UK government outsourcing contractor Serco reported better-than-expected full-year profit on Thursday, driven by coronavirus-related contracts, and rebound in leisure and transport contracts.
The company, which operated part of Britain’s Covid-19 test-and-trace programme, said underlying trading profit rose to £228.9m from £163.1m and against forecasts of £223m.
Pre-tax profits rose to £192.2m compared with £153.3m in 2020. Revenue increased to £4.42bn from £3.88bn a year earlier. Serco kept its 2022 outlook unchanged with underlying trading profit expected to come in at around £195m.
The board declared a dividend of 2.41p-a-share, up from 1.40p in 2020, and said it was launching a £90m share buyback.
“We have had a strong start to 2022, with order intake of over £600m and trading consistent with our full-year guidance,” said chief executive Rupert Soames.
