Securitas Q2 profit beats forecast

OSLO (Reuters) - Sweden's Securitas reported on Friday a bigger than expected rise in second-quarter core profit as earnings margins rose and said its high-margin technology and solutions business grew by 12%, sending the company's shares higher.

Operating profit before amortisation (EBITA) at the security services group rose to 2.62 billion Swedish crowns ($248.9 million) from a year-ago 1.76 billion, beating the average analyst forecast of 2.39 billion in a company-provided poll.

Securitas' operating profit margin stood at 6.6% in the April to June quarter, up from 5.8% in the first three months of the year and exceeding the 6.1% predicted by analysts.

"Organic sales growth in the group continued to be driven primarily by price increases, ­although volume growth was good within technology and solutions and in the airport security business," CEO Magnus Ahlqvist said in a statement.

The company's share price, which had traded largely unchanged ahead of the earnings release, jumped on the news and stood 4.0% higher at 1112 GMT.

($1 = 10.5251 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by David Evans)