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hold shares in a stock which i feel will recover Premier Foods. When, not If,G4S would be worth looking at, if it less than halved at some stage!!!
so many good companies suffer badly because of poor management, and sadly some never recover. Look at Mouchel, Connaught just to name two. Yes I had money invested and lost. I would not touch G4S with a barge pole. What would i do if in here? get out quick.
more to this than meets the eye, LOCOG seems to be the main culprit, if they only realized in Dec that they had to revise the figures up from 10000 personnel to 23700 and then not having a new contract in place until Jan is shameful. G4S for their part must have known it was impossible to fulfill the contract due to the timescales involved. Securicor has an History of being scapegoated for events totally outside their control......remember the Americans and 9/11?
They have let the nation down, with their greed to the contract, only to lose £50M for delivering 40% of their contract? They should lose £180M (60%) IMO. Then only coming clean that they have failed to recruit enough with 2 weeks to go! What is the calbre of the recruits they have managed to recruit? I understand it would be a difficult undertaking to try to recruit, train enough guards for a job that is only for a few months, but they clearly left it too late and heads should role, this has embarrassed UK Plc globally, G4S reputation is in shreds and they will not recover easily from this. Chubb who I believe also tendered for this contract must be laughing hard at their competitor. This is a strong sell IMO.
G4S stands to lose up to £50 million as a result of the London Olympics security fiasco, the private security firm says. The company's chief executive, Nick Buckles, has apologised after 3,500 soldiers had to be drafted in to bolster guard levels for the Games. Home Secretary Theresa May was forced to ask the Ministry of Defence to provide more troops after the contractor admitted it did not have enough staff. The company has a £284m contract with the Government to provide 13,700 security guards for the Olympic Games, but only 4,000 guards are trained and ready. G4S said it would see a loss on the contract of between £35m and £50m. "G4S accepts its responsibility for the additional cost of the increased military deployment resulting from the shortfall in workforce delivery," the company said in a statement. Mr Buckles said: "We are deeply disappointed that we have not been able to fully deliver against our contract with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) and that it has been necessary to call upon the additional military personnel." The Government found out about the shortfall on Wednesday and quickly had to boost the number of soldiers working on the Games to 17,000 - almost a fifth of the entire Army. Shares in the company were down 1.5% when markets closed on Friday, meaning more than £150m has been wiped from its market value over the past two days. Mr Buckles added: "In partnership with the military and Locog, we are working flat out around the clock to resolve the situation. "We are determined that together we will deliver a successful and secure Games. I would like to thank the members of the current security workforce who are already on the ground securing many of the Olympic sites across the country." John Connolly, who joined G4S as chairman last month, said: "Since I joined the company I have seen the huge focus which has been placed on delivering this contract. "It is a significant disappointment to everyone at the company that we have fallen short of our obligations. I know however that everyone involved throughout G4S is doing everything they can to improve the situation and we are putting every resource behind this effort." Mr Buckles has been called to evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday as part of the panel's inquiry into Olympic Security.
The Whitehall source was keen to emphasise that security is not at risk in any way. Back in December the London organisation committee, Locag, was forced to admit it had grossly underestimated the number of staff it would need to provide security at the Games, revealing it would likely need as many a 23,700 staff as opposed to the 10,000 it originally forecast, helping to push up the budget from £282m to £553m.
G4S has plunged after embarrasing reports have emerged over concerns the FTSE 100 security solutions firm will be unable to provide the 13,700 guards it is contracted to deliver for the London Olympics, prompting organisers to call in as many as 3,500 troops from the military. Government ministers have reportedly been pushed into the decision with just two weeks before the Olympics begin having given G4S up until now to deliver on its promise. Organisers are said to believe G4S needs to provide 19,000 security guards to fulfil its £284m contract, requiring 10,400 licenced guards and 3,300 students. The share price fell 2.38% to 283.50p in early trading. According the Guardian, a Whitehall insider has accused the Home Office of "sticking its head in the sand" over the need to deploy extra military personnel. The insider is reported to have said: "This has been an accident waiting to happen. The Home Office has waited to make a decision on this because G4S has been saying it is all in hand. But we've run out of time." The Ministry of Defence is now considered to be an insurance policy in the event G4S is unable to come up with the goods. The Ministry is said to be seeking assurance that any soldiers who are drafted in last minute will be full compensated for cancelled leave.
