G4S (GFS)

G4S (GFS)

INTRO
(Door bell rings. Shot from behind Alison opening door to a security guard dressed in G4S uniform, helmet & strong box. He says....)

Secure delivery of your Olympic tickets Miss Bell.

DESK PIECE
G4S guard just about everything.
The world’s largest security company operates at British airports, prisons, police cells, immigration centres and now, the 2012 Olympics.
It’s also the second-largest employer on the planet, with around 625,000 staff in 110 offices globally.
The £100 million Olympic security deal is the latest in a string of contracts for the Anglo-Danish company, which earns more than £600 million from the UK government for a wide range of services.
But............when your business is big, your problems can be, too.
For G4S, it couldn’t get any worse than the case of corporate manslaughter currently being considered by the Crown Prosecution Service
This followed the death of Jimmy Mubenga on an aeroplane, as he was restrained while being deported from the UK to Angola in October 2010.
Then in March this year, there was drama at the Olympic stadium when police made arrests following findings of explosives and drugs.
In June, figures were released showing 700 complaints about the behaviour of the company’s guards at three immigrant holding centres.
From a corporate perspective, there has been considerable pressure on the firm’s central and local government business since the comprehensive spending review.
G4S said last November that it anticipated losing around £10 million in revenues in the wake of the cuts, as it trimmed deals.
There is also talk of a privatisation scheme for several prisons which could see some of the company’s business put out to tender. The deportation contract has moved elsewhere and its deal with the Border Agency expires in August.
Despite this, the business has delivered underlying revenue, profit and dividend growth for the last six successive years and first quarter profits for this year were ahead of 2010.
That’s performance that many investors would like to lock down.