Security firm Group 4 Securicor was keeping tight-lipped about job cuts today as it posted a ten per cent rise in pro-forma earnings.

The Gatwick-based group said it was on track to make the £30 million of annual cost savings it promised at the time of its merger earlier this year.

The company plans to save the cash by closing national and regional offices, reducing manned security and cash service branches, and merging control and monitoring centres.

But the world's second largest security services group, which employs about 60 people in Sussex, refused to say how many jobs will go in the UK as part of the cuts.

The combined company, which opened its UK headquarters near the airport earlier this month, operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 340,000 staff.

Group 4, formed out of Securicor and Danish rival Group 4 Falck in July, said more than 90 per cent of its UK customers had stayed loyal to the company during integration.

Most of the combined group's business consists of the provision of security guards and the movement of cash under protection.

Growth from its manned security arm in the UK was up four per cent on the back of high business retention rates and customer wins that included the Royal Bank of Scotland, cable firm NTL and the Office for National Statistics.

Guards were deployed at the Wimbledon tennis championships and other events, which helped the group to lift performance in the face of pricing pressures.

Group 4 also works alongside the UK justice system moving prisoners from jail to court.

Today it said the high numbers of tagged offenders in the UK had resulted in a strong first-half performance in this division.

But the group reported a tough time in the Netherlands where turnover fell despite new contracts with the Dutch tax authority, Esso and the justice department.

In addition, the European market for security systems was proving difficult, with the trading environment particularly harsh in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Chief executive Lars Norby Johansen said: "Despite challenging conditions in some markets, our overall performance has been strong and the outlook is encouraging."