G4S meets first half expectations

Security services company G4S met expectations with a 5 per cent rise in first-half adjusted operating profit, and said productivity improvements would continue to feed through in the second half.
A G4S security employee.A G4S security employee.
A G4S security employee.

G4S, which stocks ATMs, runs prisons and protects airports, posted profit of £193m, broadly in line with analyst consensus of £194m, on revenue from continuing operations of £3.3bn, up 2.8 per cent but slightly undershooting forecasts.

Ashley Almanza, chief executive officer of G4S, said: “We continue to make good progress with our strategic plans, investing in growth and productivity programmes which underpinned strong growth in our pipeline and a 10.5 per cent increase in underlying earnings.

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The firm said new contract sales achieved a total value of £1.4bn, the annual value £0.7bn, with contract retention rates maintained at around 90 per cent. The sales pipeline has been replenished to stand at £6bn annual contract value.

Mr Almanza said: “We won new contracts with a total value of £1.4bn and sales, new contract mobilisation and on-going productivity programmes provided increasingly good momentum through the first half. This is expected to deliver further improvements in the group’s performance in the second half.”