Mitie

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British strategic outsourcing and energy services company

title: "Mitie" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["business-services-companies-of-the-united-kingdom", "outsourcing-companies", "companies-listed-on-the-london-stock-exchange", "construction-and-civil-engineering-companies-of-the-united-kingdom", "british-companies-established-in-1987", "companies-based-in-bristol", "private-providers-of-nhs-services", "construction-and-civil-engineering-companies-established-in-1987", "business-services-companies-established-in-1987", "companies-in-the-ftse-250-index"] description: "British strategic outsourcing and energy services company" topic_path: "engineering" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitie" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British strategic outsourcing and energy services company ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

Field	Value
name	Mitie Group PLC
logo	Mitie logo.svg
type	Public
traded_as
key_people	Derek Mapp, Chairman
Phil Bentley, CEO
industry	Facilities Management
revenue	£5,091.2 million (2025)
operating_income	£234.1 million (2025)
net_income	£108.4 million (2025)
num_employees	72,000 (2025)
foundation	1987
location	London, United Kingdom
homepage	www.mitie.com/
::

Mitie Group PLC (pronounced "mighty") is a British strategic outsourcing and energy services company. It provides infrastructure consultancy, facilities management, property management, energy and healthcare services. It has a head office at The Shard in London and more than 200 smaller offices throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

History

Foundation and early activities

Mitie was founded by David Telling and Ian Stewart as MESL in 1987. One year later, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange for the first time. It merged with Highgate & Job in 1989, after which it was renamed the Mitie Group.

Throughout the 2000s, the company pursued a strategy of growth through the acquisitions of various other businesses. In March 2006, it acquired Initial Security, a leading security business. During 2007, Mitie acquired Robert Prettie & Co. Ltd in exchange for £32.7m and incorporated the specialist plumbing, heating and mechanical services business into their Property Services division. In 2008, Mitie continued its strategy through the acquisition of Catering Partnership and DW Tilley; the latter purchase allowed Mitie to expand its roofing services nationwide. During 2009, Mitie completed the acquisition of Dalkia Facilities Management in exchange for £130m, which bolstered its Technical Facilities Management capability; it also expanded into social housing through the purchase of Environmental Property Services (EPS) for £38.5m. During 2010, Mitie acquired the integrated facilities management business of Dalkia in Ireland.

2010s

Mitie made its first acquisition in the health and social care sector in October 2012, when it spent £111 million on the homecare firm Enara. In April 2013, Mitie's chief executive, Ruby McGregor-Smith, was made non-executive director to the board of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. During February 2014, Mitie introduced its new visual identity.

Between 2013 and 2015, cleaning staff employed by Mitie at various high-profile locations, including the Royal Opera House, the Houses of Parliament, the law firm Clifford Chance, First Great Western train services, and various NHS hospitals, held demonstrations against low pay.

In February 2014, Mitie announced an eight-year contract with the Home Office, making it the largest provider of immigration removal centres in the United Kingdom. Almost two years later, Mitie came under fire for its management of the immigration centres after the prison inspectorate stated that the facilities were "dirty", "rundown" and "insanitary". Mitie has continued to be involved in the sector.

The firm secured a cleaning contract with Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust during June 2014 valued at £90m over seven years. Sick pay cost £1.2m in its first eight months, compared with £280,000 for the NHS in the previous financial year; UNISON blamed the rise on staff stress, which it claimed had been caused by mistakes on pay. Such difficulties were not typical to Mitie's other NHS cleaning contracts, although there has been some criticism over their higher cost than other providers.

In November 2014, Mitie acknowledged that its homecare business was less profitable than had been anticipated and that it was struggling to recruit and retain sufficient numbers of care workers. During July 2015, East Sussex County Council reportedly ended a £2 million contract with Mitie to provide home care over allegedly poor standards of care provided.{{cite web |url = https://www.thetimes.com/article/homecare-deal-was-really-mities-hospital-ball-ntsnj0lll |title = Mitie taken to the cleaners after homecare fiasco |work = The Times |first = Robert |last = Lea |date = 22 November 2016}}

During 2016, shares in Mitie fell to a four-year low after the company warned that an expected boom in outsourced services was not happening. Throughout both 2015 and 2016, it was reported that Mitie was one of the most shorted stocks in the FTSE 250. McGregor-Smith announced in November 2016 that the company was withdrawing from the healthcare business (providing home care for the elderly) in response to spending cuts and rising employment costs that had made the sector unviable.

