REG - Serco Group PLC - Australian facilities management company acquired

SercoAnnouncement

17/12/2020 07:00

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RNS Number : 9273I  Serco Group PLC  17 December 2020

Acquisition of leading Australian facilities management company

 

17 December 2020

Serco Group plc

LEI: 549300PT2CIHYN5GWJ21

 

Serco Group plc ('Serco' or 'the Group'), the international provider of
services to governments, through its Australian subsidiary, Serco Group Pty
Limited, has reached agreement to acquire Facilities First Australia Holdings
Pty Limited (FFA).  The business is to be acquired for an enterprise value of
A$76.5m (£43m), subject to standard net working capital adjustments, with the
consideration to be satisfied from Serco's existing debt facilities.  FFA's
revenue for the year ended June 2020 was A$282m (£156m), adjusted EBITDA was
approximately A$12m and Underlying Trading Profit around A$11m (£6m); the
transaction represents a multiple of 6.2x June 20 adjusted EBITDA and 6.8x
June 20 adjusted EBIT.  The acquisition is expected to be accretive to
earnings in 2021; as a consequence of the transaction Serco Group leverage
will increase by approximately 0.2x, from the 0.5x the Group expects to see at
31 December 2020.  The acquisition has received Australian Foreign Investment
Review Board approval and is expected to complete on 4 January 2021.

 

FFA is a specialist provider of cleaning, facility maintenance and management
services to government; over 80% of its revenues come from long-term
government contracts and it has an order book of around A$434m (£240m).  Its
2,500 employees and experienced management team bring to Serco new skills and
reach in government facilities management, which is expected to see a
significant amount of bidding opportunities in the coming years.

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Rupert Soames, Serco Group Chief Executive,
said: "This acquisition adds expertise and heft to our facilities management
operations in Australia, while retaining our government focus.  The
combination of Serco and Facilities First will enable Serco Australia
to target a significant pipeline of new opportunities which we expect to
mature in the next few years.  We welcome the employees and management of FFA
as they join Serco and look forward to working with them as we further
grow our Australian business."

 

 

 

Ends

 

For further information please contact:

Paul Checketts, Head of Investor Relations, tel: +44 (0) 7718 195 074 or
email: paul.checketts@serco.com (mailto:paul.checketts@serco.com)

Marcus De Ville, Head of Media Relations, tel: +44 (0) 7738 898 550 or email:
marcus.deville@serco.com (mailto:marcus.deville@serco.com)

 

 

 

About Serco

Serco is a leading provider of public services. Our customers are governments
or others operating in the public sector.  We gain scale, expertise and
diversification by operating internationally across five sectors and four
geographies: Defence, Justice & Immigration, Transport, Health and Citizen
Services, delivered in UK & Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and the
Middle East. More information can be found at www.serco.com
(http://www.serco.com)

 

 

Forward looking statements

This announcement contains statements which are, or may be deemed to be,
"forward-looking statements" which are prospective in nature.  All statements
other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements.
Generally, words such as "expect", "anticipate", "may", "could", "should",
"will", "aspire", "aim", "plan", "target", "goal", "ambition", "intend" and
similar expressions identify forward looking-statements.  By their nature,
these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and contingencies, and actual results and events could
differ materially from those currently being anticipated as reflected in such
statements.  Factors which may cause future outcomes to differ from those
foreseen or implied in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to: general economic conditions and business conditions in Serco's markets;
contracts awarded to Serco; customers' acceptance of Serco's products and
services; operational problems; the actions of competitors, trading partners,
creditors, rating agencies and others; the success or otherwise of partnering;
changes in laws and governmental regulations; regulatory or legal actions,
including the types of enforcement action pursued and the nature of remedies
sought or imposed; the receipt of relevant third party and/or regulatory
approvals; exchange rate fluctuations; the development and use of new
technology; changes in public expectations and other changes to business
conditions; wars and acts of terrorism; cyber-attacks; and pandemics,
epidemics or natural disasters.  Many of these factors are beyond Serco's
control or influence.  These forward-looking statements speak only as of the
date of this announcement and have not been audited or otherwise independently
verified.  Past performance should not be taken as an indication or guarantee
of future results and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is
made regarding future performance.  Except as required by any applicable law
or regulation, Serco expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to
release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements
contained in this announcement to reflect any change in Serco's expectations
or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such
statement is based after the date of this announcement, or to keep current any
other information contained in this announcement.  Accordingly, undue
reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements.

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