Brink’s Company (BCO): Cantillon Capital Management Unloads Entire Stake; Company Swings To Net Loss in Q4

Cantillon Capital Management, managed by William Von Mueffling, has sold its entire stake in Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO). In its 13G filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cantillon Capital revealed that it is no longer an owner of the company’s shares. The fund held 3.09 million shares of Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) as of September 30, 2014.

Brink's Co (NYSE:BCO)

New York-based Cantillon Capital Management was founded by William von Mueffling in 2003, who serves as the current president and CEO. Prior to founding Cantillon Capital, Mr. von Mueffling worked at Lazard Asset Management, where he was the managing director responsible for hedge funds. At Lazard Asset Management, Mr. von Mueffling posted average annual returns of more than 30% from 1998 to 2003, by shorting technology stocks.

Cantillon Capital’s equity portfolio was valued at $4.43 billion as of the end of the third quarter of 2014. The fund mainly focuses on Technology, Services, and Consumer Goods stocks. Baidu Inc (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU), Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS), and Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG), represented Cantillon Capital’s largest holdings, in term of value. During the third quarter of last year, Cantillon Capital upped its holding of Baidu Inc (ADR)(NASDAQ:BIDU) to 2.29 million shares. In Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS) the fund reported holding 8.31 million shares, and they held 6.25 million shares of Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG).

Virginia-based Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) is a $1.2 billion provider of security-related services for banks, financial institutions, mines, retailers, the diamond and jewelry industries, and pharmaceuticals. The company swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2014. The company booked a net loss of $47.2 million, or a loss of $0.96 per share, versus net income of $40.9 million, or $0.83 per share, in the same period in 2013. Revenues for the quarter dropped to $881.2 million from $997.2 during the same quarter of 2013. For full-year fiscal 2014, the company reported a net loss of $83.9 million, or a loss of $1.71 per share, compared to net income of $56.8 million, or $1.16 per share, in 2013. It posted revenues of $3.6 billion, down from $3.8 billion in 2013.

In order to save money and improve its financial situation, Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) announced a restructuring plan, under which the company will be eliminating about 1,700 positions from its global workforce of about 64,000 employees. The company believes that these measures will generate cost savings of $30 million to $35 million in 2015.

At the end of last year, Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) reported that it completed its exit of the cash handling market in the Netherlands as a result of the loss of its largest customer. In early December 2014, the company announced that it is making organizational changes to accelerate the execution of its strategy and ensure the achievement of its 2015 and 2016 financial targets. Those organizational changes included the consolidation of four geographic units into two operating units. Most of the senior roles and structures within the four former geographic segments were eliminated, resulting in an anticipated cost savings of $15 million in 2015. In addition, the company announced that it is centralizing its country-based support functions such as IT, HR, finance, legal, procurement, security and project management.

“We are encouraged by our fourth-quarter earnings, especially given the substantial currency headwinds we’re facing. We are particularly pleased with the improvement in the U.S., where revenue grew 7% versus the year-ago quarter,” Chairman, President and CEO Tom Schievelbein said in a statement.

Other large shareholders of Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) include Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors, which held around 3.11 million shares of the company as of the end of September, 2014. Another investor is Sagard Capital Partners Management Corp, led by Dan Friedberg, which reported ownership of around 1.79 million shares of the company as of Sept. 30, 2014.

On Tuesday, Brink’s Company (NYSE:BCO) is trading down by 0.64% at $24.90. Over the last calendar year, the company’s stock dropped by 19.4%. The stock has a 52-week high of $31.71, and a 52-week low of $19.15.

Disclosure: none