Serco lands £600m contract with Barts Health NHS Trust in London
Shares in outsourcing company Serco popped yesterday after it said it had been named as the prefered bidder for a whopping £600m contract with Barts Health in London.
Shares leapt by almost two per cent on the announcement – the largest deal the company has won since 2014 – and ended trading yesterday up by 1.6 per cent.
Under the plans, which have yet to be finalised, Serco will manage cleaning, linen, catering and pest control services, among other things, across five of Barts’ sites in east London.
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Last month the FTSE 250-listed company revealed it made a pre-tax profit of £58.1m in the six months ended 30 June, up from a loss of £16m a year earlier. This came despite revenue falling seven per cent to £1.49bn during the period.
Serco has suffered over the last few years due to a succession of scandals, including one surrounding its tagging of criminals. But its current chief executive, Rupert Soames, who took up the role in 2014, has put into place a turnaround plan.
Barts Health NHS Trust was created in April 2012 it was merged with two other Trusts and now serves around 2.5m people in the capital.