Capita shares rise as group extends contract with telco

Capita shares rose on Wednesday after the group confirmed it had extended its contract with a “leading” European telecoms company.

Capita shares rose 3.15 per cent or 0.44 pence to 14.38 pence on Wednesday, having fallen more than 59 per cent in the last year.

In a deal worth more than £95m over four years, Capita said it would continue to provide “customer experience services” for the client, including taking customer queries, chatbots, “social media engagement” and technical support. management.

Corinne Ripoche, CEO of Capita Experience, said: “We are very proud to extend this contract, which builds on the success of our long-standing strategic partnership since 2008.

‘We will focus on offering a customer-centric approach that anticipates their needs, through a seamless and personalized experience.

“We will continue to leverage technology to meet our customers’ high-quality requirements.”

Last month, Capita said it was committing a further £100m of annual spending cuts as the group’s new boss vowed to boost its competitive advantage after suffering losses.

The group posted a loss of £106.6 million for 2023, down from a profit of £61.4 million the previous year and “reflecting business exits, cost-cutting program expenses and cyber incident costs of 2023”.

Chief executive Adolfo Hernandez told investors last month he would press ahead with a “rapid reduction” in costs, following a separate £60m-a-year savings drive announced in late 2023.

Capita, which operates London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone, did not say last month whether the latest round of savings would result in further staff reductions, after announcing plans to cut 900 jobs in November.

Capita is one of the UK’s largest employers, with a workforce of 43,000 staffing many government functions, including a large number of NHS support staff.

On an adjusted basis, its revenue rose 1.3 per cent to £2.6bn last year. On a year-on-year basis, revenue fell 6.6 percent.

Capita said 2023 revenue was boosted by growth in its Personal Independence Payments unit, as well as the “benefit of indexation and a trade wind-down in the closed-book Life and Pensions business at Experience” .