ANALYST VIEWS | WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF SERCO’S STRATEGY? July 2, 2012 KEITH BOWMAN HARGREAVES LANSDOWN With growth at Serco largely emanating from emerging markets such as Africa and Asia, a retreat from more pedestrian regions is understandable. Despite the recent half year trading update, which placed greater investor faith on the second half, consensus opinion remains favourable. TONY SHEPARD CHARLES STANlEY Serco is looking to focus [...]
FTSE led down by scandal-hit Barclays June 28, 2012 The FTSE 100 slipped this morning as miners dipped and Barclays was dented by the Libor scandal while it was confirmed that the UK had lurched back into recession. Britain’s economy shrank by 0.3 pe rcent during the first three months of this year, official data confirmed, leaving the nation in its second recession in [...]
FTSE led down by scandal-hit Barclays June 28, 2012 The FTSE 100 slipped this morning as miners dipped and Barclays was dented by the Libor scandal while it was confirmed that the UK had lurched back into recession. Britain’s economy shrank by 0.3 per cent during the first three months of this year, official data confirmed, leaving the nation in its second recession in [...]
Serco warns that sluggish sales in US will lead to a revenue dip June 26, 2012 OUTSOURCER Serco yesterday gave a downbeat trading update in which it said the US market was sluggish. The company, whose contracts include running prisons and the Docklands light railway, said it expected revenues to dip in the first half before picking up. It said the UK was proving resilient compared with its business across the [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 20, 2012 Sciens Tim Wilkinson has been appointed president of Sciens Fund of Funds Management Holdings, part of the Sciens Capital Management Group. Prior to joining the firm he was managing director at Russell Investments, and spent 15 years with Citigroup, latterly as global head of transition management. Wilkinson started his career at SG Warburg Securities. Banque [...]
Serco pays £55m for Vertex June 11, 2012 Outsourcer Serco yesterday said it had bought Vertex Data Science for £55m. The deal will bring the firm more government contracts including administering child maintenance grants and running job centres.
BORIS BIKE STAFF THREATEN OLYMPICS STRIKE May 30, 2012 JUST a day after strikes were averted on the Tube, workers on London’s Boris Bikes have threatened to walk out during the Olympics. The RMT union said it will ballot staff in a bid to secure reasonable working hours and a bonus during the Games. Operator Serco said the RMT was not a recognised union [...]
FTSE lurches towards worst month since August May 30, 2012 The FTSE 100 dipped this morning as the Eurozone’s debt woes continued to cast a shadow and hopes that China would trigger further fiscal stimulus were dealt a blow. Investors are awaiting the European Commission’s economic strategy on how austerity measures can be introduced without quashing the growth required for recovery. Concerns about Spain’s ability [...]
Charities need to be innovative to beat tough times May 29, 2012 PUBLIC services are being opened up to a variety of providers. If you go swimming, social enterprise Greenwich Leisure Limited, not the council, may well be running the pool. Your rubbish is more likely to be collected by a private company. And if you have a relative in need of social care, then it’s likely [...]
BEST of the BROKERS May 27, 2012 BREWIN DOLPHIN Numis rates the investment manager “sell” with a target price of 110p ahead of its interim results tomorrow. The broker expects a drop in adjusted earnings per share, from 6.7p a year ago to 4.5p – much lower than consensus estimates of 6.7p. Numis warns that consensus forecasts seem to be overlooking a [...]