In November 2017, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) announced an investigation into the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2016. This led to the disclosure in the Annual Report for 2017 that there had been errors in the impairment testing of healthcare goodwill and that, if certain judgements had instead been treated as errors, the amount of the prior year adjustment disclosed in the 2016 results would have increased by £44.0 million. This disclosure had addressed the FRC's concerns.

During December 2017, following a string of three profit warnings in the space of four months, McGregor-Smith stepped down from her role with the outsourcing group; she was replaced by former managing director of British Gas and current Chief Executive Phil Bentley.

2020s

In June 2020, Mitie announced it was to buy Interserve's facilities management business in a cash and shares deal worth £271m, later revised downwards to £190m. The deal, following its ratification by Mitie's shareholders, was completed on 1 December 2020. The Interserve acquisition increased the company's exposure to public sector work from one-third to half of its overall business activities.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mitie added a wide range of services, including running Covid testing sites, cleaning offices and major transport services, and providing security for new quarantine hotels. The firm continued to work with Government departments such as the National Health Service, Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Defence, and education providers. During 2021, the firm was publicly criticised over the management of several locations, including a Covid-19 testing site it ran under contract in Inverness and facilities at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, after several workers contracted the virus. In 2024, Mitie also resisted paying a COVID-related bonus to its private nursing staff that public NHS employees were given, although it relented in the fact of industrial action.

In July 2023, Mitie was awarded a four-year £280 million contract with the national railway infrastructure owner Network Rail; the arrangement brought together four prior contracts and involved the delivery of a fully integrated facilities management service for the entire Network Rail estate, spanning 800 sites across the UK, including train stations, offices, rail operating centres, and other locations. That same year, it acquired four separate security-related businesses, Biservicus Group, GBE Converge Group, R H Irving and Linx International Group.

In February 2025, Mitie partnered with Elements Green, a solar and energy developer, to design their Staythorpe battery energy storage systems (BESS). The signed deal was for £71.5m.

The company announced the proposed acquisition of a fire safety services business, Marlowe, in June 2025.

Operations

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Mitie_bus_stop_maintenance_van.JPG" caption="A Mitie maintenance van"] ::

Mitie stands for Management Incentive Through Investment Equity. The management of the business typically invested part of the capital alongside Mitie, and if targets were met, they were able to sell their shares to Mitie after a fixed period for a sum based on the profits achieved (an earn out). Payment was made in a mixture of cash and Mitie shares. The managers usually remained with Mitie after the earnout.

Controversy

In February 2022, The Sunday Mirror revealed a Mitie WhatsApp group relating to immigration management paid by the Home Office that exchanged racist and offensive messages amongst colleagues since March 2020.

