Closure of companies which resulted in cancellation of contracts has resulted in the slow growth of revenue for listed security company, G4S. The company Managing Director Mokgethi Magapa told the media on Thursday when he announced the half year financial results that the 2.4 percent revenue growth could have been higher had it not been because of closure of businesses. All things being equal, Magapa said G4S could be growing above inflation rate at around 5 or 6 percent. But due the current economic conditions, the company is doing all it can to stabilise the business which has seen it write-off non-performing assets to the value of P2.4 million which Magapa said it only takes courage to take such a decision. Magapa said such assets are written-off after all the avenues to recover the money have been exhausted. During the first six months of the year G4S has been able to grow its revenue by 2.4 percent to P110.7 million which Magapa said was driven by new businesses across its variety of segments which include manned guarding and facilities management among others. However, the current revenue is said to have been driven mainly by cash in transit business and manned guarding segment. Magapa said the company has also been aggressive in its collections in a bid to clean up its balance sheet in terms of debts.
G4S has registered a profit after tax of P16.2 million – a 4.5 percent increase from the previous corresponding period which was P15.5 million. Going forward, Magapa said their strategic priorities remain embedded in their operations across all the business lines to enable support to the company’s order to cash process and these are revenue growth, cost containment, customer centricity, operational excellence and the employees. He said the future outlook is positive and they are confident of driving the business with the above stated priorities. Magapa said together with centralised contract management, reduced time from event to billing and strengthened collections performance, they have seen significant improvements in their cash conventions efficiencies which remain north of 100 percent at 167.5 percent. He said the company will maintain its focus on integrating technology in its offering of high end quality products. Magapa said the directors are confident the business will overcome current economic environment and deliver growth in earnings as well as deliver more value to customers.