Interserve books in good shape following shake-up

Interserve is making encouraging progress in 2004 after a period of reorganisation and restructuring, according to Mike Bottjer, the group's chairman and former chief executive.
Latest interim results (six months to 30 June) show pre-tax profit higher at £14m (£11m) as turnover jumped to £660m (£530m). Progress was made with net debt, which halved to £32m. The first half of 2004 brought in new contracts with a total value of more than £770m.
In 2003, Interserve's figures wilted as a result of £32m of exceptional charges as the group - with new chief executive Adrian Ringrose at the helm - came to terms with the need to sort out internal problems. There was another £5m hit this time. Without that, the business would have delivered a £19m pre-tax profit.
Interserve has five operating divisions. Both facilities services and project services delivered operating profit of close to £8m.
"Equipment services started the year slowly but improved well, delivering growth at margins approaching 20% in the second quarter," Ringrose said. "Performance continues to be strong in Australia and the Middle East, with both regions enjoying buoyant market conditions.
"Activity levels in the UK showed encouraging signs of improvement and the long-awaited recovery in Far East infrastructure projects manifested itself in a number of major hire contracts from April onwards."
As at 30 June, Interserve's future workload stood at £4.3bn and since then it has won three more major contracts with a total value of £600m.