Britain's Capita sees organic growth accelerating in 2016

By Li-mei Hoang LONDON (Reuters) - British outsourcing group Capita said it expected organic revenue growth to accelerate in 2016 after it posted an 11 percent rise in first-half pretax profit and secured 1.6 billion pounds of major contract wins. The company, which runs services including the Ministry of Defence pension scheme, said contract wins this year such as a 1 billion pound framework for the National Health Service would help organic revenue growth accelerate next year. "We would expect it to be single-digit organic growth but mid to higher end," Chief Executive Andy Parker told Reuters. The company said pretax profit for the six months ended June 30 rose to 264.9 million pounds ($413 million) from 238 million pounds a year earlier. Capita, which has avoided scandals over the private provision of public services such as those that damaged rivals G4S and Serco , said it expected to deliver low-double-digit revenue growth for the full year, with a slight increase in organic growth in the second half. Analysts on average expect Capita to report full-year pretax profit of 549.21 million pounds, according to a Thomson Reuters poll of 14. Parker said he expected demand for outsourcing IT administration in sectors like health, telecoms and financial services to help drive further growth, particularly in the public sector. "I still think there is a demand to improve administration efficiencies and drive cost savings for the public sector. I think it's still critical," Parker said. "The government announced earlier this month some pretty swingeing cuts to budgets - central government and across the wider public sector - and I think organisations like ours will continue to be one of the options that they will use to help them to drive out those savings." Shares in Capita stood 1.4 percent lower at 1267 pence at 0728 GMT. "Whilst the business looks solid, acquisition and new market risks make us more cautious on the story," Investec analysts said in a note. (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by Kate Holton and Dale Hudson)