LONDON -- The shares of Capita (LSE: CPI) have slipped 1.9% to 925 pence as of 9:30 a.m. EDT after the global outsourcing company revealed it had signed new deals worth 660 million pounds in the first quarter.
The company's major new contracts include a 10-year deal to provide Carphone Warehouse's non-store customer service department for 160 million pounds. Capita's other deals involve providing technology support to University of Strathclyde and a joint management-training venture with the Cabinet Office. The company offered no further update on its bid pipeline, which stood at 5.2 billion pounds in February.
Capita, which provides outsourced business services, said it had completed seven bolt-on acquisitions worth 165 million pounds in 2013.
Providing its outlook for the outsourcing industry in 2013, the company added:
The market for customer management and BPM remains very active in the U.K. with government and commercial organizations under pressure to maintain and develop efficient operational models which deliver quality services while achieving value for money. We remain on track to deliver strong growth in 2013 as a result of major contract wins and acquisitions completed during 2012 and to date in 2013 and anticipate continued strong progress into 2014 and beyond.
With a market cap of 6 billion pounds, Capita's shares trade at 16 times expected earnings and offer a prospective dividend yield of 2.8%. Of course, whether that valuation, today's update, and the future prospects for the outsourcing industry all combine to make shares of Capita a buy remains your decision.
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