The facilities management (FM) and guarding contractor Mitie has released its latest half year results. For the first half of the 2024-25 financial year, its revenue was about £2.4 billion, a rise of about 13 per cent, compared with the first half of the previous financial year of about £2.1 billion. About half of the increase was organic – singled out by the firm were ‘higher volumes for the Immigration Escorting Services contract in Care and Custody, as well as the provision of ‘surge response’ security services for the Home Office’ in the summer.
CEO Phil Bentley described this as the foundation year of the company’s new Three-Year Plan, when the firm is develop its ‘Facilities Transformation offering’, as featured in the January edition of Professional Security Magazine. He said: “We are investing in technology to strengthen our market leading position; in sales and marketing to drive greater wins and renewals; and in our Projects capabilities to enhance our upsell opportunities. These investments are already starting to deliver tangible results, including a record performance in new contract wins and contract extensions/renewals in the period, ensuring continued growth momentum.
“Overall, we have made good progress against our strategic objectives, with revenue growth of c.13 per cent in H1; at least £20m of full year cost savings identified from margin enhancement initiatives; and the completion of two acquisitions. We therefore remain confident in meeting expectations for the current year and delivering our Three-Year Plan targets.”
Among contract wins across FM services were security for Fedex. As for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the company says that it will ‘continue to pursue infill M&A to deepen capabilities in the areas of buildings infrastructure, decarbonisation, grid connections and fire and security’. Mitie reports acquiring Grupo Visegurity, a security business in Spain, as an expansion in what the firm terms the ‘highly fragmented Spanish FM market’.
According to the firm, growth in terms of projects ‘continues to be driven by the macro trends of decarbonisation, grid connections, the modernisation of the built environment, data centre expansion and regulatory changes’. While Lloyds Banking Group is Mitie’s largest private sector customer, its customers range from Sky and Amazon, and the real estate firm Landsec, to hospitals and government departments, though two public sector contracts were not renewed during the reporting period, and will end during the next financial year.
