DWP contract win boosts Interserve after debt warning

INTERSERVE has been awarded a £227m contract to provide facilities management services to the Department for Work and Pensions, just a day after saying it was in danger of breaching debt covenants and warning on profits.

The company will provide maintenance services to the DWP estate, as well as cleaning, catering, waste disposal, removal and secure destruction of confidential waste services to more than 700 buildings throughout the UK, over a five-year period. The new contract replaces an old private finance initiative contract that expires next year.

Debbie White, the chief executive of Interserve, said the company’s goal was to “deliver a seamless transition to providing facilities management services to the department”.

News of the contract win boosted shares in the company by 16.8pc to 76.5p, after a catastrophic drop on Thursday in which they hit record lows of just 52.75p.

Interserve has said it expects profits in the second half of the year to be half of what they were a year ago.