non-recurring items, for the three months ended March 31, was 54 percent higher at $44.6 million compared to the same period last year. Net sales increased by 12 percent to $460.7 million for the quarter.

Company chairman and chief executive officer Michael Ashcroft said the first quarter results were an indication of the strength of the ADT brand name. ADT, through its subsidiaries, is the largest provider of security systems in the US and UK.

"ADT Security Services' commercial business in the United States had a very good first quarter, benefiting from marketing initiatives taken in the previous quarter, as well as from a stronger market,'' he said.

"ADT's residential business also continued to grow strongly with unit sales of approximately 88,000 in the first quarter, compared with 75,000 in the fourth quarter of 1996. Growth in the residential business has been fuelled by ADT's strategy of establishing multiple channels of distribution and, in the first quarter, ADT added to its strategic alliances with the announcement of a joint marketing agreement with AT&T Corporation.'' ADT and other companies in the security business may be poised for gains in their share prices even after signs that crime rates are falling, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

A third of new single-family homes have alarm systems, and 20 percent of existing homes have such devices, up from eight percent five years ago, the paper stated.

Shares of ADT and Tyco International Ltd. hit record highs May 5, when the Federal Trade Commission cleared Tyco's $5.97 billion bid for ADT.

Last week, Republic Industries, which failed in a bid to buy ADT, sold its stake in the company.