Serco's pipeline keeps it on track

Serco, which runs transport, health, justice, defence and security services for public departments and gets half of its revenues from the UK, reported flat first half revenue of £1.5bn, with the weakness of the pound helping to offset the decline.

CEO Rupert Soames said: “The most striking element is the order intake, which for two successive periods has been very strong, totalling some £4bn in the last twelve months, and we have succeeded in maintaining the pipeline at broadly similar levels despite strong order conversion,”

“However, as we said in June, we remain sensibly cautious in the light of the political environment in several of our markets becoming markedly more unpredictable”.

Underlying trading profit fell 30 per cent, after a series of one-offs in the same period last year, to £35m.

The group is in the middle of an overhaul started three years ago after a reset of strategy followed a series of profit warnings.