Interserve misses out

STRUGGLING Government contractor Interserve has lost out on as much as £150m worth of work since November because of its dire finances.

Interserve was the preferred bidder for between £120m and £150m worth of UK construction contracts in the past four months, but was later passed over.

But bidding in the support services division, which provides catering and cleaning support among others, has not been affected. Interserve’s mountain of debt is thought to be close to £800m – about 40 times higher than its £18m market value. It faces a crucial vote on its second rescue deal in a year at a shareholder meeting tomorrow.

Interserve has spent thousands of pounds taking out online adverts on Google, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, in a bid to reach retail investors and persuade them to back its bailout package. This would slash its debt but leave current shareholders with just 5pc and lenders with 95pc of the publicly listed firm.

Otherwise, it will go into a prepack administration and emerge as a private company on Monday.