Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q3 report. We continue to develop on a good path, execute on our strategic focus areas, and are glad to report a solid set of results for the third quarter. The organic growth in the quarter was 3%, and North America and Ibero-America both contributed with solid growth. Now to a highlight: the operating margin was 8.1% in the quarter. We had solid improvements across all segments, as well as in the services and technology and solutions business lines. As announced last quarter, we are closing down the government business within critical infrastructure services, and adjusted for this business, the organic sales growth was 4%, and the operating margin was 8.3%.
EPS real change was strong at 19%, and the operating cash flow is above 100% in the quarter, and we continued to improve the leverage, and the net debt to EBITDA ratio is now at 2.2%. The business optimization program that we initiated at the beginning of this year is contributing, and the vast majority of the cost savings have now been executed. So shifting then to the performance, just for an overview in the business lines and the segments, and as stated, we are recording significant margin improvements in both business lines. Continued strong technology and solutions margin development with 50 basis points to 11.7%, and the real sales growth in technology and solutions was 4% in the quarter.
This is below our target, but we have a strong offering, and we have taken actions to increase the focus on client engagement and commercial development, and I expect these actions to generate stronger momentum in the coming quarters. The margin in security services improved 30 basis points to 6.9%, and this was supported by high margin on new sales, portfolio management, and strong development of the aviation business, while the SCIS business hampered. Growth in security services was 1% in the quarter, and the growth rate in services is negatively impacted by active portfolio management and the SCIS business. But important, we expect to finalize the active portfolio management work in Europe and Ibero-America during the first half of 2026, and that work is progressing according to our plans.
So with that, let's move then to the segments, and as always, we start with North America, where we are pleased to report solid organic sales growth at 6% and a record Q3 operating margin. Healthy portfolio volume development and price increases in the guarding business were key drivers of the growth, and continued double-digit growth in the Pinkerton business contributed, and the performance in the technology business also supported. Technology and solutions growth was 2% in the quarter, and similar to the previous quarter, growth in technology was decent, but we had lower solutions growth. And we are fine-tuning our go-to-market approach with solutions in North America, where we leverage our in-house technology capabilities in a much better way than before, and with these changes now being in place, I expect improved growth in the coming quarters.
We improved the operating margin in the Guarding and Technology business units to 9.5%, and this was supported by good cost control and leverage. So all in all, very strong performance and a record Q3 operating margin in North America. And moving then to Europe, where the operating margin improvement stands out as the highlight of the quarter. The organic growth was 2%, price increases, impact from Turkey, and Aviation supported, while active portfolio management had a clear negative impact on the growth in the quarter. Sales growth in Technology and Solutions was 4% and slightly below our expectations. The operating margin improved with 70 basis points to 8.4%, and this is a significant improvement and is the result of strong execution on all strategic priorities by our European teams. And as commented, we continue to address and renegotiate the low-performing contracts in the services business in Europe.
This has a clear negative impact on the growth in the short term, but it's fully in line with our strategy and the plans that we set a couple of years ago, and we expect the work where we are addressing the low-margin contracts to be completed during the first half of 2026, so all in all, very good development by European teams and also here an operating margin at a record level. We then shift to Ibero-America, where we're also pleased to report good organic growth and solid margin improvement. The organic growth was 5%. This was driven by high single-digit growth in technology and solutions and price increases in the services business, and similar to Europe, there is a negative impact on the growth from active portfolio management, but we're making good progress and driving conversions to technology and solutions.
The operating margin improvement was solid in the quarter, and the majority of the improvement is related to improvement in the services business, but some temporary one-offs also contributed, so all in all, very good quarter also in Ibero-America, and looking then at the performance across the group, we are driving disciplined execution of the strategy, and I'm really pleased to see strong execution across all segments and from all the teams. Our customer offer is stronger than ever before, and we're also glad to report improving client retention, so with that overview, turn to the finance update and handing over to you, Andreas.