References

"Annual Report and Accounts 2025". Mitie.
(15 April 2025). "Mitie introduces new corporate vision for the future of high performing places". Facilities Management Journal.
(24 November 2003). "Obituary: David Telling". The Times.
"Our story: Mitie". London Stock Exchange.
Telling, David. (21 March 2001). "The High and MITIE". The Independent.
"UK Business Park - B2B Sales Leads & Company News". ukbusinesspark.co.uk.
(2 April 2007). "Mitie Group buys Robert Prettie & Co for 8.6-32.7 mln stg plus debt". AFX News.
(27 March 2008). "Mitie confident despite softer economy". Construction News.
journallive Administrator. (2 July 2008). "Small/mid-size Company Deal of the Year". journallive.
(20 October 2009). "MITIE to buy UK arm of Dalkia for £130 mln, to raise £40 mln via placing". Proactiveinvestors UK.
Bill, Tom. (20 November 2009). "Mitie buys Environmental Property Services for £38.5m". Building.
(25 June 2010). "MITIE Group Acquires Integrated Facilities Management Business Of Dalkia In Ireland - Quick Facts".
(2009-08-12). "Mitie buys Dalkia's UK arm, raises 43 mln stg". Reuters.
Maidment, Neil. (9 October 2012). "Mitie moves into home care with Enara buy". Reuters.
"New non-executive directors appointed to the DCMS board". gov.uk.
"Mitie unveils a new brand logo". fm-world.co.uk.
(11 October 2015). "Ruby McGregor-Smith, Mitie CEO: Outsourcing's prickly peer". Financial Times.
Gover, Dominic. (29 August 2013). "Migrant Cleaners Protest Against Conditions at Top Law Firm Clifford Chance". International Business Times UK.
(8 November 2013). "Morning Star :: Mitie cleaners occupy First Great Western HQ - The Peoples Daily".
(12 February 2014). "ERCO surrender flagship detention centre to Mitie".
(March 2016). "Mitie criticised for 'insanitary' immigration centre". Financial Times.
Miller, Phil. (3 September 2014). "Investigating Mitie, the market leader in UK immigration detention".
McIntyre, Niamh. (10 October 2018). "Private contractors paid millions to run UK detention centres". The Guardian.
(12 January 2023). "MITIE DETENTION PROFITEERS: 2023 COMPANY PROFILE".
Bychawski, Adam. (18 November 2022). "Contractor where staff traded racist messages banks millions in profit".
(24 June 2015). "Sick pay costs rise for Cornwall NHS hospitals private cleaners Mitie". BBC News.
(1 December 2016). "Mitie retains major contract with Hinchingbrooke Healthcare NHS Trust".
(3 December 2018). "Trusts paying triple the cost following NHS clinical waste scandal".
(24 November 2014). "NHS trust financing woes expected to boost private sector openings". Financial Times.
(15 July 2015). "Revealed: The care contract ripped up over institutional abuse of elderly".
(15 May 2015). "Analyst twists the knife as Mitie feels heat on pay". [[The Times]].
"'Prickly peer' Baroness McGregor-Smith smoothes over Mitie's problems". [[The Times]].
(21 November 2016). "Mitie withdraws from healthcare as it issues second profit warning". Guardian.
(1 March 2017). "Mitie sells home healthcare business for £2". BBC News.
(20 November 2017). "FRC announcements in connection with Mitie Group plc's 2016 annual report and accounts". Financial Reporting Council.
Sweet, Pat. (16 July 2020). "FRC ends part of Mitie investigation".
McGregor-Smith, Ruby. (21 November 2016). "Mitie issues second profit warning amid £100m loss".
"Mitie hit by third profit warning in 4 months". Financial Times.
"Ruby McGregor-Smith quits as boss of Mitie". Financial Times.
"Mitie knocks £81m off Interserve FM purchase price".
(25 June 2020). "Mitie to buy Interserve FM business for £271m". Construction Enquirer.
(1 December 2020). "Mitie seals Interserve deal". i-fm.net.
Slingo, Jemma. (18 May 2023). "Why Mitie deserves a second chance".
"Covid contracts help Mitie revenues double to £930m". [[The Times]].
Thomas, Rhys. (8 September 2021). "Mitie: Frontline Heroes in the COVID-19 Response".
Graham, August. (24 September 2021). "Mitie ups guidance as it counts benefit from Covid contracts". The Independent.
(14 February 2021). "Mitie workers claim 'failures' led to Covid 19 outbreak".
Paduano, Michele. (6 May 2021). "Mitie broke Covid-19 safety laws at Russells Hall Hospital". BBC News.
(29 February 2024). "Mitie boss must pay healthcare workers what they are owed or strikes will continue, say UNISON and Unite".
(25 March 2024). "Dudley NHS staff gain Mitie victory".
(5 July 2023). "Mitie on track for IFM deal with Network Rail". Facilitate.
Keighley, Tom. (2 May 2023). "Facilities management giant Mitie swoops for North East security specialist R H Irving Industrials".
(8 September 2023). "Mitie Spain Expands Security Capabilities with Acquisition".
(2 November 2023). "Mitie acquires GBE Converge Group, one of the UK's largest independent Fire & Security businesses".
(2025-02-27). "Elements Green signs deal with Mitie for Europe's largest BESS".
Staff Reporter. (2025-02-27). "Elements Green to Develop Mitie Battery Energy Storage Project".
(5 June 2025). "Mitie agrees £366m deal to buy Lord Ashcroft-founded firm Marlowe". London Evening Standard.
(5 June 2025). "UK outsourcer Mitie to buy peer Marlowe for $496 million".
"Mighty job ahead for new boss at MITIE". [[The Times]].
(20 February 2022). "Home Office probes immigration contractor Mitie over racist text claims". BBC News.

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