G4S, the security services giant has been booted out of the FTSE 100 and demoted to the FTSE 250 for the first time since 2007. The company’s shares have fallen by almost a quarter in the last eight months in the run up to the announcement on Wednesday.

G4S is still recovering from the financial pains inflicted during Nick Buckles’, EX-CEO of the company. During Mr Buckles’ reign, which lasted for more than a decade until 2013, the company spent a minimum of £50m a year on debt-fuelled acquisitions.

G4S has also been involved in a series of high-profile scandals in the last decade, most notably the gross understaffing of security personnel for the 2012 London Olympics and the overcharging of an electronic tagging contract with the UK government in 2013.

In 2013, Ashley Almanza stepped in to substitute Mr Buckles, vowing to turn around the discredited business. Mr Almanza has brought fiscal discipline back to the company mainly through the offloading of lossmaking contracts but also by cutting costs, particularly on vehicles, fuel, computers, phones and offices.

Stephen Rawlinson, an analyst at Whitman Howard, is confident about Mr Almanza’s ability to turn the business around, “My sense is that the management is doing all of the right things but it’s taking longer than investors might hope”.

As Mr Almanza often points out himself, turning the business around will indeed take its time.

For weekly news updates, subscribe to our email newsletter

Related: G4S announces outsourcing could save UK police forces £1 billion a year