Thank you, Magnus, and we start with the income statement, where we had organic sales growth of 3% and improved the operating margin with 60 basis points, leading to a currency-adjusted operating profit growth of 11% in the quarter. As we communicated in Q2, we have introduced two new KPIs, which are adjusting our organic growth and our operating margin for the government business to be closed down within SCIS. In the third quarter, the adjusted organic growth was 4%, and the adjusted operating margin was 8.3%, and this is higher than our target to have an adjusted operating margin of 8% the second half year of 2025, and puts us in a good position to achieve the target as we are closing the year in the fourth quarter.
The close down of the government business itself is progressing according to the plan that we laid out in the second quarter and had limited impact on the operating result in Q3. Looking then below operating result, there are no material developments in amortization of acquisition-related intangibles, nor in the acquisition-related costs. Items Affecting Comparability was SEK 1.5 billion, where we in the third quarter have made a provision of $154 million for the government business close down, in line with what we communicated in Q2. The remaining SEK 65 million of IAC is related to the ongoing transformation and business optimization programs. Both programs are running according to plan, and the full year forecast of SEK 375 million for both programs combined remains unchanged to our previous guidance.
As Magnus mentioned earlier, we have executed the business optimization program well, and the vast majority of the target SEK 200 million run rate cost savings by the end of 2025 has been executed in the third quarter. As we are looking into 2026, we are planning to continue to reduce the investments under IAC in comparison to the SEK 375 million this year, and we'll come back with more details to you in Q4. Our financial net came in at SEK 419 million, which is a reduction of SEK 158 million compared to last year, and we continue the positive trend of reduced financing costs as interest rates and our debt levels are going down. For the full year, we expect the financial net to land in the range of SEK 1.8 billion-SEK 1.9 billion, which is a material decrease compared to the SEK 2.3 billion we had in 2024.
Moving to tax, here our full year forecasted tax rate is 29.2%. The increase compared to our full year 26.7% estimate in the second quarter is mainly due to the $154 million close down cost, where we expect around 60% of the total cost to be tax deductible over time. Adjusted then for the close down impact, the full year forecasted tax rate is 26.8% in line with our previous communication in Q2. All in all, a strong quarter, where our currency-adjusted EPS growth, excluding IAC, was 19% in Q3 and 18% for the first nine months of 2025. We then move to cash flow, where our operating cash flow was solid at SEK 3.3 billion, or 106% of the operating income. This despite some negative timing impacts from Q2, as I mentioned in the previous quarter.
Both our DSO and our general working capital position continue to improve and supported the good outcome in the quarter. The free cash flow landed at SEK 2.7 billion, supported by solid operating cash flow, the reduced interest payments due to the lower interest rates and debt levels, and temporary positive tax timing impacts in the U.S., and we expect a majority of the positive timing impacts to reverse in the fourth quarter. For the first nine months of the year, we have strengthened our operating cash generation, having an operating cash flow of 74% of our operating income compared to 58% last year. We are in a good position to meet our full year target of an operating cash flow of 70%-80% of operating income, where we always target to be at the upper end of that interval.
This despite that we have one additional payroll in our U.S. guarding business in Q4, which will impact the fourth quarter cash flow negatively approximately $40 million. This is a negative timing impact that we have every fifth or every sixth year in the U.S., and this timing impact is relevant for Q4 as well as for the full year 2025. In 2026, we will then be back to the normal payroll pattern with one less payroll compared to this year. We then have a look at our net debt, which was SEK 33.4 billion at the end of the quarter. This is a reduction of SEK 2.6 billion compared to Q2, mainly supported by the strong free cash flow generation. In the quarter, we also had SEK 308 million of total IAC payments, where SEK 175 million of this was the second payment related to the U.S. government and Paragon settlement.
