Serco H1 revenue and profits decline, maintains FY guidance

Serco said interim revenues had contracted from £2.47bn to £2.35bn, while underlying profits were down 4% year-on-year at £142.0m and reported operating profits slumped 31% to £130.0m.

Despite the H1 profit decline, the FTSE 250-listed group hiked its interim dividend by 18% year-on-year to 1.34p per share and said the remaining £83.0m of its £140.0m share buyback would be completed during H2.

Serco reiterated its full-year guidance as it said its focus on productivity and driving improvement across its portfolio had already "seen good progress at this early stage", with £1.9bn of new wins leaving its order book at a "strong" £13.5bn.

Chief executive Mark Irwin said: " Our focus on productivity and driving improvement across our portfolio has seen good progress at this early stage.

"While mindful of a potential impact internationally from elections in 2024, we are confident about the quality of our pipeline of potential new work to achieve our medium-term growth targets."

As of 1215 BST, Serco shares had slumped 7.05% to 178.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com