ASG Security, Beltsville, Md., finished 2013 with a flourish — and a focus on RMR — with four acquisitions in December adding $155,000 in recurring monthly revenue (RMR) to its overall total of $530,000 gained in RMR from acquisitions in 2012.

In 2012, ASG grew from $7 million to more than $7.9 million in RMR. According to ASG Security chief financial officer, Ralph Masino, organic sales represented 70 percent of 2012’s RMR growth, while acquisitions represented the other 30 percent.

In 2013, the company plans to add more than $1 million of RMR following the same careful formula of 70 percent coming from organic sales and the remaining 30 percent from acquisitions.

The bulk of ASG’s 2012 acquisitions (75 percent) took place in the fourth quarter. The largest of these acquisitions was USA Fire & Burglar Alarm, New Orleans, in November, adding $174,000 in RMR.

The purchase of USA Fire & Burglar Alarm also enabled ASG’s expansion into a new operating region (Louisiana), consistent with its goal of continued annual regional expansion, since 2003.

“ASG for the past 10 years has been able to identity long-term companies with low attrition, outstanding employee loyalty, and the ability to create internal organic sales. As we examine potential companies we also look to open up one new region each year and expand our footprint,” ASG president and chief executive officer Joe Nuccio told SDM.

The December acquisitions included Sembera Security Systems, Cypress, Texas, and Sentry Installation, Rockville, Md. Combined, the deals added 5,400 accounts with an 86 percent residential, 14 percent commercial ratio. The acquisitions also helped ASG expand its footprint in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and Texas. Additionally, ASG added 20 new employees to its team. The other two accounts-only transactions, which are unnamed per ASG’s request, were in Dallas and Washington, D.C.

In addition to growth through acquisition, ASG’s 2013 plan will focus on organic growth and geographical expansion.

Bob Ryan, ASG Security senior vice president of sales and marketing, detailed that the company will pursue significant internal sales growth. ASG is planning on residential sales force segmentation across major markets and the launch of an internal phone sales business unit. The residential, commercial and small business sales forces will be separated into their own units, with a designated sales manager for each. A dedicated vertical sales force will focus exclusively on hosted and managed services.

“Business has really changed over the last 15 to 24 months,” Ryan explained. “Cloud-based services have made the ability to take market penetration from 20 percent to 40 percent a real legitimate opportunity. All these new ancillary services are where we see the real opportunity for growth. We plan to double down residentially and grab that addition market share.”

With that in mind, ASG is focused on ending 2013 with $9.0M of RMR, gaining momentum on all the work it has put into developing the new services outside of traditional alarm systems.

Nuccio explained, “We were early in the game with the new services penetrating the industry, which gave us the ability to organize our offering and how we presented it. There are many paths to give a home owner what they want that take this industry beyond the traditional security services. We think we’ve got it figured out, and we’re off to a really good start in 2013.”