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Stock Exchange Announcement Closed period trading update : strong first half and full year performance expected 30 June 2021 Serco Group plc , the international provider of services to governments , today provides its scheduled closed period update of trading for the first six months of 2021 , together with updated guidance for 2021 as a whole . Serco will be in a closed period between 5 July 2021 and publication of the interim results for the first half of 2021 on Thursday 5 August 2021 . Highlights of expected first half performance ● serco ● ● Reported revenue growth of 19 % ; organic revenue growth of around 15 % . Underlying Trading Profit more than 50 % higher than the first half of 2020 at £ 120m- £ 125m . All four regions trading ahead of last year . Underlying Trading Profit margin likely to be greater than 5 % . - £ 3.8bn of order intake , a book - to - bill ratio of around 170 % in the first half , and just under 120 % on a rolling 12 - month basis . Robust financial position with adjusted net debt expected to be around £ 275m ; leverage towards the bottom end of our target range of 1-2 times net debt : EBITDA . Commenting on today's update , Rupert Soames , Serco Group Chief Executive , said : " Serco's performance in the first half underlines the trust governments around the world place in us , and our ability to respond at scale and pace to rapidly - changing requirements . We expect to deliver revenue growth in the first half of nearly 20 % , and Underlying Trading Profit growth of more than 50 % ; just as pleasing , our order intake will be at record levels at almost £ 4bn , including large new contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence , the Department of Work & Pensions and the Royal Canadian Airforce . Despite being exceptionally busy responding to strong demand for our services , we also completed two important acquisitions in the United States and Australia in the period . For the year as a whole , we expect to deliver Underlying Trading Profit of around £ 200m , or nearly 30 % growth in constant currency . Profits will be weighted to the first half , and will include contributions from the WBB and FFA acquisitions , which will enable us to absorb the impact of the end of the AWE contract , the mobilisation costs of the recently - signed DWP contract and an expected reduction in Covid - 19 related activities . We also intend to take advantage of the current strong trading to temporarily increase our rate of investment in our systems platform , cyber resilience , and business development spend to respond to a strong pipeline of opportunities . " Expected outcome for the first half of 2021 and guidance for the full year Revenue : We expect revenue of around £ 2.2bn in the first half of 2021 , 19 % higher than the £ 1.8bn reported in the first half of 2020 ; about £ 340m of our first half revenues are expected to be related to Covid - 19 , which compares to £ 80m in the prior year . The acquisitions of FFA and WBB have added 5 % to our revenue , while currency is expected to have a 1 % adverse impact . Our organic revenue growth is expected to be in the region of 15 % for the first half , making it the third successive half - year period where organic growth has been at 15 % or above . We have seen particularly strong revenue growth in the first half in the UK and Australia . Whilst it is not realistically possible to accurately forecast Covid - 19 related revenues , given the constantly evolving situation , our expectation is that revenues related to Covid - 19 will drop significantly in the second half . Notwithstanding this , we expect revenue to show growth in the second half versus the same period in 2020 . Underlying Trading Profit ( UTP ) : We expect first half UTP of between £ 120m and £ 125m , more than 50 % higher than the £ 78m reported last year . Acquisitions will contribute around £ 7m or 8 % of the UTP growth , while currency is expected to be a 4 % drag . The organic growth in UTP has been driven by continued strong demand for our Covid 19 work and growth in a range of other contracts , notably in Justice & Immigration and Citizens Services . The net impact of Covid - 19 will be stronger than 2020 as a result of both increased volumes on Covid - 19 contracts , and as those parts of the business that saw significant losses last year - notably Leisure , Transport and Health - show signs of improvement . For the year as a whole , we continue to expect UTP of around £ 200m , which implies a larger first half weighting but strong growth on 2020 overall . In the second half we anticipate a lower level of Covid - 19 work , our AWE and Dubai Metro contracts will end , the new DWP Restart contract will be loss - making as it mobilises , and £ 3m of profit on sale from the divestment of our US parking business in the first half will not recur . In addition , we intend to use the current strong tradin to temporarily increase investment across a variety of projects to prove the resilience of the business 1