* FY headline pretax up 31 pct to 106.2 mln stg
* Co says has record future workload of 8.1 bln stg (Adds CEO comments, analyst notes, details)
By Li-mei Hoang
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - British outsourcing groupInterserve Plc said it aimed to develop its supportservices division to help drive growth after the group posted a31 percent rise in headline pretax profit.
Chief Executive Adrian Ringrose said he believed thedivision, which provides services such as caring for theelderly, had potential to develop further after it securing 6.5billion pounds ($10 billion) of contracts in 2014.
"The strategic theme for us is the development of ourfront-line public services business ... that is something thatwe have built up over the last two or three years and I thinkthat has got a lot of potential ahead of it," Ringrose toldReuters.
Britain's Ministry of Justice last year named Interserve aspreferred bidder for five probation contracts as part of apartnership with social enterprise firm 3SC and charitiesAddaction, P3 and Shelter, which is expected to be worth around600 million pounds over seven years.
The company, which provides employment assistance schemesfor the government, cleaning services for London Underground andfacilities management for the BBC, posted a 31 percent rise inheadline pretax profit to 106.2 million pounds for 2014 and saidit had a record future workload of 8.1 billion pounds.
It also said it had delivered organic revenue growth of 10percent and that total revenue rose by a third to 2.9 billionpounds, helped by the acquisitions of Initial Facilities and theEmployment & Skills Group.
Shares in the company were up 2.5 percent to 574 pence by0839 GMT, making it one of the biggest gainers on the FTSE 250 index of mid-sized companies.
Interserve said in a separate statement its chairman NormanBlackwell plans to step down before its 2016 annualshareholders' meeting and it would start a search for hisreplacement in coming months.($1 = 0.6437 pounds) (Additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Sarah Youngand David Holmes)