Serco pipeline gives comfort

9th May 2011 07:13

Outsourcing giant Serco is drawing comfort from its £29bn pipeline of identified opportunities despite some short-term headwinds in the UK, and is on course to hit its 2011 targets."Since the beginning of the financial year, we have been awarded £1.6bn of contracts, comprising signed contracts valued at £1.4bn and preferred bidder appointments valued at £0.2bn," the company said.Referring to the UK government's cost-cutting frenzy, the group is sticking to its belief that this will ultimately result in more opportunities for the group in the medium term. It sees further big opportunities in home affairs, such as probation, immigration services and police operational support, as well as healthcare and transport.In addition it sees opportunities in local authority transformation and those arising from developments in the defence, science and nuclear sectors.In the Americas, the group is working on the assumption that the US federal government's budgetary negotiations will be completed successfully and without significant impact or disruption to the industry. On this continent, the areas Serco sees as fertile are those such as information technology (IT) infrastructure, cyber security, federal health and energy efficient IT.In Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia, growth continues apace and there is a particularly strong pipeline in areas such as health, justice and defence in the Asia Pacific region. Demand for new services in the Middle East and India includes public transport systems, facilities management, business process outsourcing, education, healthcare and national security."I am pleased with the resilience the group has shown in the year to date. Despite headwinds, we expect to achieve a good financial performance and to develop the many opportunities within our £29bn pipeline," said Christopher Hyman, chief executive of Serco Group. ---jh