The residual is mainly related to the ongoing transformation and business optimization program and the government business close down, which was SEK 43 million in the second quarter. As a reminder, the total Paragon settlement amount is $53 million, which we pay in three approximately equal installments. We have now made two payments, and the third and final payment has been made in the fourth quarter. Moving then to the right-hand side, where the net debt to EBITDA was 2.2 times. This is half a turn improvement compared to Q3 last year, where the positive EBITDA development, good cash generation, and the strength in Swedish krona all supported positively. We are well below our target net debt to EBITDA of less than three times and expect to continue to leverage our balance sheet in the short term.
Moving on to have a look at our financing and financial position, where we continue to have a strong balance sheet, strong liquidity, and we remain without any financial covenants in our debt facilities. After a period of important refinancing focus, our main focus the second half of 2025 is to use the strong cash generation from the business to amortize debt. In the quarter, we have repaid SEK 1.4 billion of debt, and in the fourth quarter, we plan to amortize approximately SEK 2 billion on the term loan maturing next year. This will continue to support our cost of financing going forward, and we will have very limited refinancing needs throughout 2026. As always, we remain committed to our investment grade rating. So with that, I hand over back to you, Magnus.
Very good. Thanks a lot, Andreas. And before we open up the Q&A, I'd just like to share a few reflections regarding the longer-term development and also a little bit looking ahead. So back in 2022, when we did the Stanley acquisition, we accelerated the work to change the profile of Securitas to create a company with the strongest technology and digital offering to our clients in combination with high-quality guarding services. We also shared the ambition to improve the operating margin from the prior decade, where we had been around 5%, to achieve around 8% then by the end of 2025. And we outlined the main focus areas to drive this improvement to 8%, and I think those of you who are following us, you're familiar with the bridge here.
We exceeded the 8% operating margin in Q3, and Q4 is easily somewhat lower margin, but we are on a good track to deliver on this ambition in the second half of this year. While the impact from M&A activity has been limited in recent years, we have made considerable progress in the other areas. We are about to finalize the heavy lifting work with active portfolio management and strategic assessments, but this work has been very important to create a sharper and more focused company where all the business that we are running is fully aligned with our strategy. When you're looking at SCIS, and this is more related to a question we received a couple of times, the close down here and the result doesn't really represent a significant part of our overall business. It is only around 1% of the operating result.
So, a large in volume, very limited in terms of the operating result impact from that close down. And when you look at the strategic assessments, the remaining assessments that we have under consideration now represent approximately 1% of group sales. So we are nearing the completion of an important phase with important work. It has been rigorous and hard work, but it's been important to shape a stronger and a more focused company. And just to repeat the message also from the second quarter, we received a question on a number of occasions on what basis we consider reaching the 8%. And as communicated earlier, if we reach the 8% operating margin in the second half of this year, excluding the SCIS business that we're closing down, we will have achieved the ambition.
Delivering on this ambition is an important milestone since it represents a historical shift in the profitability profile of Securitas. Having said that, it's just a milestone on the longer journey. Talking about that journey, we have come a long way in shaping the new Securitas to be a sharper and a much stronger company. When you take a little bit of a longer-term perspective, we are operating in a market with good growth, which is spurred by increasing threat levels, increased demand for digital and technology solutions, and where we are uniquely positioned with the investments we have done in the last five to six years. We have intentionally transformed and repositioned our portfolio to the parts of the market where there is good underlying growth and the real security needs are more important than the price per hour.
We partner with our clients for the long term, investing into the relationship, and we are building the best security solutions based on the client needs, leveraging technology, digital people, and more and more real-time insights. All of this has also led to much more profitable Securitas today compared to the 5% company we were for many years. Today, we're executing on our plan to get to 8%, as stated in the second half of this year, and we have also been able to lift the margin for 19 consecutive quarters and at the same time deliver strong EPS growth to our shareholders. In the increasingly complex and volatile macro environment, we're also a resilient business where the majority of our revenue is recurring and with an excellent client retention of 90%.
