Serco group CFO to quit following two profit warnings

SERCO group CFO Andrew Jenner will step down from the business later this year following two profit warnings and a government overcharging scandal.

Jenner has spent more than ten years at the company and is likely to leave before the end of the year, The Financial Times reports.

His unconfirmed departure is expected after the security business was involved in a scandal that revealed it was overcharging the government, alongside two profit warning in the past six months. Serco has also seen its share price fall by about 30% in the last year.

Although the company has not announced this news, it did reveal that Jenner, and persons connected with him as part of financial planning, sold 257,228 shares at a price of 467.46p per share.

Jenner joined the company in 1996 as group financial controller having previously worked at Unilever and Deloitte. He became corporate finance director with additional responsibility for treasury activities in 1999 before joining the board in 2002.

Former CEO Chris Hyman resigned in November following the discovery that Serco had charged the government for electronic tagging of offenders who were already in prison, or in some cases, had died. The company agreed to repay £68.5m to the government following the details being brought to light.

Current CEO of Aggreko, Rupert Soames, will join the business in the summer from the power rental company. The FT reports he is also a descendant of Winston Churchill. Aggreko has promoted its chief financial officer Angus Cockburn to interim CEO.

A spokesman refused to comment on the claim that Jenner was stepping down. However, he said: “Rupert Soares will join the company on 1 June 2014. He will be working with Andrew Jenner, who continues to be our chief financial officer.”

Earlier this year Serco announced a 62.1% decline in its annual profit before tax to £106.6m, with adjusted operating profit down 4.7% to £285.4m.

Rival company G4S was also involved in the tagging scandal and had to repay £109m. It also came under fire for its security failings during the Olympics which saw the Ministry of Justice deploy military assistance.

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