LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Serco shares were down sharply on Monday morning, after the company was informed by the Ministry of Defence on Friday night that AWE, the entity controlling the Atomic Weapons Establishment, would transfer back under the direct control and management of the Ministry of Defence from 30 June 2021.

The FTSE 250 company said that since 2000, AWE had been managed by AWE Management Limited, in which Serco holds a minority interest of 24.5%.

It said the other shareholders were Lockheed Martin at 51%, and Jacobs at 24.5%.

The company said it would work with the other shareholders and the Ministry of Defence to ensure a "smooth transition" to the new arrangements.

"We expect that AWE will make a contribution to both Serco's group underlying trading profit and profit after tax of around £17m in 2020," the board said in its statement.

"Whilst our budgeting process is yet to be completed and the pandemic makes forecasting extremely difficult, assuming a smooth transition of AWE at the end of June 2021, we would expect both group underlying trading profit and profit after tax in 2021 to remain broadly in line with current consensus and at similar levels to our expectations for 2020, representing growth of around 35% over 2019."

At 0922 GMT, shares in Serco were down 11.98% at 113.9p.

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