By Shane McGingley www.arabianbusiness.com
Serco, the UK-based operator of the Dubai Metro, said it expected revenues to increase to about $8bn by the end of 2012, on the back of strong global demand for its services.
Operating profit margins are forecast to rise to 6.3 percent by the end of 2012, the company said in a statement.
“The strong performance has been driven by high levels of operational delivery, continued organic growth and good free cash flow. Our financial position remains strong,” Serco said.
The company, which signed a five-year, $23m deal in August with Nakheel to operate the Palm Jumeirah monorail, reported a 9.8 percent rise in global revenue to £2.14bn ($3.31bn) in the first half of the year.
Operating profit rose 13 percent to £124.4m ($192.51m) in the first six months of the year.
The AMEAA (Australasia, Middle East, Asia and Africa) region represented ten percent of revenue and surged 37.4 percent to £218m ($337.35m), helped by “significant contributions” from Serco’s Middle East operations.
Serco has a $5.4m annual contract to provide air traffic control and airside engineering services at Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International, which opened in June.
The British firm also won a $16.2m maintenance and consultancy contract for the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Southern Line in Makkah and a $2.7m contract to manage bus operations in Abu Dhabi.
