Kier celebrates £150m profits and order book of £8.7bn
PROPERTY and construction company Kier Group, which employs more than 600 people in offices across the North West, is reporting a 44% increase in underlying profits to £150m.
Preliminary results for the year ending June 30 show revenue is up 26% to £4.2bn – up 8% on a like-for-like basis, and its order book amounts to £8.7bn.
The company with bases in Manchester, Liverpool, Oldham and Wigan is involved with a raft of major constructions projects across the North West.
These include the joint venture with Carillion, turning the M6 junctions 16 to 19 into a smart motorway in a project worth up to £475m and Kier is one of the construction partners in the £450m Mersey Gateway project – the construction of a six-lane toll bridge over the River Mersey linking Runcorn and Widnes.
Kier also is on site delivering the new £24.9m interchange in Bolton for Transport for Greater Manchester and last year Kier project managed the biggest ever DIY SOS project, where eight dilapidated homes in Newton Heath were renovated to create four adapted homes for veterans and their families.
Kier is now back on site refurbishing the remaining properties in Canada Street for Haig Housing Group.
In Liverpool, where it was headline sponsor for this year’s International Mersey River Festival, Kier is responsible for a number of key projects in the area including the Mayor’s Liverpool Schools programme.
The company says its profits have been boosted by its integration with the Mouchel business which it acquired recently at a cost of £265m.
Kier announced a proposed full year dividend per share increase of 17% to 64.5p (2015: 55.2p).
Chief executive Haydn Mursell said: “I am pleased to report a good set of results reflecting the evolution of the group during the year following the completion of the integration of Mouchel.
“This year, we have successfully focused on our commercial and capital disciplines and are pleased to report a significant improvement in our net debt, further strengthening our balance sheet and the delivery of a key Vision 2020 target: net debt: EBITDA of less than 1x, a year ahead of our expectations.
“The group continues to perform well in growing market sectors including infrastructure, housing and regional building, providing a breadth of capabilities to our clients.
“For the first time, 50% of group profit now comes from our services division where essential day-to-day services are provided to clients and we have long-term visibility of our future pipeline of work.
“We remain focused on growing the business through improving operational efficiencies and investing in new technology to support our operations.”
