G4S plc

Statement Regarding GardaWorld Offer

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

30 September 2020

Statement regarding GardaWorld offer

G4S plc (“G4S” or “the Company”) notes the announcement made earlier today by GardaWorld Security Corporation (“GardaWorld”) of an unsolicited offer of 190 pence in cash per share (the “Offer”) to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of G4S. 
The Board of G4S unanimously rejects this Offer. The value is unchanged from the last proposal received from GardaWorld.
On 14 September G4S announced that the Board, following careful consideration together with its financial and legal advisors, had unanimously rejected GardaWorld’s proposal on the basis that it significantly undervalues the Company and its prospects and is not in the best interests of shareholders or other stakeholders.
The Board of G4S has reached its conclusion based on a number of important considerations including, inter alia, that:

• the timing of the Offer, during the global pandemic, is highly opportunistic;
• G4S is at a critical inflexion point in the execution of the Company’s corporate strategy and is now well placed to realise the benefits of the fundamental re-positioning of the Company, which has included:
  • Significantly reshaping the G4S portfolio over recent years, exiting mature, sub-scale, lower margin and capital intensive businesses, re-deploying investment and focusing on growing its security and technology businesses in addition to extracting significant cost savings;
  • Resolving a significant number of longstanding and material legacy liabilities and onerous contracts, and putting in place enhanced governance and controls to mitigate the risk of future liabilities and losses;
  • The sale of G4S’s conventional cash business in February 2020 which has strengthened G4S’s strategic, commercial and operational focus while providing additional strength to its balance sheet;
• the Company’s resilient performance in the first 8 months of 2020 provides confidence in the refreshed strategy and its continuing execution; and
• taking the above and other relevant factors into account, the Board believes that the Company is increasingly well placed to deliver growth, profitability and substantial free cash flow as it executes its strategy and delivers its vision of being the world’s leading global, integrated security company and the trusted partner of choice in the industry.

John Connolly, Chairman of G4S, said: