The little loved outsourcing company Capita has just reported an ugly set of results. It's parting company with its chief executive, has seen £300m wiped from its market value, and is set to get booted out of the FTSE 100.

I image most people can bear its misfortunes with a great deal of fortitude. The company is in the middle of a nasty scandal over its collection of TV licence money on behalf of the BBC, which is investigating allegations that collectors, motivated by an aggressive incentive scheme, targeted vulnerable people.

It also runs much criticised assessments of the eligibility of disabled people for personal independence payments on behalf of the Department for Work & Pensions. That business led to calls for an investigation last year after Channel Four caught one assessor on film dismissing a claimant’s “disability known as fat”.

The broadcaster's Dispatches team sent a psychiatric nurse through Capita’s disability assessment training, where a senior staff member urged him to do “as many assessments a day as you can possibly manage”. Drag 'em in, get 'em rejected, and put another penny on the shareholders' dividend.

Oh and it looks after the London Congestion Charge too.

For one company to perform just those three wildly disparate functions well would be quite something. But Capita does far more than that.

Here’s a list of operations culled from its website: business process management, business transformation, corporate and administration services, customer management, debt solutions, digital and software solutions, financial services, HR and recruitment, information technology, legal services, procurement, property and infrastructure, travel and events.

With all that on its plate, is it any wonder scandals keep on emerging? The ones I referred to above are just the most recent.

The phrase jack of all trades, master of none springs to mind. The company’s results certainly bear that out. Pre tax profits fell by a third. Underlying profits, predicted to be £515m in the most recent profit warning, landed at £475m.

Chief executive Andy Parker, who will depart later this year, described 2016 as “a challenging year”. No kidding. He says the company has streamlined its structure, improved accountability. It’s pulling out of some areas, but still boasts about a bid pipeline of £3.8bn.

That might provide some consolation for Capita shareholders. It’s highly debatable whether the same is true for the public, if and when people end up encountering Capita either directly or indirectly through the services the Government contracts with it to provide.

For their contracts companies like Capita bid against other companies, and cost seems to be the only criteria that matters when it comes to selecting the winners.

Driven to provide services cheaply, and turn as much of a profit as possible when so doing, is it any wonder that scandals such as those I’ve just referred to emerge with such regularity?

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

It isn’t just Capita, of course. There is a long and sorry list of outsourcing outfits that have hit problems in recent times. Governments, of all colours, never seem to see the problem. The companies they do business with try to do to much, are spread to thin, and are often managed badly.

“The appointment of an external successor (to Mr Parker) will revive discussion regarding whether Capita needs to shrink back to a higher quality core,” opined analysts at Jeffries. Again, no kidding.