Business
AGM statement and trading update
AGM statement and trading update.
About this update from Capita Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nCapita plc - AGM statement and trading update\n\nCapita plc ('Capita'), the UK's leading provider of technology-enabled customer and business process management services (‘BPM’) and integrated professional support services, is holding its Annual General Meeting today and is issuing the following trading update.\n\nStrategic initiatives\n\nWe are making good progress on executing the strategic initiatives laid out at the end of 2016 to reposition the Group and create a simpler business better placed to return to profitable, sustainable growth.\n\nGroup restructure: We have bedded down our new divisional management and our market-facing organisation structure has now been in place since the beginning of 2017. This has increased transparency and oversight, and created greater renewed focus on sales, consistent operational performance and customer service excellence.\n\nCreating a simpler business and addressing leverage: We have completed the disposal of our stand-alone, transactional specialist recruitment businesses (education, social care and health personnel) to Endless. We are committed to our remaining Workplace Services businesses which include our public and private recruitment process outsourcing (‘RPO’), executive search, vetting, employer branding agency and learning services businesses. The larger disposal of the Capita Asset Services businesses is proceeding well and is on track to conclude in the second half of 2017. Together, these disposals increase the Group's focus on technology-enabled BPM and should result in a significant reduction in leverage by the end of 2017. At the half year results these businesses will be reported as non-underlying.\n\nPerformance improvement: We commenced a number of short and long term cost initiatives in the last quarter of 2016 to improve performance, including reductions in overheads, the offshoring of some IT applications support, centralising more of our procurement and rationalising our property estate. These are progressing well and we are on track to realise net incremental benefits in line with our expectations.\n\nTrading update\n\nTrading businesses: The overall performance of our trading businesses in the year to date is in line with our expectations. The turnaround of IT Services is progressing better than expected, with improving profitability following the r...