G4S, the world's biggest security and guarding firm by value, met expectations with a 26 per cent rise in first-half operating profit and said it remained confident about its performance for the year.
The Anglo-Danish company said earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of acquisition-related intangible assets (EBITA) rose to £174.8m from £138.9m, in line with analysts' average forecast of £176m.
The biggest employer on the London Stock
Exchange with over 570,000 employees, G4S said sales grew 26 per cent to £2.7bn.
Organic turnover growth was 10.5 per cent, the group said, with all regions and business segments showing good performance while the operating margin was maintained at 6.5 per cent.
"Despite the well-reported difficulties in the economies of a number of international markets, trading is ahead of where we expected it to be at the half year," Chief Executive Nick Buckles said in a statement.
"Overall, we have delivered an excellent performance for the first half of 2008 and we are very confident for the remainder of the year," he said.
The group said it saw strong potential for further acquisitions in both developed and new markets.
The company was formed in 2004 through a merger between Group 4 Falck A/S's security business and Securicor.
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