And all of this has also been elevated or translated into higher cash flows, where we are now delivering cash flow above our financial targets, and this has also contributed to an accelerated deleveraging after the Stanley acquisition. So we're now in a position that is much, much stronger, and we can continue to invest into the growth of our business. So as we're finalizing this strategic phase, we're a much stronger company, very well positioned in an attractive market to increase our focus on profitable growth. And as more and more units reach the required profitability levels, so that means for good sustainable business, they also gain the right to shift focus on driving profitable growth. And looking at the longer term, we will continue to improve the margin as we are building scalable solutions to our clients.
So we stay focused, confident, and also very excited about our longer-term opportunities, and we're looking forward to sharing more in the Capital Markets Day in June. So with those perspectives, we can conclude this Q3 presentation. We are executing according to our plans, deliver strong margin with 8.1% in the quarter, EPS improvement of 19%. So with that, let us open up the Q&A session.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial #5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial #6 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Raymond Ke from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Magnus and Andreas. A couple of questions from me. First one on technology and solutions, or T&S. We had 4% in real sales growth this quarter. And on paper, the target the board has staked out for Securitas to achieve a growth within T&S of 8%-10% sounds like it's congruent with its target of achieving 8% in EBITDA margin, you know, with the T&S having higher margins. But the outcome since your CMD seems to show that you've been forced to prioritize portfolio management at the expense of growth within T&S, at least short term. Is that a fair description, would you say? And your position now at sort of 8%, would that allow you to shift your focus more towards T&S growth?
Thanks, Raymond. Just to put some context on the technology solutions growth, this is obviously a long-term target. I believe that we are very well positioned. We've spent a couple of years doing very diligent and robust work in terms of the integration. When you're looking forward, we feel confident that we're going to be able to drive the growth here at a really healthy pace. Where are we right now in that? We're mostly, as we've communicated before, done with integration work. What we are doing now, based on the strength in the offering, is that we're investing more in commercial capability based on the strong offering that we have, and we're also fine-tuning in a number of parts of the organization.
And some of that fine-tuning is related to how we become better at cross-selling, how we start to become better at actually leveraging the combined client base. We're also aligning incentives. I should also say that it's a little bit of a mixed picture when you look at the growth rate in technology, if you look at the growth rate in solutions. Solutions we've had really strong traction in Ibero-America, good traction in Europe, but in North America, as I've explained in the last couple of quarters, we also under new leadership did a little bit of a reboot in terms of the organization setup. And it was the right time to do that because historically, when we didn't have strong technology capability, we were also working with other companies to help us with the technology part of a solution.
Today, our own technology team is the main partner and provider, and that enables us to build a much more efficient and also much more scalable platform for the longer term, and there, while growth has been flat now in the last couple of quarters in North America, I expect that now, based on the actions that we've initiated, to really improve in terms of the growth, so I believe that we are in a good phase and also in really, really good shape to drive this one, but also some fine-tuning and optimization is needed in also some of the commercial investments.
In relation to the 8% target, we should say that in 2023 and 2024, we had stronger technology and solutions growth that have supported us on our journey to 8%. And although it is 4% now in the quarter, we still have a positive mixed effect compared to the guarding business and how that is growing as well. But one final lens on it, when we said 8%-10%, that also included one part of M&A activities where we have said that we have done less as well. So that is one of the reasons then why we are not coming all the way up to the 8%-10% target, because it's mainly within technology and solutions which our M&A activities would be geared against.
Right. That's very helpful. And then maybe sort of a follow-up, if you could maybe provide a bit more color with regards to how you intend to accelerate T&S growth, mainly to help us analysts better understand the pace of growth acceleration that we should be expecting across your segments going forward.
