- Alarm business down
- G4S aims to “remain agile”
GAZETTE REPORTER
Leading security firm G4S Botswana is currently investing in infrastructure and solutions to deal with the significantly changing security environment in Botswana, this publication has established.
According to G4S Chairperson Gaone Macholo and Managing Director Mothusi Molokomme, the country is seeing a sharp increase in armed and aggravated crimes.
“We remain agile and are investing in our infrastructure, solutions and people to ensure that we are appropriately equipped to safeguard our customers and communities,” says Macholo and Molokomme in the company’s financial results for the half-year (H1) ended 30 June 2021.
“We are taking the time to ensure that our current service offerings remain state-of-the-art and relevant in our current environment.”
The results show that in H1 2021, G4S Botswana revenue declined by 4.9 percent year-on-year from P99.9 million in 2020 to P95.2 million in the year under review. According to Macholo and Molokomme, the decrease in revenue is attributable mainly to revenue losses in the security company’s alarms business as well as a sustained drought in large non-portfolio pure technology sales.
“Revenue from discontinued operations declined by 18.5 percent, continuing the unwinding of the business following the implementation of the Trade Act in June 2020,” they state.
The company’s gross profit declined by 20.2 percent year-on-year which Macholo and Molokomme say is due to increased cost of operations, specifically in respect of fuel and fleet maintenance costs. G4S did not receive COVID-19 wage subsidy relief in 2021 (P8.8m 2020), hence profit for the period declined significantly.
“Upon exclusion of this abnormal item, normalised profit for the period decreased by 4.3 percent, driven by the reduction in revenue and offset by cost control initiatives as well as positive movements in bad debt collections for the period,” Macholo and Molokomme wrote in the report.
Meanwhile, the company’s concern about the changing security environment comes as no surprise as G4S itself has recently been rocked by a spate of heists. Its transit vehicle carrying close to P9 million was robbed at Block 6 in Gaborone on 6 August 2021. Another G4S cash-in-transit van was robbed at gunpoint earlier last month at Game City Mall in Gaborone where the robbers made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.