Capita slashes net debt and profit as outsourcer kicks on with ‘radical’ turnaround plan March 14, 2019 Outsourcer Capita’s revenues were down more than £300m last year, as turnaround specialist CEO Jonathan Lewis worked to nullify the “existential threat” facing the firm when he took over in late 2017. Lewis told CityAM he has taken “radical, decisive action” to simplify the firm, which saw profits fall more than one-quarter but still [...]
Coltrane Asset Management: What do we know about the hedge fund ruffling Interserve’s feathers? March 12, 2019 Outsourcing giant Interserve has taken a hammering in recent weeks from a very rowdy shareholder: Coltrane Asset Management. The New York hedge fund has done its utmost to derail a rescue deal designed to save the outsourcer from administration, even threatening to sue Interserve’s board last month. Coltrane may have caused a ruckus, but what [...]
Pay politicians £500,000 each per year and maybe we’d get better quality MPs March 5, 2019 Few people are as hawkish on government spending as me. However, there is one area where taxpayers should be willing to spend much, much more: the salaries of our members of parliament. Last week, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority announced that MPs’ basic pay was to increase by 2.7 per cent to £79,468 from 1 April. [...]
Your country needs you: Capita and MoD ‘must share blame’ for recruitment failures, say MPs March 1, 2019 Fresh shots have been fired at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) from both government and private sector for failures in procuring public contracts. The department must share the blame with outsourcing giant Capita for “failing dismally” at meeting the Army’s recruitment targets, a service which the FTSE 250 firm was tasked with delivering in 2012, [...]
Greystar and Henderson Park snap up Telford build-to-rent site for £105m February 19, 2019 London housebuilder Telford Homes revealed this morning that it has sold one of its largest build-to-rent development sites for more than £100m. US developer Greystar and European real estate investment platform Henderson Park have snapped up the Equipment Works scheme in Walthamstow, which comprises more than 250 rental homes, for £105.5m in their latest bid to [...]
Kier Group negotiating sale of its housing maintenance business in a bid to reduce debt January 27, 2019 Kier Group, the troubled outsourcing company, is nearing an agreement to sell its housing maintenance division. The deal, if agreed, would be part of a previously announced plan to shore up the balance sheet of the construction and building services provider by selling non-core assets. Read more: Short sellers release pressure on construction outsourcing giant Kier [...]
A year on from Carillion: 12 months that brought outsourcing to its knees January 15, 2019 On the anniversary of Carillion’s dramatic collapse, two more public sector outsourcing giants, Interserve and Kier Group, are up against the ropes. In the intervening 12 months, outsourcers have lurched from one crisis to another, with profit warnings, massive project failures and revelations of systemic late payment of suppliers. CityAM charts a year which [...]
Carillion one year on: Government outsourcers are still struggling with growing debt piles January 15, 2019 On the anniversary of Carillion’s collapse, government outsourcers are still reporting ballooning debt levels as they try to balance the books. Kier Group, Interserve, Serco, Sodexo and Sopra Steria, who are all on the government’s list of strategic suppliers for 2019, have taken on hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt in the last [...]
Capita shares fall after £495m British Army recruitment contract fails to meet targets December 14, 2018 Outsourcing firm Capita has suffered another blow today, after a government report found it has failed to meet targets in a £495m recruitment contract for the British Army every year since it began. Awarded the contract in 2012, an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) said Capita and the Army "underestimated the complexity of the project, [...]
Outsourcers’ woes continue as construction giant Kier Group braces for potential drop from FTSE 250 December 4, 2018 The beleaguered UK outsourcing industry could suffer another blow in coming days with construction giant Kier Group looking set to drop from the FTSE 250 index. Kier’s stock was down another eight per cent this morning as the spectre of Wednesday’s round of FTSE index relegations and promotions loomed. CityAM understands Kier is one of several [...]