G4S : Egypt wins contracts to secure Cairo mega-malls

G4S Egypt has won contracts to secure three retail and entertainment centres in Cairo, including what will be, once completed, Egypt's largest shopping mall.

This development which is known as the Mall of Egypt and due to open in March 2017, will house North Africa's first indoor ski slope with real snow. Under a three year contract, G4S will secure two sites for developer Majid Al Futtaim Properties, which also owns Ski Dubai, the Middle East's first indoor ski resort and Mall of Emirates, Dubai's second-largest shopping mall.

For the Mall of Egypt the G4S service support will increase as the development matures, with over 130 security personnel on site today, it will increase to more than 300 ahead of the mega-mall opening. The complex is expected to attract more than 10 million visitors a year in a high profile and state of the art retail environment.

G4S Egypt Managing Director Mark Lipton said; 'These contract wins come after many months of hard work, dedication, negotiations and detailed planning. Our aim is to differentiate ourselves in a challenging and competitive market by offering superior services to our clients and we will continue to transform our business by focussing on quality over quantity.'

This is the latest in a series of recent business successes for G4S Egypt's retail division, which has also commenced a contract to secure the Mall of Arabia, another high profile mega-mall in Greater Cairo for owner Marakez. The Mall of Arabia attracts tens of thousands of visitors daily with over 350 security officers at work today around the complex.

The approach of the G4S business development team played an important role in winning these new contracts. A key consideration was the ability to secure the public in a mix of open and confined spaces. The use of Risk Management and Community Policing as the bid theme was fitting as the mall operating environment is a mini city where intelligence-led security, combined with the use of security technology, forms part of the clients' resilience plans.

G4S Project Manager Kevin Ratcliffe, an ex-UK police officer, commented; 'Cairo is the largest city in Africa, hectic and crowded possessing some generic and specific security challenges. Our retail clients and their customers therefore expect a certain level of security at the malls and are accustomed to metal detecting archways, X-ray machines and other such security measures. The retail sector is growing rapidly and as we grow we must maintain our efforts in pioneering more innovative and flexible solutions for our clients.'

The group is active in more than 100 countries*, and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and has a secondary stock exchange listing in Copenhagen.

* Includes 44,000 employees in businesses in 15 countries that are being sold or exited.