Olympics fiasco costs G4S €65m

The firm behind the Olympics security fiasco admitted today that its loss on the bungled contract will be in the region of £50m (€65m).

G4S is conducting an internal review after its failure to provide all of the 10,400 contracted guards for London 2012 forced the Government to step in with military personnel.

The group said it had delivered 83% of contracted shifts and that it was confident the Paralympic Games – starting tomorrow – would be fully staffed with a security workforce.

Its half-year results revealed a significant drop in pre-tax profits to £61m (€77m) from £151m (€190m) a year earlier, although profits were held flat on an underlying basis after sales increased 5.8% to £3.9bn (€4.9m).