Shred-it sales hit £40m

CANADIAN firm Shred-it said that its UK operations increased sales by 13% to just under £40m in 2011.

The company, which opened a new £1.5m UK headquarters at Sale in Greater Manchester in September, said that it had achieved double-digit growth percentages for the 12th consecutive year. It added that as the EC promised tougher data protection rules, it is planning to make further investments in its UK network after recruiting 130 more staff last year.

Executive vice-president Robert Guice said: “Shred-it’s outstanding 2011 revenue growth is further evidence that more and more companies are waking up to the fact that secure document destruction is a must-have if they are to protect their business and customers.

“However, there is still a great deal of work to do.  Data from last year’s Shred-it Security Tracker showed that half of small firms in the UK still believe that the loss or theft of data from their organisation would have no impact on their business – even with the dramatic increase in the ICO’s powers now allowing them to fine organisations up to £500,000 for breaching data protection regulation.

“We hope that the recently released proposals for a tougher EU data protection regime will serve as a further driver for all businesses and public sector organisations to recognise that both electronic and paper-based document destruction services are must-haves and not nice-to-haves.”