Interserve Share Discussion Threads

[dexdringle] 20/7/2018 12:27

Oh, that's okay then. There was me thinking IRV was in difficulties - but they can't be if they could previously throw away £50m per annum without a seconds thought just because they couldn't be bothered to be lean.....

[aendjo] 20/7/2018 11:59

On operational costs of 3b, savings of 50m represent a cost cutting of 1.5%. No company is 100% lean.

[dexdringle] 20/7/2018 11:38

...I love it when these companies say "we can cut £50M from the overheads"

If that was the case why haven't they done it before ? Or, more importantly, why have they got into a place where the overheads are £50M more than they need to be.....?

[aendjo] 20/7/2018 11:33

4th March 2018, Financial Times

UK-based government contractor Interserve is on track to cut 1,500 jobs as it fights to stave off bankruptcy.

Interserve, which employs 80,000 people worldwide, including 25,000 in the UK, has already cut 500 administrative staff in the last quarter and is planning a further 1,000 by the end of 2018, said people close to the board.

The cuts comes as it seeks to convince lenders to provide emergency financing to keep the company that cleans Britain’s embassies and the London Underground solvent.

[...]

Interserve looks after UK military bases in the Falklands, Gibraltar and Cyprus for the Ministry of Defence, runs probation services for the Ministry of Justice and healthcare at home services for local authorities. It also has a sizeable construction and support services business in the Middle East.

Ms White plans to “tidy up the portfolio”, pulling out of some businesses such as a division servicing power companies in a transformation plan that will take three to five years. This will see the company cut costs by £15m in 2018 and a further £40m to £50m by 2020. It is expecting to break even on losses from its six energy-from-waste plants by the end of the year, said sources close to the board.

-----

The above was just four months ago, prior to refinancing.

[skyblue5] 20/7/2018 10:56

Not fake news and don't have shares. I did not take up my share save option because price way above current standing. Without the workers no IRV.

[aendjo] 20/7/2018 10:04

I’m actually surprised by how little noise has been made about restructuring.

According to the January update a profit improvement of 15m GBP would be realised during this year, with a target of 50m GBP improvement in profits by 2020.

The 50m target might well be achieved by contract discipline, streamlining provisions and maximising economy of scale but I would have assumed that the early “low hanging fruit” worth 15m would mostly be cost cutting, including redundancies.

I expected to hear from disgruntled employees - those that have been let off and those that need to pick up more work as a result. It’s been a surprisingly low key process thus far.

Some profit taking today. The share price will still finish blue.

[windrushg] 20/7/2018 09:27

...and axe grinders?

[dexdringle] 20/7/2018 08:43

....pessimistic clairvoyants ?

[fenners66] 20/7/2018 08:34

I think those negative comments started prior to the move up.

[whoknowswhoknowswhoknows] 19/7/2018 22:08

Very true. Slightest hint of positive movement encourageages all derampers

[eodfire] 19/7/2018 21:45

No flies on you da Vinci. Was thinking the same thing. Very expected at this point tbh.

[da vinci1] 19/7/2018 21:04

Strange! There appears to be a sudden spate of negative anecdotal stories emerging recently alleging all sorts of problems within IRV Plc. Can't imagine why they co-incide with the beginning of an overdue re-rating and 7th August results! Perhaps they're just co-incidental!!! Then again,perhaps it's Fake News!!!

[skyblue5] 19/7/2018 15:10

Whyyy
More shocks to come cuts and recruitment freeze damaging accounts that could be more profitable. Poor management absolutely no compassion or respect for workforce. Plenty of dead wood still in middle and SMT. All too focused on group which will lead to losing contracts early as they fail to deliver services as overstretched at the coalface.
They seem to forget they are a service provider not a financial institution, and to be a service provider you need talented hard working people on the ground. DW should not have taken bonus while workforce lost holiday's accrued. Moral all time low and shares could follow. They have to change business model and deliver what they promise when winning contracts. They can get back to where they were in time with tools and hard work not with pen,laptop,spreadsheets and untrue graphs.

[skyblue5] 19/7/2018 15:06

Whyyy
More shocks to come cuts and recruitment freeze damaging accounts that could be more profitable. Poor management absolutely no compassion or respect for workforce. Plenty of dead wood still in middle and SMT. All too focused on group which will lead to losing contracts early as they fail to deliver services as overstretched at the coalface.
They seem to forget they are a service provider not a financial institution, and to be a service provider you need talented hard working people on the ground. DW should not have taken bonus while workforce lost holiday's accrued. Moral all time low and shares could follow. They have to change business model and deliver what they promise when winning contracts. They can get back to where they were in time with tools and hard work not with pen,laptop,spreadsheets and untrue graphs.

[da vinci1] 19/7/2018 14:10

A new share price high for a month! Fasten your seatbelts folks!

[aendjo] 19/7/2018 10:42

I’m too very impressed with Jon Lewis’ progress over at Capita.

We should not forget Interserve was on the brink of collapse and that refinancing was signed off only 3 months ago.

Sustainable growth implies restoring margins. It’s sad people are losing jobs either due to business lines being closed or sold, or due to restructuring and redundancies but the alternative is Carillion.

Protests from Unions have been rather subdued thus far - Unite made some noise in May regarding five redundancies announced in Gibraltar and back in November for 200 redundancies in UK. Nothing to write home about. Clearly getting it right is crucial - there’s always the risk of saving a penny to lose a Pound.

The jury is still out but the premises are good. I think you’ll do well with your investment.

[windrushg] 19/7/2018 07:56

More upwards momentum today would be very welcome !

[aendjo] 18/7/2018 23:38

Thank you @whoknows. I wasn’t expecting Mrs White or Mrs Cabrini were there to make friends either...

[whoknowswhoknowswhoknows] 18/7/2018 23:03

Mobilisation engineer

[aendjo] 18/7/2018 22:50

What’s your role there who knows?

[whoknowswhoknowswhoknows] 18/7/2018 22:24

Hmm, I work there and I'm not getting a sense of "Demoralised" but people have been putting in plenty of OT. Yes, a lot of management jobs have gone and about time too. The company is running already more efficiently without those managers. More meetings were held about why work couldn't go ahead pre-FFG. So far, the change is refreshing.

[tartanexport] 18/7/2018 21:01

I fully agree with whyyy. HR,QSHE have all been slashed and sites have little support. Stripping out levels of management structure to six leaves a lot of people under a lot of pressure. I think its a case of save a great deal over a short term and BOD move on leaving "another fine mess".