A recent study claims the intruder alarm sector could be facing an "experience timebomb", with more than 25 per cent of long serving company directors likely to be aged 60 or over by the end of 2005.

Many installation company proprietors are likely to be affected, having started their companies in the 1970s when electronic security started to be used.

The report by Plimsoll Publishing Ltd analyses the UK's top 357 companies in the sector, as well as the 722 directors who are responsible for them. Senior analyst David Pattison said: "The reason for most concern is that of the 411 directors that have been in office for over eight years, 25 per cent will be aged 60 or more by the end of the year. Is the industry facing an experience timebomb as these veterans near retirement age?"

The study describes 'marathon runners' as those 527 directors who have perhaps had the most influence over the financial performance of the companies they run. "Each has been in office over five years, making their track record clearly visible," Plimsoll says. "16 per cent of the companies run by these directors are placed in a high financial risk category in the analysis."

It also says that of the 76 directors appointed in the last two years, 17 are working at companies that are under severe financial pressure. 22 are working at financially strong companies. 45 directors have continued working beyond retirement, with 49 per cent running companies rated as financially strong.

The report says the average salary for directors of companies in the intruder alarm sector is £42,719 – a fall of 31 per cent from last year. Top earners can expect an annual salary of £107,000, compared to the UK average for top earners of £162,000. The average time in office is just over ten years, with a UK average in comparison of eight years.

Source

Security Installer