Cash-in-transit firm G4S got a million-euro sales bump after losing a major competitor
The company’s local business boomed the year after Brinks left the Irish market.
SALES AT THE local cash-in-transit wing of global security giant G4S topped €45 million the year after one its biggest rivals exited the Irish market.
Newly filed accounts for Dublin-based G4S Cash Solutions Ireland Limited show that the firm’s annual revenues grew by €1.2 million to €45 million in 2017.
This was the company’s first full year of trading after the 2016 closure of competitor Brinks’ cash-in-transit operation in Ireland.
The company’s decision to exit the market resulted in more than 200 people losing their jobs at its bases in Dublin, Cork and Galway.
The news came as a shock as Brinks had reached an agreement with staff to secure their employment just one month before the firm decided to pull the plug.
In a report accompanying G4S Cash Solutions’ 2017 accounts, the firm’s direcotrs said the closure of the Brinks cash-in-transit business helped it increase sales and profits.
Bluebell-based G4S’s profit for the year inched closer to the million-euro mark, growing from €738,000 in 2016 to €922,000 in 2017.
‘Challenging’
Despite a generally positive outlook, G4S’s directors noted that the company operates in a “challenging competitive environment where cost control is vital to ensure the ongoing recovery of the trading performance is sustainable”.
Among the list of key risks to the company is the rise of electronic payments.
“The introduction and growth of electronic payment facilities has the potential to reduce the volume of cash in circulation and have a consequent impact on the demand for some of the company’s traditional services,” it said.
“The company continues to develop solutions that cater for changing customer demands and seeks to use technology to identify product offerings that will protect its revenues and market share.”
G4S Cash Solutions grew its workforce last year from an average of 615 employees to 689, most of whom are employed in operational roles.
The company’s wages and salaries bill for the 12-month period worked out at roughly €33,400 per person.
As well as providing cash-in-transit services, G4S provides a range of private security services and is the largest company of its kind in the world.
Its reputation took a hit in 2012 when it failed to provide enough security for the London Olympics. Military personnel were drafted in to fill the void after G4S couldn’t satisfy the terms of its contract for the sporting event.
Locally, G4S has snapped up several rivals over the years. It took over Irish security business Omada and security communications and alarm monitoring firm Bell Communications in 2007.
The firm also spent €2.5 million when it acquired alarm monitoring company AMS in 2010.
