Ashley Almanza: G4S chief pays for slide in profits as handcuffs placed on bonus

Last year's £956,000 bonus was down 26 per cent from the £1.3m he was paid for 2014

Ashley Almanza, chief executive of G4S, was handed a £956,000 bonus for the year to December 2015 and more than 1 million shares

The world’s biggest security company G4S slashed the cash bonus paid to chief executive Ashley Almanza by a quarter last year, after the struggling group revealed a slump in profits.

Mr Almanza was handed a £956,000 bonus for the year to December 2015 and more than 1 million shares, which will pay out after three years.

The bonus was down 26 per cent from the £1.3m he was paid for 2014.

The full extent of his pay, including salary and other benefits, will be revealed when G4S publishes its remuneration report alongside the annual accounts, due next month.

Around £270,000 of the bonus was made out in G4S shares and the rest in cash, which he has used to buy more shares.

The long-term share award will pay out in 2019 if he hits certain targets. The award is currently worth £2.3m but could rise or fall due to “demanding performance conditions”.

G4S shares plunged earlier this month after the security group, which employs 620,000 people around the world, reported a 40 per cent drop in pre-tax profits from £128m to £78m due to one-off charges and writedowns.

The company also warned that rising costs from asylum housing contracts in the UK could cost it £57m more if the Home Office extends them for a further two years.

Mr Almanza, formerly of BG Group, took the helm at G4S amid the fallout from the prison electronic-tagging scandal, replacing high-profile boss Nick Buckles.

G4S had been caught overbilling the Government for prison work that it had not carried out.

Since taking charge, the low-key South African accountant has streamlined the business by selling off unprofitable divisions – building on a £348m rights issue that he pursued when he became chief executive three years ago.

However, much of the market is still unconvinced, with G4S relegated from the FTSE 100 into the FTSE 250 in January due to its weakening share price.