Serco to create 100-plus jobs for UAE nationals

Serco employees check passenger tickets on the Red Line in Dubai. Jeff Topping / The National

Serco has pledged to create more than 100 jobs for UAE nationals after winning a contract to provide shared services to government departments.
The UK outsourcing major won a four year deal from the Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre to provide shared services to more than 50 government departments.
A delivery facility has been constructed in Al Ain that will be used to provide "contact centre and support services, including voice, email and webchat", Serco said in a regulatory filing to the London bourse.
"The centre will offer services in both Arabic and English."
The Abu Dhabi contract is another milestone for the UK-based Serco Group as it seeks to strengthen its regional foothold as it battles tougher market conditions at home.
When the company won a contract in 2009 to operate the Dubai Metro, it said a third, or 2,150, of the positions would go to Emiratis in managerial and supervisory roles. The 30 per cent quota was considered high compared with targets set for other industries in the country, such as insurance or banking.
Serco acquired JBI Properties Services, a facilities management company, from Mubadala Development two years ago. Since then, the company has been contracted at UAE University in Al Ain and New York University, whose campus is being built on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island.
Last year, Serco was reported to have made plans to cut as many as 500 UK jobs amid heavy competition and a government austerity programme, according to the Financial Times. The company's shares were dropped out of the FTSE 100 Index on Wednesday after losing almost 17 per cent of their value since early July amid allegations of fraud and overcharging by Serco staff working on the outsourcer's contracts.
Serco's contract problems took the shine off solid financial results, with adjusted pretax profit for the six months to June 30 up 10.5 per cent to £127.1 million (Dh737.1m) .
Adjusted revenue rose 11.8 per cent to £2.55 billion, boosted by record contract wins last year.
However, the group said higher bid costs on new work pulled its adjusted operating margin down 23 basis points to 5.7 per cent and that for this year the margin would be flat or slightly down on the 6.4 per cent achieved in 2012.
* With Reuters
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