Serco remain defiant despite a loss of £7.3m
Scandal-hit Serco yesterday claimed it was “rebuilding trust” with the Government after it plunged £7.3million into the red this year.
The beleaguered company’s new chief executive Rupert Soames, previously boss of engineering firm Aggreko, took a fresh step in turning around its fortunes by drafting in Angus Cockburn, his old firm’s interim chief executive, as his new finance chief.
Soames said: “We are making good progress in rebuilding trust and confidence with the UK Government.”
His fighting talk comes as Serco looks to draw a line under a scandal that saw it accused of overcharging for a prisoner tagging contract.
It was banned from new Government contracts for six months and repaid £68.5million.
Many challenges remain and we have a lot of work to do but I am confident that, in time, we can restore the company’s fortunes
Serco lost £7.3million in the six months to end of June, compared with a £106.1million profit a year earlier. Its results were hit by £14.5million restructuring costs and writing down the value of a key Government contract.
Serco netted £2.5billion of lower-value contracts in the first half, but in June it lost the £125million-a-year deal to run the Docklands Light Railway.
Soames added: “Many challenges remain and we have a lot of work to do but I am confident that, in time, we can restore the company’s fortunes.”
The shares rose 1½p to 330½p.