10th Mar 2015 08:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - G4S PLC Tuesday said it swung to a pretax profit in 2014 after 2013 was hit by hundreds of millions of pounds of charges and restructuring costs related to issues with UK government contracts, but Chief Executive Ashley Almanza admitted the company has a lot more to do before it's fully back on track.
The company reported a pretax profit of GBP148 million for 2014, compared with a restated GBP190 million pretax loss in 2013 when it had booked GBP386 million in charges and restructuring costs in the wake of the issues with some UK government contracts. It increased the provisions for the contracts by a further GBP45 million in 2014 and took a further restructuring charge of GBP29 million, but this was a big drop from 2013.
Excluding those costs and charges as well as profit from business disposals, its profit before interest, tax and amortisation rose to GBP424 million in 2014, from GBP393 million in 2013, as revenue from continuing operations rose 3.9% to GBP6.75 billion. Strong revenue growth in emerging markets and North America offset a decline in the UK and Europe.
Cash from the group's operating businesses was GBP526 million up by a quarter from GBP420 million in 2013, while total cash flow from continuing operations was GBP553 million, up from GBP496 million. It said it had also replenished its order book, and it stood at GBP5.5 billion annual contract value at the end of 2014.
It said it would raise its final dividend for the year by 5% to 5.82 pence a share, reflecting the improvement in its finances.
"The group's progress and prospects are reflected in the board's recommendation to increase the final dividend by 5%. There remains much to be done to realise the full potential of our strategy and we expect to make further progress in 2015," Almanza said in a statement.
G4S shares were up 1.8% at 296.30 pence early Tuesday, making it one of the best-performing stocks in the FTSE 100.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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