SERBIA
Djordje Vucinic, President of Securitas: We, as part of a group that operates in 46 countries with more than 280,000 employees, were able to leverage the experiences and knowledge of our colleagues, and provide the right solutions. While we belong to the service segment that was hit very hard and key challenges such as unemployment and slow new investments remain, positive developments are luckily taking place all over the world. We were also mindful of expenses optimization, organizational efficiency and continuous innovations. The conditions for doing business this year have not yet improved, but it is important to note that no significant negative trends are present. March showed a slight upswing, and we hope it will continue. It is also quite obvious that more and more clients are turning to quality products and services, and that increased use of physical security measures and guarding services will come over time.
SLOVENIA
Rok Bajec, Director of Mobicom: The number of companies that failed is growing; unemployment is at record levels; money is almost nonexistent. The construction sector is sinking, which also drags out some other problems. It is not a time for major investments and building facilities, and therefore we should meet our goals in some smaller projects. The biggest issue is still payment, which means you will never know when you will be paid for equipment and/or services provided to your customers. Before the recession, tenders were usually competed on by seven to nine companies; now, the average number of participants has increased to 18. People no longer trust banks and do not believe in incentives from the government. If changes do not occur, the situation will only be even worse and confidence not regained. Statistics are not something on which I would base my business decisions. Knowledge of the market and situations related to customers are more helpful in business planning than world-leading research companies. We, however, expect growth in intrusion detection and small video surveillance systems.
Igor Sterle, Director of Linde MPA: In Western Europe, there has been a visible, positive trend due to government stimuli. In contrast, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and some other parts of the Adriatic region, government investments in their own economies are, in my opinion, still not enough. These countries have already entered the third year of the recession, and the end is not in sight. If the only countermeasure is cost savings in all areas, then the results will just be that — zilch. In our business, which is closely related to the field of biometrics, we do not feel the recession. This is a very specific technology with a sharp increase; we have seen a consistent annual growth between 40 to 50 percent for the last five years, especially in banking and payment transactions.