(Reuters) – British outsourcing company Serco Group raised its annual profit forecast on Thursday, helped by international immigration services contracts and acquisitions, but remained wary of elections in its markets impacting performance.
The London-listed company has benefited from acquiring immigration service firms, even as weakness in medicare services persists.
Serco, one of the suppliers which had supported the UK government’s test-and-trace programme during the pandemic, said it expects full-year adjusted operating profit of 270 million pounds ($341 million), higher than its earlier forecast of 260 million pounds.
The company, which provides defence, security, immigration, health and transport services for governments, however, said it was mindful of multiple elections impacting its performance.
The UK, France and the United States have scheduled national elections in the coming months.
“As we enter the second six months of the year, while mindful of a potential impact internationally from elections in 2024, we remain optimistic about the quality of our pipeline of potential new work to support our medium-term growth targets,” CEO Mark Irwin said. ($1 = 0.7913 pounds)
(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Eileen Soreng)