G4S, a global secure solutions group, has announced the acquistion of Protekt by G4S Beheer. Protekt is a a safety training consultancy with four training facilities in the Netherlands. G4S has made the purchase to further strengthen its existing position in safety training and consultancy, with both companies having "significant experience of providing customised solutions for safety training". Protekt was acquired from Arbo Unie and had gross assets of £1.1m as at December 31st 2011 and sales of £3.8m for 2011.
Grahame Gibson, the Chief Operating Officer and Regional head of G4S’s Americas division, has sold 100,000 shares in the international security solutions supplier. Gibson sold the shares for 280p per share on June 19th, making a total of £280,000 on the sale. The company was unavailable to comment on the reason for the transaction. He has been a long-running executive in the security industry for the last three decades, having joined Group 4 as Finance Director back in 1983.
G4S Buy 11-Jun-12 £278,600.00 John Connolly 100,000 @ 278.60p
Seymour Pierce retained its "buy" rating for G4S (GFS) with a 350p target price. The security company has set an earnings growth target of 10% for the current financial year, with the broker expecting the firm to benefit from increased public sector outsourcing in the UK. Seymour Pierce also believes the firm will spend some 200 million pounds on acquisitions as it looks to increase its presence in the emerging markets of Brazil, India and China.
A Greek exit from the euro could be a moneyspinner for G4S, which is eyeing the prospect of an elaborate security operation if millions of drachma notes and coins have to be rushed into circulation. Its chief executive Nick Buckles said yesterday that Greece was the company’s fastest-growing cash-handling market in Europe as economic uncertainty encourages businesses to keep money at hand. “Our biggest contingency issue would arise if the country were to leave the euro and go back to the drachma, because basically we would be involved in the whole swap-out of the currency,” Mr Buckles said, The Times says.
Outlook As expected, organic growth has continued to improve in developed secure solutions markets and remains strong in developing markets. Based on recent contract awards, outsourcing trends and the group's bid pipeline, the organic growth rate is expected to continue to improve during 2012. Contract phasing and the US government market will continue to impact margins in the short term but margins will improve in the second half of the year. Capital Markets Day On 22 May, G4S will be holding a Capital Markets Day in London for analysts and institutional investors. AGM & Dividend The AGM will take place on 7 June 2012 and the final dividend of 5.11 pence (DKK 0.4544) per share is proposed for payment on 15 June 2012. Results for the six months to 30 June 2012 will be published on 28 August 2012.
INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT G4S, the international security solutions group, will be updating analysts and investors today on trading for the year to date, including an overview of financial performance to 31 March 2012. In the first quarter of 2012, overall revenues grew 7.5% at constant exchange rates compared to the same period last year, and grew 6.7% at actual exchange rates. As expected, profits were at similar levels to the previous year and the group operating margin was lower. An overview of the financial performance for the three months to 31 March 2012 is as follows: Organic Growth Overall organic growth was strong at 7% (6% excluding the Olympic Games contract). Developing markets organic growth was 11% and for developed markets it was 4%. In secure solutions, organic growth was 7% with good performances in the UK, helped by the Olympic Games contract, continued strong developing markets growth and further improvement in North American commercial businesses and Continental Europe. Cash solutions organic growth was 4%, with 10% growth in developing markets, and with progress made, but to a lesser extent, in developed markets. The low growth in developed markets was due to contract losses in the UK, which have since been replaced and added to with new contracts wins. Margins Overall margins were down 0.4% as expected, due to contract start-up phasing in the UK cash solutions and government businesses and US government budgetary cuts. Material Events, Transactions and Financial Position On 20 April 2012, G4S raised €600m for five years in the public bond market, the proceeds of which will be used for general corporate purposes and to pay down short term bank borrowings. There have been no other material events, transactions or changes in the financial position of the group since the 2011 annual results were announced on 15 March 2012 other than as outlined in this statement.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20120515070008H2041
Panmure Gordon retained its "buy" recommendation for G4S (GFS) with a 330p target price. The broker said that the security company's shares have underperformed the sector despite seeing above average organic growth, with 2012 earnings forecasts putting the stock on a prospective multiple of 11 times, 12% below the peer group average. Panmure noted that emerging markets account for 30% of the group's revenues and expects it to benefit from growth in Brazil, India and China
Article about director declining bonus after wasting money on faile aquisition: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/13/g4s-chief-executive-nick-buckles-waives-bonus
Numis initiates add on G4S, target price 310p.
