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ASSA ABLOY Concludes Buyout of Cards Manufacturer Placard

ASSA ABLOY AB ASAZY, on Sep 30, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Placard in Australia. The buyout will enable the company to strengthen its secure cards offering. Notably, the financial terms of the transaction were kept under wraps.

Placard is a leading manufacturer of secure plastic cards in Australia, offering service-based product solutions for several industries including financial, retail, government, and hospitality sectors. Founded in 1987, this Melbourne-based company employs around 170 people.

Following the announcement, ASSA ABLOY’s share price increased 1.1% to close at $11.09 on Monday.

Backed by expanded product offerings in the secure cards segment, the company expects to gain access to a larger customer base, particularly in the Australasia region. As a matter of fact, ASSA ABLOY expects this acquisition to be accretive to its earnings per share from the beginning.

Other Inorganic Moves

A notable inorganic move by the company was the buyout of LifeSafety Power in the previous month. Notably, this buyout will help ASSA ABLOY in strengthening its offerings within the access control portfolio.

This apart, in June 2019, the company entered into an agreement to purchase the U.K.-based De La Rue’s international identity solutions business. Notably, this buyout is likely to boost ASSA ABLOY’s secure identity solutions offerings.

ASSA ABLOY currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). In the past six months, the stock has gained 5.1% compared with the industry’s growth of 8.3%.



Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same space are Brady Corporation BRC, Johnson Controls International plc JCI and Lakeland Industries, Inc. LAKE. All these companies carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Brady delivered average positive earnings surprise of 9.68% in the trailing four quarters.

Johnson Controls International delivered average positive earnings surprise of 4.54% in the trailing four quarters.

Lakeland Industries delivered average positive earnings surprise of 325.89% in the trailing four quarters.

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Johnson Controls International plc (JCI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Assa Abloy AB (ASAZY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Brady Corporation (BRC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Lakeland Industries, Inc. (LAKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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