Fired up: Northern Isles ferry deal a boost for Serco

By GARETH MACKIE
Published on 17/11/2012 00:00

OUTSOURCING giant Serco is on track to deliver full-year profits of around £267 million after securing a raft of contracts since the summer, including its £350m deal to run ferry services to the Northern Isles.

The group reported £5.6 billion of contract wins in the year to date, with £1.4bn of work landed since the end of June. As well as the Northern Isles service, which launched in July, it has won a project worth £140m for community health facilities in Suffolk.

Serco’s business processing division recently started operations on a £170m project to run Aegon UK’s protection unit. Under the ten-year deal, about 330 staff from the Edinburgh-based life and pensions company’s office in Lytham St Annes have transferred to Serco.

While conditions remain challenging in the US, the group said it was trading in line with expectations.

Consensus estimates point to an adjusted pre-tax profit of £267m for the full year, while analysts at Seymour Pierce have pencilled in a figure of £274.6m.