Serco hikes FY revenue guidance, taps Keith Williams for chairman

(Sharecast News) - Government services provider Serco said on Thursday that interim revenues had improved, principally due to a strong performance in North America, leading it to raise FY guidance. Serco said H1 revenues were expected to be roughly £2.4bn, up 2% year-on-year, while underlying operating profits were pegged to be at least £140.0m, with a "continued strong margin" of around 5.9%.

Order intake was said to be "very strong", with approximately £3.0bn of contract awards, high weighting of orders to defence sector, and "good progress" on replenishing its pipeline.

Looking forward, Serco said FY organic revenues were now expected to improve by roughly 1% due to higher than anticipated activity levels in the immigration sector, while overall revenue guidance was hiked from £4.8bn to £4.9bn. Underlying operating profit guidance of £260.0m was unchanged.

Separately, Serco announced that non-executive director Keith Williams would take over from John Rishton as chairman on 31 December. Williams, currently chairman of Halfords Group, will join the board on 1 August.

As of 0830 BST, Serco shares were up 0.53% at 194.63p.



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com