ISS A/S

ISS A/S

Type	Private
Founded	1901
Headquarters	Copenhagen, Denmark
Key people	Jeff Gravenhorst CEO, Jakob Stausholm CFO
Revenue	74.073 billion DKK (2010)
Operating income	4.149 billion DKK (2010)
Net income	532 million DKK(2010)
Owner(s)	EQT and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners
Employees	522,700 (2010)
Website	http://www.issworld.com

ISS (International Service System) was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1901 and has since grown to become one of the leading Facility Services companies in the world. ISS offers a wide range of services within the following business areas: cleaning services, support services, property services, catering services, security services and facility management services. The ISS Group’s revenue amounted to DKK 74 billion in 2010 and ISS now has more than 520,000 employees in over 50 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Pacific, serving thousands of both public and private sector. More than half of ISS' employees are based in emerging markets.

History

1901 ISS was founded in Copenhagen, Denmark as a small security company with 20 night watchmen named Kjøbenhavn-Frederiksberg Nattevagt (Copenhagen-Frederiksberg Night Watch)

1934 ISS entered the cleaning business with the establishment of Det Danske Rengørings Selskab A/S (The Danish Cleaning Company) as an independent subsidiary of the security company

1946 The first geographical expansion outside Denmark: Swedish subsidiary established

1968 The company adopted the ISS name

1973 Overseas expansion started

1975 Group revenue reached DKK 1 billion

1977 ISS shares listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange

1989 The total number of employees in the Group reached 100,000

1997 Strategy “aim2002“ was launched. This strategy focused on Multi Services – selling a number of services to the same customer

1999 ISS acquired Abilis, the second largest European provider of cleaning and specialised services, in a DKK 3.6 billion acquisition, the Group’s largest ever. Abilis had about 50,000 employees and annual revenues of DKK 5.2 billion in 1998. The total number of employees in the Group reached 200,000

2000 A new five-year strategy “create2005“ was launched, introducing the Facility Services concept

2003 ISS’s first major pan-European Integrated Facility Services contract signed

2005 A new strategy was introduced aiming at a continuous transformation of ISS towards an Integrated Facility Services company. ISS A/S was acquired by funds advised by EQT Partners and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, and de-listed from the Copenhagen Stock Exchange. The total number of employees in the Group reached 300,000

2006 Group revenue passed DKK 50 billion. ISS made the second-largest acquisition in company history, when acquiring the outstanding 51% of the shares in Tempo Services Ltd. in Australia

2007 Group revenue passed DKK 60 billion. ISS entered the US market through the acquisition of Sanitors Inc. The total number of employees in the Group reached 400,000

2008 Introduction of ISS’s strategy plan “The ISS Way”, which is built on four strategic cornerstones: customer focus, people management, the IFS strategy and a multi-local approach. ISS’s largest ever international Integrated Facility Services contract was signed

2010 Group revenue passed DKK 70 billion. The total number of employees in the Group reached 500,000^{[citation needed]}

2011 British security company G4S announces it will acquire Integrated Service Solutions in a deal worth £5.2 billion. The deal is later shelved, owing to shareholder unrest.

Today

ISS is one of the leading Facility Services companies in the world and offers a wide range of services within the following business areas: cleaning services, support services, property services, catering services, security services and facility management services. The ISS Group’s revenue amounted to DKK 74 billion in 2010 and ISS now has more than 520,000 employees in over 50 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Pacific, serving thousands of both public and private sector.^{[citation needed]}

The ambition of ISS is to lead the market for Facility Services globally. This is realized through the strong local country organisations that operate in the markets where ISS is currently present – thereby ISS naturally also seeks to lead Facility Services locally. Through an alleged in-depth understanding of the service provisions and outsourcing trends and developments in its markets, ISS claims to have developed its organisational structure around the ability to offer bundled services and to integrate and manage the provision of services at its customer’s premises.

In October 2011, G4S announced a takeover of ISS. However, the transaction was shelved within a matter of weeks, after G4S shareholders expressed concerns about the deal.

Corporate Responsibility

ISS considers working with corporate responsibility not only vital but the right course of action. ISS influences the lives and livelihood of many people through providing employment and training as well as providing safe and healthy work environments for millions of employees and customers in the facilities it services. With more than 520,000 employees, ISS is one of the largest private employers in the world, and ISS' successful performance is based on the day-to-day efforts of its employees.

Diversity in the workplace is an integral part of ISS’ values and leadership principles^{[citation needed]} and around the world ISS companies are striving to help minorities on their way to the labour market in different ways. This special effort to create job and career opportunities for minorities has not gone unnoticed and ISS has won several awards for its efforts - for instance in March 2010, ISS Denmark was given the MIA Award 2010 by the Danish Institute for Human Rights. This award is given to Danish companies that make extraordinary efforts to create workplaces that are both diverse and broad by nature.

External links

• International website
• Danish website
• ISS A/S at Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister
• British website
• New Zealand website
• Australian website