Controversies seem to attach themselves to G4S like electronic tags on the prisoners the security group monitors. These have included an aborted multibillion-pound deal to buy ISS, the Danish cleaning company, and a crisis involving violence, drink and drugs at a prison it ran in Birmingham that led to the company’s contract being taken into government hands. There were also assault claims at a youth detention centre in Kent and blunders with faulty tags, a warning of flat annual profits late last year and a share price that has persistently struggled to properly get off the ground.
Most recently, however, Ashley Almanza, G4S’s chief executive, has dangled the prospect of releasing considerable value for shareholders by launching a review into whether to hive off the