Yeah, so if you look at that, it is very much related to what I mentioned. So strengthening and investing a bit more in the commercial capability, we have really strong offering. I've recently also been with a number of our clients in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago. Feedback is strong, partnerships are strong, and our clients and also new clients are also looking at Securitas as the main partner. So we are well positioned, and I think that is the key point. So our offering is strong, but I think that we will benefit from also investing a little bit more in the commercial resources and capability as we go forward. And then, as I mentioned, we're also working in a much more diligent and intentional way now in terms of how we are leveraging existing client base for cross-selling.
These are things that, you know, also relate a little bit to the work that we've done in the last couple of years to also have the right types of tools and digital platforms to enable that together with incentives as well to be able to drive it at scale. So I feel that we are in a good position here to drive this at a healthy clip going forward.
Thank you. Just one final, maybe sort of a detail almost, but could you elaborate on the you mentioned the positive one-offs that boosted the margins in the Ibero-America? Maybe I missed that, but how big were they and how should we think about them going forward?
This is related to some reduced provisions related to legal cases. So there was a positive impact to the operating margin in the Ibero-America division. Normally, we mention something when it impacts at least 0.1 margin-wise in Ibero-America, in the segment Ibero-America. In this case, it was a bit more than 0.1, but just to help out there. But then important to say as well that the majority of the margin improvement in Ibero-America was driven by operational improvements, not these one-off related items. And on the total group level, it doesn't have any material impact whatsoever.
Okay, perfect. Thanks a lot. I'll get back in line.
The next question comes from Dan Johansson from SEB. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Magnus and Andreas. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll limit myself to two questions here, I think. Maybe starting a bit on the cash flow. You had another quarter here with very strong cash flow, and you're in a very good position from a balance sheet perspective, and all else equal, you'll probably deleverage even further here going into Q4, so I'm wondering a little bit on how you think about capital allocation here for the coming quarters and year. I mean, you have a target of three times net debt to EBITDA. There's a wide margin to that target already. You're through a quite heavy investment period. You're planning to amortize debt. So do you have enough interesting M&A in the pipeline that you would like to pursue, or is there an opportunity for higher shareholder remuneration through extra dividends or share buybacks?
Yeah, if you can help me a little bit to understand on how you think about the balance sheet from here? Thank you.
Thank you. When it comes to capital allocation priority, number one, as you say as well, is to be below three, which we are with good headroom as well when it comes to our leverage points. Priority number two is to invest to drive the growth in our solutions business. We have a CapEx guidance of around 2.5% of sales, and that we will continue to do. Priority number three for us is the dividend to our shareholders, 50%-60% of net income to be paid out on an annual basis. And then priority thereafter is related to bolt-on M&A activities. And here, as you rightfully say, there has not been so much activity. We have opened up for it, but we have also been focused really on driving the organic improvements in the business. We have also been focused on the strategic assessment program.
So that is something that we will work on accelerating, although, like you say as well, there is not a big huge pipeline right now today, but that will over time start to increase. And then after that, I mean, if we don't find enough acquisitions, so to say, then we will continue to deleverage our balance sheet here. And over time, we can consider any other shareholder returns, but it's not a topic today and in the short term. And then we will have to come back to you on a more longer-term view in our Capital Markets Day here in June.
Understood. And then maybe a smaller question on the other segment. If I understand it correctly, SCIS is still hampering you on a year-to-year basis. But when I look at the other segment, the loss is only 56 million SEK, so quite in line with last year. Is that due to continued good performance in AMEA and lower group costs, or anything more of a one-off nature in there? Or yeah, what explains that you don't have a bigger loss given SCIS is still negative, it seems?
No big one-offs. You're right. Our business in AMEA, Africa, Middle East, and Asia and the Pacifics are performing well, which is supporting other group costs is under control. So there's no major changes there. And then we have the residual listed performance in the SCIS business.
Okay, thank you for that. I'll jump back into the line. Thank you so much.
