Serco completes sale of Great Southern Rail

Outsourcing group Serco has completed the sale of "luxury" long-distance rail service Great Southern Rail for £2.5m to Australian private equity firm Allegro.

The FTSE 250 group, which issued two profit warnings in 2014, had originally announced the deal on 30 March, citing the need to narrow its focus as the reason behind the sale.

Serco "needs to concentrate on its core as a leading supplier of public services and we cannot provide the focus and investment [Great Southern Rail] needs to survive", group chief executive Rupert Soames said in March.

Serco shares were 0.55% up to 137.65 at 08:03 on Friday.