Kier profit in line with targets, confident on outlook

12th Sep 2013 07:32

Construction, services and property firm Kier Group reported full year profit in line with company expectations, adding that after nearly five years of recessionary pressure, it is starting to see signs of improvement in all of its main businesses.The company, which specialises in civil engineering, support services, house building and property development, said underlying pre-tax profits fell to £63.4m compared to £70.0m the prior year, reflecting what it described as tough industry trading conditions during the year.Kier, which is a contractor for the £15bn Crossrail project, said revenue fell to £1.98bn from £2.1bn before. Underlying earnings per share fell to 136.2p from 156.8p the year before, in line with expectations.The group, which recently completed its acquisition of May Gurney Integrated Services, said: "The comprehensive review of our business that we started earlier in the year is substantially complete and our attention remains focused on the successful integration of May Gurney. "This comes at a time when the macroeconomic outlook is beginning to improve in all our markets, positioning the group for growth.""We have secured a number of significant contract wins across all of our businesses which means that we have begun the 2014 financial year in a good position, with all of the Construction division's targeted revenue and 95% of the Services division's targeted revenue currently secured and probable," it added. Reflecting its confidence in the future performance of the business, the full year dividend was increased by 3% to 68p.Net cash fell to £60m from £129m in 2012 after investment of approximately £77m during the year and average month-end net debt of £4m.Kier's restructuring programme during the year saw the closure of some non-core operations and reduction among its regional building operations to better suit anticipated demand. The cost of this programme, reported as an exceptional charge, was £12.0m. CJ