G4S reaches £88 million Olympics settlement

SECURITY giant G4S fixed the full cost for its Olympic fiasco at £88 million yesterday after reaching an agreement with the Games’ organising committee.

The outsourcing giant said it had agreed a financial settlement with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) after it failed to provide enough staff for the events.

The Army had to fill in the gaps left by G4S at short notice, leading to acute embarrassment for the firm which counts the UK government among its most important clients.

The terms of the settlement mean that G4S will incur an overall loss on the contract of about £70m. The group also incurred additional costs of £11m relating to charitable donations and external fees and a further £7m relating to the cost of sponsorship and marketing.

Chief executive Nick Buckles said: “The UK government is an important customer and we felt that it was in all of our interests to bring this matter to a close in an equitable and professional manner without the need for lengthy legal proceedings.”

The firm had set aside £50m for the Olympic problems.

But Caroline de La Soujeole, an analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald, said the final total was less than she had expected and welcomed the deal which “draws a line under the situation and will enable the company to win more government outsourcing contracts.”

G4S also revealed that it had installed a security system at The National Library of Scotland. It will allow the library to control access to complex buildings in Edinburgh’s Old Town housing around 15 million books.