The next question comes from Allen Wells from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Hi, Magnus and Andreas. A couple from me, please. Just mindful of the kind of portfolio management comments, you said that they will continue in Europe, Ibero-America into the first half. So is it right to assume that that kind of very low single-digit growth kind of profile that we've seen for this year in those regions but at least continues in the first half next year? I'm just keen to understand how you see the potential timing and shape of growth recovery there. And that's the first question. Secondly, just a quantification question on the tax timing comment that you made in terms of the unwind in the fourth quarter. Exactly what does that mean in terms of the impact on cash flow? And as I just think about the 3% organic growth number that you posted in Q3, what is the pricing component of that versus volume?
Just an average group level, just keen to understand where pricing is. Thank you.
Thanks, Allen. So on the active portfolio management, if you're looking at the current trading, it's a several % type of impact that we're seeing on the numbers that we're reporting in the last couple of quarters. So that's the reason we highlight that there is a significant impact. We don't provide guidance, but we continue to work as we've done before. It's obviously to take care of our clients in a good way, do this in an orderly fashion. But I also call it out because it is important that we also complete that work and get that work behind us because the sooner that we do that, we can also start to focus more on profitable growth again. So that's really the perspective. But we don't provide any guidance.
But I think going back a number of years, a lot of people were wondering, okay, does this mean that you're going to shrink significantly in business, etc.? Well, as you know, over many, many years, that hasn't happened because we also have had a healthy intake in terms of new business. So we're on the right path, but we also need to finish that job. Very important in Europe and Ibero-America. Then if you compare a little bit to North America, you also see the benefit there. We were done with this work earlier in North America, and they're obviously also back to much healthy growth levels, and that really contributes. So this is all part of the plan, but the good thing now is that we're now kind of nearing completion of that work in the next couple of quarters.
When it comes to the 3% growth, the majority of that is price, and where we do have volume increases is in our North America business where we have seen a good portfolio development, and it's also a very good place to have good growth given the margin profile that we're having in our North America business. There we have been through the APM program, as Magnus just talked about, and now we are turning that business more and more into growth focus, so it's really good to see the growth numbers and the volume development in the North America business, but all in all, on the group level, most of the 3% is price. When it comes to the cash question related to tax, we have had some positive timing impacts both in Q2 and Q3 in the U.S., and we expect that to reverse in Q4.
We are talking about $30-$40 million of negative impact in Q4 on the cash flow related to that.
Great, thank you. Can I maybe just one quick additional follow-up? I'm just mindful of U.S. government shutdown at the moment. Is there any impact in your business there? I guess most of it might be in SCIS, which is closing down, but I'm just wondering if there's any impact over the last month or so in terms of Securitas there. Thank you.
No, there is no significant impact.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Viktor Lindeberg from Carnegie Investment Bank. Please go ahead.
Morning. Only one question from my side. Looking at the business, you've reshaped now quite impressively the past three years, in my book at least, and looking now forward in the market, if you could help us pin down the, let's say, bidding activity that you see, how is the market in light of all the uncertainty we see with the headlines every now and then and tweets and so forth, so curious to understand the overall market tendering activity and where you see yourself in light of your profitability journey now when it comes to maybe win ratios that you have seen or foresee going forward to not only defend the 8% margin, but in light of being able to propel further upwards. Thanks.
Yeah, thanks, Viktor. I think this is a part that we are very excited about, and I appreciate your comment. It's been quite heavy lifting within the business over the last four or five years in terms of shaping the company into the profile that we now start to become. Very intentional work. We followed by the book most of the things that we set out to do internally five, six years ago and executed on those. So I think that we are, as a company, we're in a much stronger position. And when I look at the market, we're also, I mean, we're operating in large, growing, attractive markets. So we're in a very good position also to tap into that and to leverage that with the strength of the offering that we have.
