G4S is the notorious British company that made a joke of security at the London Olympics, now that same company’s reliable Irish arm has inked a €3.5m cash deal after racking up losses of more than €6m between 2009 and 2010.
The company’s immediate Irish parent, G4S Holdings, injected the money into the operating unit — G4S Secure Solutions — in order to recapitalize the business, the managing director of G4S Secure Solutions in Ireland, Niall Feely, confirmed. But he said that despite the losses made by the business between 2009 and 2010 as the economy tanked, G4S is now making a “modest profit” again.
“We’re doing as well as anyone can given the economic circumstances at the moment,” he told the Irish Independent.
G4S employs about 3,500 people in Ireland and provides services such as manned security, alarm monitoring and cash security services.
Mr Feely said there had been no adverse impact on the Irish arm of G4S as a result of the high-profile drubbing the British parent endured after it was unable to provide all the security staff it had promised for the Olympics.
G4S had been contracted to supply 10,000 security personnel to the Games but could ultimately only provide 6,000. That meant thousands of British troops had to be called in to fill the vacuum. G4S is now facing losses of as much as £50m (€41m) as it pays for the additional military personnel.
Mr Feely said it had been initially hoped a couple of years ago that the Irish arm of G4S would have been able to provide hundreds of personnel as part of the Olympic contract. However, about a year ago the shutter was effectively pulled down on any non-UK residents being used for the roles due to the level of security approval required. Mr Feely said that consequently there has been “no transfer of resources” from the Irish arm of G4S to the UK for the Games.
He added that the entire security sector in Ireland has contracted as a result of the downturn.
“We’re putting in a lot more remote monitoring systems now,”
