Public service provider Serco has seen its net defined benefit surplus decrease by £6m over the past six months.

The total surplus of all its defined benefit schemes dropped to £20.3m from 26.3m, in the six months to 30 June 2018.

Its largest scheme is the Serco Pension and Life Assurance Scheme (SPLAS), which last had its triennial valuation at 5 April 2015 revealing a deficit of £4m. Its most recent accounting valuation, as at 31 December 2017, revealed a deficit of £33.7m.

A revised schedule of contributions for SPLAS was agreed during 2017, with 29 per cent of pensionable salaries due to be paid from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018 and 28 per cent from 1 November 2018 to 18 December 2022. An additional shortfall contribution of £1.2m was paid on 30 April 2018 and four further payments of £0.5m are payable at the end of each April from 2019 through to 2022.

In its interim results, Serco reported that its profits have almost doubled in the first six months of the year, rising to £25.6m from £13. However, revenues were down 9 per cent, to £1.4m, compared to the same period in 2017.

Serco group chief executive Rupert Soames said: "As foreseen in our five-year strategy, profits are now starting to grow, with Underlying Trading Profit having increased by 20 per cent at constant currency in the first half. We have also seen a continuation of the strong order intake achieved in 2017, with contract awards so far in 2018 of some £1.6bn, around 80 per cent of which is from customers outside the UK; this order intake delivers another period during which the book to bill ratio has exceeded 100 per cent, and sees our order book increase to £11bn.”

Share Story: