Writes David J Ison, Group CEO
As we bring another financial year to a close, we also mark ServiceTec’s 36th year in business, a milestone worth recognising.
This year has brought its fair share of challenges. Delays in the awarding and commencement of new business made achieving our budget particularly difficult. While the numbers are still being finalised, we know that we will fall short of our revenue target. However, we are hopeful that operating profit will be close to target, and both figures are expected to show year-on-year improvement. That in itself is a strong achievement in the circumstances.
There were some late wins and project starts, more on those in Lynne’s article, and the Group’s Forward Order Book is now approaching record levels, setting us up well for the year ahead.
We were also pleased to have strong representation at the Passenger Terminal Expo in Madrid this year. The team had valuable conversations with both existing and potential customers, and came away with insights into several exciting opportunities for the future.
In April, the Board visited Oslo to meet with both our local team and the customer. We were delighted to be joined for lunch by members of the Avinor team, who operate the Norwegian airports. They were very complimentary about the ServiceTec team and the recently completed kiosk upgrade project across the remote airports – a project we can all be proud of. While on site, the team were in the process of moving offices, from what may have been one of the best views in the company to a new location just by International Arrivals!
In May, we held our annual Group Management Meeting (GMM) in the UK. As ever, it was a chance to connect as a leadership group, share updates from across the business, and review our Group strategy. A highlight of this year’s agenda was an insightful session on Artificial Intelligence and how we can make the most of Google’s Gemini tools in our day-to-day work. The GMM was immediately followed by the EMEA Update meeting, where the focus shifted to all the exciting activity and opportunities within the region.
We were also proud to celebrate two long-serving team members, Carl Shallcross and Ton Oosterwijk, who each reached their 30-year ServiceTec anniversary in May. Congratulations and thank you to both!
Looking ahead, we are now preparing the budget for the new financial year, which began on 1st July. This marks the fifth year of our five-year plan to double the size of the Group. Due to the delays experienced this year, we now expect to reach this target in six years rather than five, but the goal remains firmly in sight.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support and contributions over the past year. We have a solid foundation, strong momentum, and a great team in place for the next chapter.