The kind of uncertainty that we're seeing around the world, and this is obviously related to geopolitical uncertainty, it's also related to increasing crime and risk levels. My clear takeaway from a number of the client discussions, and I mean, we're serving many of the most reputable companies in the world, they are looking in light of that for a strong partner, a really, really trustworthy and reliable partner that has strong capabilities, and those capabilities to us are very much focused on technology, digital, and our services capabilities that we have in our portfolio, so I think that we are really well placed in that, and there is also a healthy market.
An important shift that we have been able to achieve in the last five, six years is that we have been much more granular and also much firmer in terms of what are the profitability levels that we need for the business to be sustainable, and I think that has been, as the market leader in our industry, that has been really, really important work for us to carry out, but then when you're looking at the market, because that's obviously more on a macro level, we also then have a strong position. We know the market is growing, but we're also in the last four or five years also focusing in on the segments where we see that there is a very clear security need. There is a focus on quality.
Some of those that we're also enjoying very, very good growth today. Examples are in technology segments. It's in the data center segments, pharmaceuticals, defense, just to mention a few. What I'm seeing here is that the positions that we have built a few years ago, we just continue to expand and grow those ones. That gives me a lot of confidence that we are really in a much better position today, much more intentional, and in a good position as well to now, after we get a lot of the heavy kind of lifting work behind us, to also optimize a little bit more in terms of continuous margin improvement, but also then really doubling down on more profitable growth because we have a strong offering and we want to grow. We need to get some of that work done.
But the good thing now is that now it's not four or five years out. It's a couple of quarters out. I think that is the exciting position that we are in right now. I believe we're in a good position, Viktor, and also good market.
Thank you. And by your comment, it does not really sound that clients are waiting to make decisions. It seems the market is progressing as it usually does. No incremental hesitation seen. Is that a fair assumption?
I think so. This is a fairly slow-moving and fairly conservative industry from my perspective. But it's also based on security so important that most of our clients, they are also very deliberate in terms of, okay, what are the things that we need in our security solutions and who is the partner going to be? And for that reason, some of the selling cycles are a bit longer, but the way that we build our business is very much focused on long-term value creation. So once we are in a relationship with a client, we usually develop that continuously and over time. And that is a real position of strength for us. But I wouldn't say that there is a hesitance in that sense.
It's rather the question, how can you help us and really leverage technology and digital capabilities that we have and that are also out there in the market to be able to run a more effective and more efficient security program? And there I feel that the kind of the increasing complexity from that perspective is clearly in our favor because then most customers also realize that it doesn't make any sense for them to invest in all of that capability. It requires real deep know-how that we have in our technology business, that we're building digital capabilities and also much stronger guarding capabilities. So yeah, it's matching in a really good way. And that's the reason I'm saying I think we're in a really good position when I look at the next five to ten years after a period of really reshaping the company.
All right. Super. Best of luck out there.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial #5 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Simon Jönsson from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead. Simon Jönsson, ABG Sundal Collier, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.
Thank you and good morning all. I just have a follow-up question on the M&A in Technology and Solutions specifically, of course. Just wondering where you think or where you see that the market is currently in terms of multiples paid for acquisitions of the kind of assets that you are looking for. Ballpark figures would be fine. Thanks.
Thank you. Given that we have not been so active in the market, I would not really comment upon that today, to be honest, as well. That's something I need to come back to. But the things that we have done have been more or less on the same levels as, I mean, same levels as we have done both those before. I think we should take out the Stanley transaction. That was one big transaction, generally speaking, where we have said that we paid premium to get that down. So the multiples in the technology market are lower than that for sure. But I haven't seen any trend of reduced multiples later over the last years. So normally in the technology space, you would pay double-digit multiples, low double-digit multiples.
And then it all depends on what kind of cost synergies that we have and, of course, revenue synergies as well. So those are the comments I would like to give at this point in time.
Yeah, I understand. Thanks for that. That's all for me.
There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the President and CEO, Magnus Ahlqvist, for any closing comments.
Very good. Thanks a lot, everyone, for joining us today. We continue on a good path, as stated, and excited about the next phase in our journey. Thank you.