£125m share buyback announced by Mitie as it looks ahead to another year of growth
Outsourcing giant Mitie Group today launched a £125m share buyback programme – the latest in a series – as it posted record annual revenue.
The group, which employs 72,000 people working in areas ranging from cleaning and security to maintenance, said its latest share buyback would be its largest so far.
During the year ended 31 March it completed a £100m buyback, purchasing 89m shares – 79m of which were cancelled. The programme launched today will bring the cumulative buyback total since 2023 to £325m.
In trading update issued today for the 12 months to 31 March, Mitie said it expected its annual operating profit to come in at around £230m – up from £210m last time – on revenue up by around 13% to a new high of £5.1bn for the group.
During the year it secured a 7+3 year security services contract from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) worth £136m a year, starting this October.
It also made three strategic acquisitions during the year for £50m – Argus Fire, ESM Power and Grupo Visegurity – which it said contributed around 4% of inorganic revenue growth and added key projects capabilities.
Phil Bentley, Mitie CEO, said the 12-month period had been the “foundation year” of its new three-year plan, improving the strength of the Mitie platform and investing in its capabilities to accelerate facilities transformation for its customers.
“These investments contributed to the delivery of good revenue and operating profit growth. I’m also pleased that our telecoms projects business, which has negatively impacted margins, returned to breakeven in Q4,” he added.
“Our good underlying cash generation and low leverage has enabled us to sustain a proactive capital deployment policy with our largest share buyback programme now complete and a new £125m programme launched today.
“We are entering FY26 with good sales momentum, including the new security contract win with DWP, a record pipeline of opportunities and a strategic focus on how AI and intelligent process automation can help to deliver margins above 5% by FY27.
“We continue to evaluate strategic M&A opportunities in our targeted sectors. With this positive outlook, we remain confident in delivering our facilities transformation three-year plan targets.”
Stourbridge-based Argus Fire is one of the largest fire protection businesses in the UK, providing fire detection, alarm and fire suppression systems.
Scunthorpe-based ESM Power designs, delivers and maintains mid-to-high voltage power connections across a broad range of sectors, including local authorities, hotel chains, residential and commercial developments and power generation sites.
Based in Barcelona, Visegurity has more than 20 years’ experience in security services, primarily focusing on manned guarding, alarm response and access control, alongside concierge, patrol and security systems services, supported by a 24/7 control centre.
