Servelec undertakes “swift action” to steady IT services firm

Alan Stubbs, chief executive of Sheffield-headquartered Servelec Group has said the technology business has taken swift action to counter issues which led the listed group to issue a profit warning earlier this year.

A “slippage” in contracts meant Servelec, which provides software, hardware and services to industries including healthcare, oil and gas and utilities, was forced to revise its full-year expectations.

Interim results for the six months to 30 June 2016, the technology business reported a 5 per cent drop in revenue to £28.4m and a 65 per cent slump in pre-tax profit from continuing operations to £1.7m.

Stubbs said: “We had a few redundancies in Sheffield – less than 20. Other parts of the business were needing those skills so we passed quite a few people, around five, from healthcare to Corelogic.”

Corelogic provides adult and children’s social care case management software. “We are moving functions back to Sheffield, where we can get a lot of staff from the universities. London can’t get that level of staff. We have closed our Belfast office and are closing Salford and moving functions to Sheffield, which we are expanding.”

However, Stubbs said the Servelec board was positive about the long-term prospects for the group.

Servelec said large contract wins in the second half, which will be executed during 2016, 2017 and beyond, together with a growing pipeline of opportunities means it is on track to return to growth in 2017.

Also, “swift action has been taken to strengthen our sales team and reduce implementation resources in Healthcare and to reallocate resources across Controls and Technologies whilst maintaining our ongoing focus on reducing costs,” said Stubbs.

“Coupled with recent contract wins we are confident in achieving the revised market expectations for the year.

“The events which triggered the previous trading update are issues of timing. The long-term structural demand for our technology, products and services remains.

“Our customers value our products, services and our people such that Servelec continues to be their first choice when opportunities come to market.”

Servelec Group floated on the main market of the stock exchange at the back end of 2013 with its £123m valuation making it the largest tech initial public offering in three years.