Interserve Regulatory News (IRV)

16 May 2012 07:00

Interserve INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT Trading well, good visibility and strategic progress

Interserve, the international support services and construction group, is issuing its Interim Management Statement covering the period from 1 January 2012 to date, in advance of its Annual General Meeting which will be held at 11:00 a.m. today.

Highlights

* Trading during the period in line with the Board's expectations

* More than £600m of new work won, further improving our revenue visibility

of c. £1.9bn(1) for 2012 and c. £1.0bn(1) for 2013

* Good cash generation

* Acquisition of Business Employment Services Training (BEST) delivering on

strategy to increase capability in growth markets

(1) Including our share of associates

Chief Executive Adrian Ringrose commented,

"We've had a good start to the year and are trading well in mixed market conditions. Our attractive global breadth of end markets in outsourcing and infrastructure, together with our strong financial position, underpins our strategic development potential."

Trading Performance

The Group is performing in line with the Board's expectations and we continue to believe that trading in 2012 will be stable compared with 2011. We have continued to win significant contracts from new and existing clients and the business is benefitting from early actions taken to enhance efficiencies.

* In the year to date we have won over £600m of work from clients including

NHS, Ministry of Justice, Alliance Boots, Tata, Gammon-Hyundai, William

Hill, Ladbrokes, BPP, Sainsbury's, National Grid and the West Yorkshire

Police Authority.

* Support Services UK is progressing well with resilient performance in our

core markets and continuing efficiency improvements.

* Support Services International is trading well primarily through its

activities in the Middle East petrochemical sector.

* Construction, both in the UK and internationally, continues to perform

in-line with expectations. Demand conditions remain challenging with

increased competition although we are engaging in a broader range of

sectors and activities which mitigates some of these pressures.

* Equipment Services continues to recover led by encouraging market

conditions in Australasia and the Far East. There are early signs of growth

within the Middle East. Europe and North America remain subdued.

Strategic development

The acquisition of BEST, announced 4 May, increases Interserve's delivery of front-line services, particularly in the Department for Work and Pensions' Work Programme and forms part of the company's strategic development as a key public services provider. BEST delivers services in government-sponsored programmes; the majority of its business being in West and South Yorkshire.

Financial position

Having successfully completed our refinancing at the beginning of the year, we have significant available debt facilities which, combined with our good cash management, reinforces our strong financial position.

Outlook

We continue to expect stable trading in 2012 despite the continued global economic uncertainty. Our medium-term growth strategy remains focussed on:

* Building strong core businesses

* Expanding internationally

* Broadening further the scope of our core businesses.

Board change

David Paterson is to retire from the board on 30 April 2013 and in the meantime will continue in his current role.

For further information please contact:

Matt Hickman, Investor Relations Manager 0118 960 2280 Robin O'Kelly, Director of Communications 0118 960 2313 Elizabeth Morley / Tom Eckersley, Maitland 0207 379 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 gross revenue of £2.3 billion and a workforce of more than 50,000 people worldwide.