Speaking of the delays the pandemic had wrought on his turnaround plan, he said: "It is deeply frustrating. This was not what we needed for what was always going to be a very challenging transformation but we will get through it.
"It will delay our return to growth but it is further strengthening our resolve to strengthen the business."
He said the Capita of two years ago would never have been able to cope with the crisis because it was wrestling with huge inefficiencies and problems on major contracts such as the army recruitment service for the Ministry of Defence and work with NHS England.
Both contracts had been scandals for years before the current management took over, with glitches leaving the Army thousands short of soldier-recruits.
As a result of its improving performance with government work, he said, Capita had won £80 million of contracts to help various government departments deal with the impact of the pandemic.
He declined to comment on what contracts they were but said: "It is very clear the government now regards us as a reliable, committed, strategic supplier, and that was confirmed to by a senior civil servant in the last two months."
He said there would be more disposals ahead that have not yet been announced to the market and said the ESS sale - being handled by Goldman Sachs - was planned to be done by the end of the year despite information memorandum only going out to potential buyers last month.
"We have encouraging interest from strategic players and private equity," he said.
