The Serco Group plc Board has decided to declare a final dividend of 2.27p per share in respect of the year ended 31 December 2023 (2022:1.92p per share).
On 28 February 2023, the Group announced its intention to repurchase ordinary shares with a value of up to £90m. The buyback programme took place between 3 March and 22 June 2023. During this period, the Group repurchased 58,956,118 shares at an average cost of £1.51 for total cost including fees of £88.8m. All shares held in treasury at 31 December 2022 and those purchased in 2023 have been cancelled.
Other financial highlights include:
• Revenue: grew by 7% to £4.9bn, organic revenue growth of 4%
• Underlying operating profit: increased by 5% to £249m, a margin of 5.1%. More than 60% of Group underlying operating profit derived from outside the UK(7)
• Underlying earnings per share: increased by 10% to 15.36p
• Cash flow: free cash flow very strong at £209m, trading cash conversion of 111%
• Adjusted net debt: better than previous guidance at £109m; covenant leverage at 0.5x EBITDA
• Order intake: £4.6bn of wins, order book remains strong at £13.6bn
• Pipeline: pipeline of potential new work of £10.1bn, +28% since half year, highest level in a decade
• New £140m share buyback in 2024: continuing to return capital to shareholders as a result of strong trading and cash conversion consistent with their capital allocation priorities.
• Updated guidance for 2024: Revenue and underlying operating profit unchanged, net debt updated to include better 2023 outcome and new share buyback
