City puts up barriers on tumbling G4S

Security firm G4S disappointed investors on Tuesday with a cut to its annual revenue forecasts.

The security firm had looked as though it had put a series of scandals behind it this year and had re-entered the FTSE 100.

Ashley Almanza, the chief executive, focused the group more on its cash security vans arm and its security systems.

However, shares fell nearly 7% to 261.3p after today’s trading update for the first nine months of the year.

The business scaled back its predictions for full-year profit growth and it now expects revenues to grow between 3% and 4% rather than between 4% and 6%, as previously stated.

The lower guidance was blamed on a combination of falling revenue growth in the Middle East and India, where sustained lower oil prices have led to a fall in business, and a tough comparative for the final quarter of 2016, when G4S started one of its biggest contracts, with US retailer Walmart.Excluding the Middle East, the business’s revenues are growing at 4.4% in all regions, the company said.

Almanza has made £503 million of disposals since joining in 2013.