A company best known for guarding Canadian airports last night rejected concern over the safety of British diplomats in Iraq after it acquired a Kroll security unit that guards the British embassy.

The company, Garda, said: “There will be no change in the quality of services.” It said that all ex-soldiers providing security for Kroll would join Garda, though it was unclear whether the SAS veteran Alastair Morrison will remain chief executive of the business.

Garda paid Kroll an undisclosed sum for its security unit which has annual revenue of $42 million (£21 million). Kroll Security International will be merged with Garda’s Vance unit, which describes itself as the third-biggest security firm in Iraq, with 600 staff guarding installations in the north.

Kroll won the £6.5 million contract for “static security” for all British diplomatic premises in Iraq, including the embassy in Baghdad and the consulate-general in Basra, after a fierce contest against rival security companies earlier this year.

Garda, the Montreal-based provider of airport security in Canada, has gained expertise in Iraq with its acquisition in January of Vance. Vance was founded by Chuck Vance, a former US Secret Service agent who married President Gerald Ford’s daughter after guarding her father. He was recently made chairman of Garda.

Foreign Office sources yesterday insisted that security for British diplomatic staff in Iraq is a priority and that it expected the contract to be honoured by the new company.

Several hundred private security guards are thought to have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. Three Kroll employees were killed in Iraq last year alone.

Kroll’s sale of its security unit will enable the group to focus on its consulting business and leave an activity in which once-handsome profit margins have narrowed considerably.

The influx of Westerners into Iraq early in its occupation created a bonanza in contracts for security firms, which hired hundreds of ex-soldiers and SAS men at daily rates from £200 to more than £400.

Garda said it had adopted a different approach from Kroll and other rivals, asserting that it had found “potential to have good profitability”.

Explore Industry Sectors

• Banking & Finance

• Construction & Property

• Consumer Goods

• Engineering

• Health

• Industrials

• Leisure

• Media

• Natural Resources

• Retailing

• Support Services

• Technology

• Telecoms

• Transport

• Utilities

Times Recommends

• B&B shareholders forced into funding rescue
• John Lewis department store sales plunge 8.3%
• Families turn to credit to cover mortgage bills