Interserve boosted by £0.5bn of new contracts
CONTRACTS worth £0.5bn helped to boost the second half performance of support services group Interserve, with the company predicting annual results in line with expectations.
In a trading update ahead of its annual results statement in March, the group said it had seen contract wins across its key sectors and geographical areas.
In the UK, these included school construction and facilities management contracts with St Helens Council and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, worth a combined whole-life value of around £170m.
In addition, it also secured two major hospital development contracts in Birmingham and Cardiff, together worth £55m.
“Overall, trading is in line with the board’s expectations, delivering a stronger performance in the second half of the year as compared to the first half,” said the statement.
“Despite the near-term public sector spending environment the group benefitted from good progress achieved in the Support Services margin enhancement programme and excellent trading in Project Services.”
In total, the group secured more than £1.5bn of new work in 2010, contributing to a future workload of over £5bn, of which around £1.5bn relates to 2011.
In addition to the UK contracts, it has also won tenders in the Middle East including work in Doha in the education and commercial sectors worth around £68m; three multi-year petrochemical services contracts in Qatar worth £30m; and a fit-out contract at the Sofitel Resort Palm Jumeirah hotel in Dubai worth around £30m.
In addition to these, it also won an £18m contract for road improvement work in the northern emirates of the UAE, construction contracts in Oman in the power and petrochemical sectors worth £20m; and a three-year services contract with the UK Ministry of Defence at Musanah air base, near Muscat.
In outlook it said it anticipated trading conditions in 2011 would be stable compared with 2010 and it expected its margin enhancement programme in Support Services to continue to improve.
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