Elior UK announce significant profit drop after closure of Ministry of Defence business

Elior UK has announced a £4.6m decline in pre-tax profits after the closure of its Ministry of Defence business, as it awaits returns on new contracts.

The firm reported a pre-tax profit of £1.42m for the period ending 30 September 2018, down from £6.06m the previous year. A spokeswoman for Elior UK said the causes were both one-off declines.

In her assessment of the report, chief financial officer Eleni Savva said: "The year-on-year results reflect continued growth; operating profit was impacted by the closure of the MoD business as part of the Hestia process and the immaturity of new group contracts".

Project Hestia, spearheaded by the Ministry of Defence, saw the government consolidate more than 80 contracted Soft FM services, worth £250m a year, into seven regional contracts. Of these at least three - the North and Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the South East and London were awarded to Carillion, which went into liquidation in January 2018.