y growth in revenues to ₹4,530 crore in FY-21. The EBITDA margin for international business was 6.4%.