Serco rides high to a £122m profit

Serco, the outsourcing giant behind London's "Boris" bike hire scheme, credited rapid overseas growth yesterday for a 10 per cent rise in its first-half pre-tax profits to £122m.

The company said its divisions in the UK and US were facing "challenging conditions" in the face of government cutbacks, with revenues in the UK, where it also runs prisons, schools and nuclear facilities, down 3 per cent to £1.3bn.

But its Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australasia division saw "exceptionally strong" revenues growth of 44 per cent, and total revenues rose 5 per cent to £2.2bn.