Serco's £555m rights issue wins backing of shareholders

LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in outsourcing company Serco dipped into the red on Friday after shareholders approved a rights issue, throwing their weight behind the board's plans to turn the group around. The £555m rights issue, which nearly all shareholders voted in favour of, was announced last month alongside a refinancing to primarily lower Serco's debt.

Net debt stood at £682m at the end of 2014, following a year in which it made a £1.35bn loss, compared with a profit of £146m the year before.

The company received valid acceptances in respect of 520.26m new ordinary shares, out of the 529.27m that were on offer, representing 94.7%. The one-for-one rights issue was priced at 101p per share.

Serco said that underwriters had found subscribers for the remaining shares not taken up, representing 5.3% of new ordinary shares, at a price of 142p.

The stock was down 2.8% at 142.6p by 15:20.