Serco increases full year guidance after good progress
Outsourcing group Serco has raised its annual profit guidance following good progress in the first half of the financial year.
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The company, which runs leisure centres in Shropshire and waste services in Sandwell, provided an update of trading for the first six months of 2024.
Serco said it now expects underlying operating profit of £270m for 2024, up £10m, or 4 per cent on previous guidance.
Group revenues for the first six months are expected to be £2.4bn, the company said. That is lower than the £2.5bn reported in the first half of 2023.
Mark Irwin, Serco Group Chief Executive, said: "We have delivered a good performance in the first half, with progress in improving productivity and the underlying performance of our portfolio allowing us to increase our profit guidance for the full year by £10m, or four per cent.
"We now expect underlying operating profit of approximately £270m, nine per cent higher than 2023, with margins increasing by around 50 basis points.
"We continue to explore new ways to bring together the right people, the right technology and the right partners to help governments around the world respond to the complex and difficult challenges they face.
"As we enter the second six months of the year, while mindful of a potential impact internationally from elections in 2024, we remain optimistic about the quality of our pipeline of potential new work to support our medium-term growth targets."
