In Brief

SHREDDING INTERNATIONAL BORDERS

NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) was one of several trade associations from throughout the world that sent representatives to a gathering late last year to discuss common issues.

Document destruction associations and companies from the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany held a joint conference and summit meeting in November 2003 at the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow Airport near London. The meeting was called the World Shred Summit and Expo. Prior to the conference, the leaders of the groups held a summit meeting to discuss how they can coordinate a unified message for the industry.

FREIGHTWAYS GOES ON THE RECORD(S)

New Zealand’s Freightways Ltd. has announced an unconditional agreement to purchase the business and assets of New Zealand records management company Archive Security Limited.

 "While it currently contributes only a small part of Freightways’ revenue and earnings, we believe that records management in particular represents a real growth opportunity, as we estimate only around half of New Zealand businesses currently outsource the management of their records," says Freightways managing director, Dean Bracewell.

Freightways Ltd. believes the Archive Security acquisition will lift it to number three by volume in the New Zealand records management industry.

MOUNTAIN OF PROFIT

New Iron Mountain Inc., Boston, has announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2004. Total revenues were $434 million, operating income was $86 million, and net income was $23 million. "The business performed well in the first quarter," states Richard Reese, Iron Mountain’s chairman and CEO.

For the quarter, storage revenue grew 23 percent and service revenue grew 24 percent compared to the prior year. The storage and service revenue internal growth rates were 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively, yielding a total internal revenue growth rate of 8 percent.

Core service revenue continued to improve due primarily to increases in the Off-Site Data Protection division and the Secure Shredding product line, according to an Iron Mountain news release.