Mitie seeks out overseas deals as sales jump
OUTSOURCER Mitie yesterday said it was eyeing international growth as it reported record revenues.
The FTSE-250 company, which has dozens of UK government contracts, has a brimming order book with services including security and maintenance growing.
Its pre-tax profits jumped 5.9 per cent to £94.5m for the year to the end of March.
Mitie’s order book grew 26 per cent to £8.6bn while revenues jumped 5.9 per cent to just over £2bn.
The company, whose biggest clients include Vodafone, Tesco, and the British government, said that the Eurozone crisis was providing it with new opportunities.
Chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith said: “Some UK companies with operations in Europe are using us as they cut back on the number of suppliers they have.
“We will also be looking to expand into markets beyond Europe and there could be acquisitions, particularly with our energy services business growing.
“We are very strong in the UK but will be looking beyond.”
Mitie, which acquired energy and carbon consultancy Utilyx early this year, said energy services generated 34 per cent of revenues in 2012.
The firm, which is bidding to run nine prisons in a joint venture with Britain’s prison service – a new market for the group – said its outlook was robust and it expected growth to continue as cost saving pressures bring more public sector opportunities to the table.
The group said its order book stood at £8.6bn, up 26 per cent from 2011 and a record for the firm, while its pipeline of bid opportunities slipped to £11.2bn from £11.4bn a year ago.
McGregor-Smith added: “Part of the reason we have a strong business is that we employ our own staff and our training is good.” Mitie employs around 63,000 people in the UK and over the year the company won a contract to provide security for BT. It was also awarded a deal to clean Odeon cinemas and has a £775m contract to provide a range of services to Lloyds Banking Group. It has a further £1bn in contracts with the Ministry of Justice in the pipeline.