The results of the BHE’s autumn economic survey paint a mixed picture of the economic situation in the security market.

Looking at the current business situation, a slight upward trend can still be recognised. The average score of 1.98 on the school grading scale is the second-best value since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic at the beginning of 2020. In spring 2023, this value was still at 2.03, in autumn 2022 at 2.15. Over 83% of companies rate the current situation as “very good” or “good”. A year ago, this only applied to around 69 per cent. According to the current survey, only 1 per cent of companies are complaining about a “poor business situation”, while no company describes the current situation as “very poor”.

However, this positive development is not reflected in the individual customer groups. Here, consistently lower marks were awarded than in the spring survey. The sharpest decline was in the private sector: a score of 3.05 (after 2.92 in the spring) represents the third worst result in this customer group since the survey began. The commercial sector recorded the fourth worst result at 2.14 (spring 2023: 2.07). The business situation among public sector clients is also in slight decline again (2.51 compared to 2.47).

Different trends can also be seen within the individual specialist sectors. While intruder alarm systems (2.45; spring 2023: 2.42), fire alarm systems (1.94; spring 2023: 1.91) and video security (2.29; spring 2023: 2.23) declined slightly, access control experienced a slight upturn with a score of 2.03 (after 2.11 in spring 2023). There was a more significant increase in smoke and heat extraction systems, which achieved the third-best result since records began with a score of 1.94 (spring 2023: 2.09).

With a score of 2.25, the assessment of the future business situation is similarly subdued as in spring 2023 (2.24).

The staffing situation in the sector remains tense. According to the survey, 56 per cent of companies are looking for new employees, 42 per cent want to retain their existing staff and 2 per cent of companies are planning redundancies.