Subscriber Growth Slowing at Brink's Home Security

On October 31, cash-in-transit security provider The Brinks Company completed its Brink's Home Security (BHS) Holdings spin-off. Immediately following the transaction, BHS Holdings debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CFL", reflecting its corporate mission of creating "Customers For Life" in its principal business-- home security system monitoring services. Although subscriber growth grew year-on-year seven percent for the September-2008 quarter, a rise in the comparable disconnect rate suggests the appellative CFL could be misleading:

• The annualized disconnect rate for the third quarter of 2008 was 9.0%, and 7.4% for the first nine months of 2008 compared to 6.9% and 7.0% for the same periods of 2007. There are three primary drivers of the third quarter increase in disconnect rate as compared to the 2007 period, the most significant being an increase in customer requested cancellations and customer moves to rented housing which appears to be related to the slowing economy. Additionally, cancellations of 1,600 multi-family housing subscriber-monitoring contracts, and reconciliation adjustments related to 1,000 subscriber accounts both increased in the third quarter of 2008 as compared to the same 2007 period. - Third-quarter 2008 10-Q regulatory filing

In addition, the company expects the full-year disconnect rate for 2008 to range between 7.5 % and 7.8 percent. However, growing unemployment could translate to a higher disconnect rate, as the jobless transition from home ownership to rentals.