Capita's sale of Asset Services arm nears completion

Capita expects to complete the sale of its Asset Services businesses to Link Administration a week on Friday.

Capita, which put the profitable unit up for sale last December and agreed the £888m sale in June, has now received all the necessary regulatory approvals for the disposal, allowing it to complete on 3 November.

Including axing 2,000 jobs, the FTSE 250 group has begun to simplify the business as it struggles to cope with weak growth and high debts that has seen its shares struggle to recover from the huge profit warning last autumn.

The Capita Asset Services sale should allow Capita to allay a major investor worry by reducing gearing and strengthening the balance sheet, despite removing one of the biggest contributors to underlying profits.

Net debt was down to £1.6bn at the half-year stage from £1.9bn a year before.

New chief executive Jon Lewis, hired from Amec Foster Wheeler, will officially begin work at the start of December, taking over after Andy Parker stepped down after 17 years at the group.