Axis Communications Sees Sales Boost From Surveillance Growth c.2011 Bloomberg News

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Axis Communications AB, a Swedish specialist in Internet-based cameras, expects growth in the video-surveillance market to boost revenue as it adds clients, co-founder Martin Gren said.

The market, which is worth about $10 billion annually, may grow 10 percent this year, Gren said. Analog cameras account for about three-quarters of the market, with digital devices making up the rest, he said. Sales of IP-based cameras will outpace the market in coming years, Gren said, predicting a shift to digital by 2020. Axis is the world’s biggest maker of Internet-protocol cameras, he said.

“Looking at the trend in recent years, we hope to reach in the range of 400 million euros ($540 million) in revenue this year,” Gren said in an interview in Milan today. “This is the only industry where analog still plays a dominant role, and that’s pretty unique. That will change in coming years.”

The company had sales of about 3 billion kronor ($436 million) last year, indicating possible growth for this year of more than 20 percent. Gren owns about 11 percent of Lund, Sweden-based Axis, he said.

Surveillance in cities and school districts, airports, train stations and onboard transport as well as in retail and banking will boost growth, Gren said. Axis devices include cameras able to detect people through smoke and extreme weather conditions as well as in low light.

--Editors: Jerrold Colten, Robert Valpuesta

To contact the reporter on this story: Chiara Remondini in Milan at cremondinibloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11bloomberg.net