Late in 2010 Nick Buckles, chief executive of G4S, told Martin Waller, who writes The Times' Tempus column, that he had no idea how anyone made money working for the UK Border Agency dealing with asylum seekers. He had just lost a small contract to an underbidder which had offered an apparently suicidal price. Yesterday terms were revealed for the five-year contracts won by G4S and others with the Border Agency, dealing with asylum seekers. Clearly a lot has happened in almost 18 months. The new contracts are larger and so more attractive. The shares sell on a respectable 11 times earnings, which is not much to set the pulses racing though prospects for growth long-term are still there. It will be a dull slog from here, adding bolt-ons across the globe. But sometimes boring is good - though I doubt Mr Buckles would agree, Tempus says
Thursday tips round-up: G4S, APR Energy Late in 2010 Nick Buckles, chief executive of G4S, told Martin Waller, who writes The Times´ Tempus column, that he had no idea how anyone made money working for the UK Border Agency dealing with asylum seekers. He had just lost a small contract to an underbidder which had offered an apparently suicidal price. Yesterday terms were revealed for the five-year contracts won by G4S and others with the Border Agency, dealing with asylum seekers. Clearly a lot has happened in almost 18 months. The new contracts are larger and so more attractive. The shares sell on a respectable 11 times earnings, which is not much to set the pulses racing though prospects for growth long-term are still there. It will be a dull slog from here, adding bolt-ons across the globe. But sometimes boring is good — though I doubt Mr Buckles would agree, Tempus says.
REVIEW AND OUTLOOK Despite ongoing economic uncertainty in 2011, the business has performed well and has good trading momentum which we expect to continue. We have had some significant contract wins in the last year which demonstrate the outsourcing model, particularly in the public sector in the UK, is delivering real benefit to the group. We expect these outsourcing trends to continue and will focus on bidding and winning an increasing proportion of larger, more complex contracts. 2012 will be a year of mobilisation across a broad range of complex contracts and delivery of the security requirements of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - a unique opportunity for us to showcase our large scale security capabilities. Contract phasing and mobilisation may impact margins in the short term, but we expect margins to recover for the full year. We will continue to build on our successes and we remain confident about the outlook for 2012 when we expect to deliver an improved organic revenue growth performance whilst continuing to maintain our discipline on margins for the full year and on meeting our cash generation targets.
G4S (GFS) also suffered the wrath of investors after profits were impacted by legal settlement costs of 55 million pounds following the failed takeover bid for Danish security services firm ISS. As a result, the company announced a fall in pre-tax profits of 16.7% for the year ended 31st December to 279 million pounds. The group also noted that demand in developed countries remained subdued, but believes that a strong performance at the London Olympics, for which it is the official security provider, will help demonstrate its capabilities. G4S shares dropped 6p to 283.5p
BRIEF-G4S 2012 Olympics contract worth 200 mln stg revenue 13 March 2012 07:38, updated 13 March 2012 07:47 LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) – G4S PLC : Expects revenue of 200 million STG from 2012 olympics contract - CEO
UPDATE 1-G4S profit rises, upbeat on UK and U.S. markets 13 March 2012 07:34 FY PBITA 531 mln stg vs 520 mln stg Sales up 4.7 pct to 7.52 bln stg Sees 2012 acquisition spend of 200 mln stg in developing markets Encouraged by U.S. and UK outlook, cash solutions business still tough Recommended total dividend per share 8.53P (Adds details) LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) – G4S , the world's largest security services firm, posted a 2 percent rise in full-year profit, and said it was upbeat on its 2012 prospects as U.S. and UK outsourcing markets improved. G4S, which made headlines last year when it scrapped a 5.2 billion pound deal to buy Danish outsourcing firm ISS due to investor opposition, said profit before interest, tax and amortisation (PBITA) for 2011 was 531 million pounds ($829.13 million), up from 520 million in 2010. The group, which operates in over 125 countries and provides services from cash transportation to prison management and events security, including the London 2012 Olympic Games, said it expected the UK market to be boosted by government appetite for facilities management deals. However, the group, which grew revenues by 4.7 percent to 7.52 billion pounds, said the outlook for its developed markets cash solutions remained "muted" as the division struggles with low interest rates hampering growth. G4S said it expected to spend around 200 million pounds on acquisitions in developing markets in 2012, adding that it would look to move beyond security work in countries like Brazil, India and China where other opportunities were large. Shares in the FTSE-100 company, which upped its dividend by 8 percent to 8.53 pence, closed at 289.5 pence on Monday, valuing the business at around 4.1 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.6404 British pounds)
Shares of security group G4S (GFS) gave its followers something of a rollercoaster ride in the last quarter of 2012, plunging after news emerged of a planned £5bn bid for a Danish cleaning group in early October. This week though, the markets will be focused on the aftermath of a rather more humble example of M&A, the purchase of Chubb Emergency Response