Full-year figures from security group G4S' (GFS) revealed decent growth in the core security business. But performance overall was hit by expensive and high profile contract mishaps - essentially its Olympics contract. Adjust for an £88m hit from that and pre-tax profit grew a modest 3.5 per cent to £266m, while the underlying group operating margin slipped 10 basis points to 7.1 per cent.
The secure solutions business grew organic revenue by 8 per cent in the year to £6bn - again, after adjusting for the Olympics contract. The division's two key growth areas were in North America, where revenue rose 11 per cent, and its developing markets unit - especially Latin America and the Caribbean - which saw revenues rise 10 per cent. Although European revenue rose just 5 per cent and the division's margin fell slightly to 7 per cent. The cash solutions, business, meanwhile, is struggling as its retailer customer base continues to feel the impact of tough trading conditions - organic revenue here rose just 3 per cent in the year to £1.29bn.
J.P. Morgan Cazenove has cut its forecast for adjusted EPS for 2013 by about 3 per cent to 25.3p (from: 21.1p in 2012).
G4S (GFS) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 299.8p | MARKET VALUE: | £4.2bn | |
TOUCH: | 299.4-299.8p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 311p | LOW: 237p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.0% | PE RATIO: | 38 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 83p* | NET DEBT: | 146% |
Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 5.93 | 263 | 13.2 | 6.43 |
2009 | 7.01 | 303 | 14.9 | 7.18 |
2010 | 7.26 | 335 | 16.9 | 7.90 |
2011 | 6.97 | 257 | 13.3 | 8.53 |
2012 | 7.50 | 175 | 7.90 | 8.96 |
% change | +8 | -32 | -41 | +5 |
Ex-div: 15 May Payment: 14 Jun *Includes intangible assets of £2.4bn, or 171p per share |