Rest of the World

The Rest of the World has delivered very strong organic revenue growth of 10.6%.

The organic revenue growth in the Rest of the World business has resulted from excellent new business wins and improved like for like revenue growth throughout the geography. We have exited 30 countries and are now focused on a core 28 where we believe there are good opportunities to grow. By streamlining the business and removing duplication we have been able to take out significant overheads and we now have the business much more focused on cost efficiency, allowing us to leverage the revenue growth.

Australia continues to make good progress. The energy and extraction industries have provided good opportunities and we are successfully developing our other sectors, for example, Healthcare, where this year we have seen growth of 19%.

Japan continues to improve. A renewed focus on client and consumer pricing combined with rigorous attention to the cost base is working. Margins improved by 100 basis points in 2008 and are now close to the Group average. Major contract wins have included Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Oracle Corporation.

This year we acquired the remaining 50% of our business in Brazil, making it one of our top ten countries. The focus continues to be on growth and we have made excellent progress, increasing revenue organically by some 21%. New contract wins have included the Barro Alto nickel plant construction site for Anglo American and our first Sports & Leisure sector contract in the country at the São Paulo Stadium.

The remote site business is now focused on five countries where we operate mainly with major blue-chip international companies. The business is performing well and we are seeing good revenue growth as our new and existing clients continue to expand their operations.

The UAE has seen excellent organic revenue growth of around 30%, with all sectors growing strongly. New contract wins include Al-Futtaim Carillion and TDIC Leighton.

Overall, operating profit in the Rest of the World has increased by £36 million, or 53%, on a constant currency basis, to £104 million (2007: £68 million on a constant currency basis), in part through the acquisition of the remaining 50% of the shares of GR SA in Brazil and £6 million of disposal profit arising on country exits. The margin has increased by 150 basis points to 5.4% which is now close to the Group average. Excluding the impact of the £6 million disposal profit, the margin would have been 5.1%, an increase of 120 basis points.