Mitie raises payout though annual profit slips on exceptional costs
Mitie Group PLC on Thursday posted lower profit in financial 2026, partly due to exceptional costs, but nonetheless hiked its shareholder payout.
The London-based outsourcing and facilities management firm booked a pretax profit of £123.7 million for the year ended March 31, down 15% from £145.4 million in financial 2025.
Revenue advanced 11% to £5.62 billion from £5.08 billion, but higher exceptional costs weighed on the bottom line, dragging basic earnings per share down 20% to 6.6 pence from 8.2p. Restructuring costs increased to £27.2 million from £16.6 million, acquisition and disposal costs surged to £74.9 million from £43.1 million, though other exceptional costs edged down to £10.6 million from £12.8 million. The total loss on other items widened to £112.7 million from £72.5 million.
Nonetheless, Mitie bumped its final dividend up 3.3% to 3.1p from 3.0p, subject to approval at the firm’s July 21 annual general meeting. This would take the total dividend to 4.5p, versus 4.3p the previous year.
Mitie shares rose 2.4% to 178.10 pence on Thursday morning in London.
Also on Thursday, the company announced a fresh £100 million buyback programme for financial 2027, including the remaining £40 million of the £100 million programme launched in October 2025, of which £60 million has already been completed.
The company said its order book grew 6% to a ‘record’ £16.3 billion for the year ended in March from £15.4 billion. Its bidding pipeline also grew about 34% to £31.7 billion from £23.7 billion. More than 70% of this pipeline is due to be awarded in the next 18 months, Mitie added.
The firm maintained confidence in delivering its strategic plan, supported by strong demand and tightening regulation, whilst acknowledging potential cost inflation risks from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Chief Executive Phil Bentley commented: ‘FY26 has been another year of progress as we enter the final year of our FY25-FY27 Strategic Plan... We also further developed our leadership into business-critical Facilities Compliance through the acquisition of Marlowe, and the integration is progressing well.
‘Looking ahead, we enter FY27 with good momentum, supported by a record order book and bidding pipeline. Notwithstanding the potential for some incremental cost inflation as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, our ongoing margin enhancement initiatives, combined with the increasing mix of higher-margin Facilities Transformation and Facilities Compliance work and continued investment in data and AI, are expected to support margin progression, while we continue to reinvest for growth.’
Bentley noted that he still intends to step down as CEO, after nearly a decade in the role, at the end of the FY25-FY27 cycle, once a successor has been confirmed - ‘a process that is well underway’, he added.
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