Mark Bridges, CEO, Ranger Fire and Security
It’s hard to believe that it was only a year ago that we launched Ranger Fire and Security, with a mission to overcome some of the biggest challenges facing the sector.
As anyone working in fire and security knows, the businesses in the sector are both highly skilled and highly regulated. It means that while the quality of services are high, many businesses struggle to expand, instead focusing on providing a select number of services and doing them well.
The knock-on effect for companies contracting with fire and security businesses is that they often need to work with multiple suppliers in order to cover all their service requirements, creating extra admin and cost burden.
We wanted to change this with Ranger, creating a ‘one-stop solution’, with a focus on active maintenance, but that would meet all of the fire and security needs for our customers, while helping businesses operating in the sector to grow their operations through integrations, sharing knowledge, resources and cross-selling opportunities.
While we had high hopes for our first 12 months, we couldn’t have predicted how successful we would have been. Looking back on the year, some moments stand out:
- Launching the Ranger platform in February 2024 with the acquisition of two high-performing UK businesses – AFIL and Ignis Fire Protection.
- Bringing onboard further leading businesses (Syncro, IPH Fire Solutions, Fire Door Specialists and Secureshield), boosting overall UK-wide coverage, increasing our headcount to 200 and building out our service offering.
- Announcing our expansion into Ireland, with the acquisition on KSS Fire Suppression, and our first step into new markets with a strong pipeline of further opportunities.
- Collaborating with Simpro software, to create a platform that allows all Ranger businesses to share cross-selling opportunities, and achieving significant organic growth across all the businesses.
- Taking Ranger from literally £0 in earnings at the beginning of 2024 to one of the top ten largest fire and security businesses by the end of December.
These achievements are a testament to the determination and hard work of everyone in the Ranger Group while adhering to our strategic guardrails. As we look to the year ahead, I am excited for what Ranger can achieve in its second year – from bringing on board more high-performing businesses, to creating more cross-selling opportunities and increasing our coverage in the UK and beyond.
For those in the industry who are interested in joining us on our mission to bring growth and innovation to the fire and security sector, we want to hear from you.
