Interserve dishes up a mess

Another huge outsourcing group is in big trouble. What went wrong, who is to blame, and what happens now? Matthew Partridge reports.

926-Interserve-634

Interserve's ingenuity went for a very long lunch
(Image credit: Credit: Jansos / Alamy Stock Photo)

In January, outsourcing giant Interserve was placed under special monitoring by ministers. While it insisted at the time that it wasn't about to become the next Carillion, says James Moore in The Independent, Interserve is now "in rather urgent talks with its lenders about turning a substantial chunk of its £600m-plus debt pile into shares". As a result, "punch-drunk investors" facing massive dilution have seen the shares slump by 50% in a week. They have lost 90% since January.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri