Serco increases 2013 interim dividend by 17%

DividendMax Ltd.

Serco increases 2013 interim dividend by 17%

Group organic revenue growth of 8.8% reflects benefits of global portfolio breadth

UK & Europe: growth of 7%, driven principally by the new contracts started in the second half of last year

Americas: decline of 3%, reflecting challenging US federal contracting market though better than expected

AMEAA: growth of 19%, with significant volume-related growth in immigration services

Global Services: growth of 18%, supported by the particularly strong level of contract awards during 2012

Strong financial result for the period

Organic revenue growth for the year weighted to the first half as expected, driven by last year's record level of contract wins together with volume-related and project-based work in the period

Adjusted operating margin from ongoing activities reduced by 23 basis points to 5.7%, reflecting investment in contract bidding and new market development activity

Adjusted earnings per share growth of 12.9% to 19.69p

Interim dividend increase of 17.0%, reflecting policy of accelerated growth to move to higher payout ratio

Further good progress on contract awards and strategic positioning

£2.1bn of contract awards; order book of £18.5bn as at 30 June 2013 (£19.1bn at 31 December 2012)

New wins in the US highlight excellent progress to further diversify the Americas division

Successfully developing a more balanced portfolio across geographies and markets

Continued progress on bid opportunities

Serco's broad pipeline of opportunities remains strong at approximately £30bn

Substantial new bid and extension/rebid opportunities in progress

Revenue visibility currently 98% for 2013, 82% for 2014 and 72% for 2015

UK government review of contracts

Full cooperation with central government customers in their reviews, supported by our external advisers

Programme of actions agreed with the MoJ regarding the PECS contract

Overall outlook remains positive

2013 expected to deliver an improvement in organic revenue growth for the year as a whole; the strong growth achieved in the first half is forecast to be significantly lower in the second half

2013 Adjusted operating margin expected to be flat to slightly down on the level achieved in 2012

Management expectations unchanged for Adjusted profit before tax and earnings per share

Strength and breadth of portfolio continues to provide resilience and good growth potential

The Group remains well positioned to take advantage of attractive market opportunities

Christopher Hyman, Group Chief Executive, said: "The strong financial performance over the first six months of 2013 has met expectations, our overall guidance for the full year is unchanged and the outlook remains positive. We have seen further excellent revenue growth in Australia and in our BPO business, the UK has seen good growth from the contracts won in 2012 and the Americas division has won significant new business despite the material challenges in the US federal contracting market.

"We are working closely with UK government customers on their ongoing reviews of our contracts, and have agreed to a series of actions with the MoJ regarding our PECS contract. Serco prides itself on being a values-led organisation, delivering essential services that matter to people around the world.  We will act with integrity to deliver the standards expected of a service business such as ours and will put right any issues that arise from these reviews."

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