Shield Group can boom in the North
PASSIONATE Mancunian Paul King is on a mission to increase dramatically the £12m northern revenue of The Shield Group – the UK’s largest independent security company.
Shield turned over £81m in the fiscal year 2014-15, but the vast bulk of that income came from its operation in and around London.
Its largest regional office is in Manchester, followed by rapidly expanding Leeds with others in Liverpool and Birmingham part of King’s domain as regional managing director for Shield in the North.
More than 300 of Shield’s 2,500 employees – many of whom are ex-police officers, but not King – are based at its Trafford Plaza site, and there are plans to move into a so far unknown city centre office in the near future.
The 49-year-old, who went to a tough school in Salford with actor Christopher Eccleston, and is fanatical supporter of Salford Red Devils RLFC, believes he has the perfect credentials to grow Shield’s northern revenue.
With 26 years in the security business, King points to his record at security company Reliance, where he grew the revenue from £16m to £32m in 12 months before it was eventually taken over by Securitas.
“When they (Shield) recruited me, they knew what they were getting,” said King, who is chairman of Manchester Crime Prevention Panel and sits on Manchester Business Continuity Forum.
“What they’ve got with me is an out-and-out Manc who is passionate about the city who wants to make Manchester the biggest footprint we’ve got in the UK. I’ll do it. It’ll take a while, but I’ll do it.
“We’ve got a lot of tenders going on and we currently waiting on a decision with a very high end luxury retail outlet operating in Manchester.
“My hope is that we will win the tender and other retail operators will follow.”
This is despite the fact that 70% of Shield’s business comes from properties run by companies like Bruntwood, GVA and DTZ.
King reckons there is room for growth in the retail and public sectors, especially with what he believes is his innate understanding of the subtleties of dealing in those areas.
“Retail is something I know a lot about, something I’m passionate about,” he said. “Bear in mind we’re in a city which has the second highest retail footprint in the UK, and the highest student population in Europe. What happens is the two blend.
“It could be that one particular business is looking for big bulky guys in the doorway and then two years down the line, they decide that’s slightly intimidating for their customer base, especially if it’s a retail environment, so they want to soften it and go for a more customer care focus.
“It’s about being on top of that, that’s important. Security contracts tend to go over two, three years. It’s pretty rare for it to be any longer. So to understand the changing nature of their business is important. They can be tittle details, that other people may ignore, but which make all the difference.”
