Half-year results announcement six months ended 30 June 2011

Interserve, the international support services and construction group, announces its half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2011.

Read the highlights below or download the full half-year results by clicking the PDF icon:

	H1 2011	H1 2010	Change
Revenue	£928.0m	£944.5m	(1.7)%
Headline profit *	£33.0m	£30.0m	+10.0%
Profit before tax	£30.1m	£27.3m	+10.3%
Headline earnings per share *	22.8p	17.5p	+30.3%
Basic earnings per share	21.2p	15.9p	+33.3%
Net debt	£35.8m	£53.1m	(32.6)%
Interim dividend	6.0p	5.6p	+7.1%

Strong performance

• First-half headline profit up 10.0 per cent
• First-half free cash flow generation of £44.1 million
• Interim dividend up 7.1 per cent

Strong financial position

• Net debt reduced to £35.8 million at 30 June 2011 (H1 2010: £53.1 million)
• Further marked reduction in pension deficit (net of taxation) to £22.1 million (H1 2010: £75.8 million)

Confidence in Group’s prospects

• Encouraged by progress in the first half, maintaining guidance for 2011
• Over £1 billion of contract wins announced to date in 2011
• £1.1 billion of workload for 2012, within a substantial total future workload of £5.4 billion
• Capability to double earnings per share over five years

Chief Executive Adrian Ringrose commented, “Interserve has performed well, delivering headline profit growth despite challenging market conditions. Support Services generated strong growth which, accompanied by a robust performance from Construction, more than offset the ongoing cyclical pressures in Equipment Services.

“Encouraged by the progress achieved in the first six months of the year and a growing bid portfolio, we maintain our guidance for 2011 and reiterate our belief that we have the capability to double earnings per share over five years.

“This confidence, underpinned by strong cash conversion, is reflected in the Board’s announcement of an increase in the interim dividend in line with our progressive dividend policy.”

- Ends -

For further information please contact:
Adrian Ringrose, Chief Executive 0118 932 0123
Tim Haywood, Group Finance Director 0118 932 0123
Matt Jones, Head of Investor Relations 0118 960 2280
Liz Morley / Tom Eckersley, Maitland 020 7379 5151

About Interserve
Interserve's vision is to be The Trusted Partner of all our stakeholders. We are one of the world’s foremost support services and construction companies, operating in the public and private sectors in the UK and internationally. We offer advice, design, construction, equipment and facilities management services for society's infrastructure. We are based in the UK, have revenue of £1.9 billion and a workforce of 50,000 people worldwide.

* Note
This news release and the Interim Management Report include a number of non-statutory measures, to reflect the impact of non-trading and non-recurring items. See note 12 to the consolidated financial statements on page 30 for a reconciliation of these measures to their statutory equivalents.