A safe pair of hands again for G4S in the Footsie index

0 Group has put its contract botches, including the London Olympics 2012, behind it The world’s biggest security services firm, G4S, is expected to regain its place in the FTSE 100 when the blue-chip stocks index’s constitutents are reviewed this week.

G4S entered the Footsie in 2007, but was relegated to the FTSE 250 in December 2015 after damage to its reputation in the UK over a number of botched contracts, including the 2012 London Olympics, hit its share price badly.

Earlier this month, the group’s shares soared to an alltime high after it posted a 9 per cent uplift in its first-quarter revenues thanks to new contract wins. G4S’S shares have risen by nearly 40 per cent this year.

In April, the company, which was also hit by a prisoner-tagging scandal in 2013, agreed a $56.5 million (£45m) deal to sell its US youth detention centres to BHSB Holdings.

That business had more than 30 detention facilities spread across Florida, Texas and Tennessee. Profits at G4S Youth Services fell 9 per cent to $5m (£4.6m) last year.