Proactive Investors - Capita PLC (LON:CPI) expects the costs of the recent cyber attack to be between £20-£25 million which helped push the firm into the red in the first half of 2023.
The outsourcer, which has contracts with the NHS, the army and the Cabinet Office, had previously said March’s attack would cost up to £20 million.
The charge contributed to Capita reporting a pre-tax loss of £67.9 million compared to a £0.1 million profit a year ago while revenue edged down by 3% to £1.48 billion from £1.52 billion.
Capita said the loss reflected business exits, non-core portfolio goodwill impairment and costs associated with the cyber incident.
It said it was accelerating previously planned investment to improve its “cyber security maturity”.
The free cash flow outflow increased to £84.0 million from £16.6 million but net debt declined to £544.6 million from £710.4 million.
Full-year expectations remain unchanged with the firm on track to deliver an acceleration in financial performance in 2023.
The target is to double group EBIT margin over the medium term, underpinned by £40 million cost savings by the end of 2024, it added.