There were few surprises, but great detail provided by Michael Barnes in his “Security Alarm Industry Overview” presentation to attendees of the 2017 Barnes Buchanan Security Conference, held February 9-10 at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. Barnes noted, for example, that 20 percent of the market traded in 2016 compared with 5 percent in 2015. However, as he explained, 18 of the 20 percent was the ADT transaction. In total in 2016, $312 million of recurring monthly revenue (RMR) traded at an average multiple of 45-times RMR. In 2015, $77 million of RMR traded at the same average multiple of 45 times.
The security industry’s total revenues reached $55 billion, which is a 6 percent growth rate in 2016, following 5 percent growth in 2015.