UK public sector sales drive Steria growth

French outsourcer Steria has posted steady growth in the UK for its second quarter, driven by an improvement in public sector sales.

For the three months to June the company saw sales in the UK increase by 3.4% to €190m (£148m).

“[This is] thanks to the positive trend in the public sector (up 8%), driven by increased activity with the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Justice and the NHS through the NHS SBS," said the results statement. NHS SBS is a shared businesses services joint venture with the Department for Health for delivering back office-functions such as HR.

Overall the company saw sales increase 3.3% to €926.6m for its first half of the year, compared to the same period last year.

This put it ahead of rivals Capgemini and Atos, which both saw flat results for the same period.

“In an uncertain environment, for the full year 2012, the group expects like-for-like revenue growth of between 2% and 3%,” said the company.

Steria has 4,295 staff based in the UK out of a total workforce of 20,008.