Interserve takes a hit with profit back to £15m

The process of cleaning up Interserve's image has taken a major toll on its latest figures. Pre-tax profit was dragged back to just £15m as a result of the weight of £43m of exceptional items and other one-off charges.

Without the changes, Interserve would have been presenting a pre-tax profit figure of £58m (£36m). Turnover (12 months to 31 December 2006) was firmer at £1.4bn (£1.2bn).

The biggest issue has been the carrying of £37m of goodwill in Interserve's industrial services division. This stems from the high price Interserve paid for Brandt, resulting in a £30m hit this time round and leaving just £7m of dormant goodwill still to resolve.

The second-largest hit was the £8m internal investigation in the group's industrial services division.