Strong orders boost Serco
Public services outsourcing group Serco,has seen a strong order intake of more than £3 billion in 2017 and expects strong profit growth in 2018 and 2019.
The group, which runs leisure centres in Shropshire and the waste collection service in Sandwell expects to achieve an underlying trading profit for this year of around the top end of its previous guidance of £65 million to £70m.
Profits in the second half will be around 10% higher than same period in 2016.
Revenue for the year is expected to be just under £3bn, a small reduction against previous revenue guidance due to adverse impact of currency movements during the second half of the year
Order intakes this year included Grafton prison in Australia which is the group's largest ever contract win
Serco expect that underlying trading profit will grow to around £80m next year on revenues broadly flat at around £2.9bn and that 2019 to be a year of further good growth
Chief executive Rupert Soames said: "2017 has been a good year for order intake. We will deliver underlying trading profit around the top end of our previous guidance and we expect profits to grow strongly over the next two years. Beyond 2019, our long term ambitions for margins and revenue growth remain intact, but the timing of achieving these remains subject to seeing improvements in the trading conditions across our markets. In the meantime, we continue to deliver against our plans and make good progress against our strategy."
