It was another challenging quarter for John Torrie and his team at Steria UK, as revenues slipped back 2% (like for like) to €172m (c.£147m) in Q1 (to 31st March). As in the prior quarter (see here), growth in Energy-Utilities/Telco-Media/Transport sector was not enough to offset a decline in Public Sector activity coupled with pressure in the Banking sector. Group revenues fell by 6.2% at the headline level to €437m, (-3.4% at constant scope and currency), mainly due to an 8% revenue decline in Steria's native French - and second largest - market (€144m).
But it was not all bleak news. Just before quarter-end, Steria ousted CGI (ex-Logica, ex-CMG) from the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) following the retender of its IT outsourcing contract (see here).
And announced today, Steria has won a contract with Greater Manchester Police for a digital interview recording managed service, with a potential opportunity of some £13m over the five year life of the deal. Historically, police forces have used compact cassettes to record interviews (that's small plastic containers containing magnetic tape, for our younger readers). The new system will see witness and suspect interviews recorded digitally and stored on a central server. Reading-based security products firm, Reliance High Tech, and Norwegian digital recording and streaming software developer, Indico, are partnering on the deal.