We are the world's largest independent ground engineering specialist, renowned for providing technically advanced and cost effective foundation solutions. Our reputation is built on engineering excellence and a commitment to continual innovation.

Our services are used across the construction sector in infrastructure, industrial, commercial, residential and environmental projects. We have unrivalled coverage in Europe, North America, Australia, and South Africa and a growing presence in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

With an annual turnover of £1.5bn, we have around 9,000 staff world-wide with offices in more than 40 countries.

Our businesses
http://www.keller.co.uk/aboutkeller/businesses.aspx







Keller adds 7.3 percent after the engineering company reports first-half profits that more than trebled from a year ago.

"Keller's interim results show that the group is now back on the front foot after several difficult years of unprecedented volume declines in most of its key markets," Numis Securities says in a research note.

Numis maintains an "add" rating on Keller shares, while Investec keeps a "buy" rating, describing Keller's results as an "encouraging set of interims."

29 Jul Investec 1,300.00 Buy
29 Jul Liberum Capital 955.00 Hold

IC- A strong recovery in US residential building was the major catalyst behind a stunning first half at ground engineering specialist Keller

(KLR). Underlying pre-tax profit more than doubled to £26.8m, and despite predicting flat underlying revenue in the second half, further margin improvement should nudge full-year results toward the top end of City forecasts. Analysts at Jefferies responded by upgrading profit forecasts by 15 per cent to £69m, giving adjusted EPS of 69.1p (from £43.5m and 45.9p in 2012). However, orders have slowed recently and there’s still work to be done.

Operating margin doubled to 4.4 per cent during the period after Keller finished several big projects and cut costs. It got lucky with the weather in North America last winter, too. Further savings should feed through early next year, says chief executive Justin Atkinson, and the group's margin target of 6 per cent is within reach. It is already 5.4 per cent in North America, Keller’s largest market accounting for nearly half first-half revenue, and operating profit in the region jumped from £7.6m to £16.5m. That said, some big contracts either just ended, or nearing an end still haven’t been replaced.

Australia outperformed, too, with margins of 8.2 per cent flattered by a final flourish on the Australia Pacific LNG contract. Another LNG gig - Wheatstone - is underway. Elsewhere the outlook is patchy. Germany and Poland are challenging, Asia is mixed and the Middle East is picking up.
===================================================

Questor Share Tip: Keller produces a winning performance but orders may slow it down
TelegraphBy Roland Gribben | Telegraph – Tue, Jul 30, 2013 07:00 BST



Keller Group (LSE: KLR.L - news)

£10.89 -36p

Questor says HOLD

It was appropriate at the start of a post-Olympic (BSE: OLPCL.BO - news) year that Keller Group should end a depressing run of results.

The construction engineering company responsible for preparing the groundwork for the Olympic Stadium delivered a strong first-half recovery and comfortably beat market forecasts.

There was almost an Olympic-style performance. Turnover was up 5pc, pre-tax profits soared 115pc and earnings per share were a heady 124pc higher, but shareholders will have to be content with a more pedestrian 5pc increase in the interim dividend to to 8p.

Keller is in the big project business, tearing the earth apart and digging deep before the construction gangs move in. Crossrail, as well as the Olympic Stadium, provide its bread and butter. But as one of the biggest in the business Keller has worldwide coverage.

There was an element of flattery in the first-half figures when measured against last year’s comparable performance. Completion of major contracts and favourable settlements contributed to doubling operating margins from 2.2pc to 4.4pc.

Keller also feels it benefited from better risk management, reflected in the way contracts are now handled at crucial stages.

Three of its four geographic divisions are healthy. The weakest is Europe where a small loss last year has been turned into a small profit.

The scale of problems in Europe is illustrated by Keller’s business in Spain where turnover has slumped from €80m (£69m) to €10m in the past five years.

Asia remains the strongest business patch with margins nudging 11pc. Australia is seeing just over 8pc while the US, the biggest market in the Keller portfolio, is running at 5.4pc

The US market, currently accounting for almost 50pc of group operating profits, provided the springboard for an overdue first-half recovery.

A pick-up in the housing market and the power sector made a sizeable contribution to a near 120pc jump in operating profits.

Keller has also strengthened its North American presence. The acquisition of Canadian-based North American Piling for £144m is the group’s biggest so far and the financing through a 10pc share placing has encouraged management to take fresh look at other potential deals.

The company’s extensive fan club in the analyst community remain enthusiastic about the Keller’s performance and prospects, though they do sound some warning signals about the order outlook.

New contracts in the past two months are running below management’s expectations and the European market remains difficult.

The shares have had medal-winning sprint over the past year and although they remain a hold trading on a price-earnings ratio of 17.5 this year, falling to 14.6, and yielding 2.2pc, rising to 2.4pc there is room for profit taking.

A buy in this weeks IC - Earth shattering profits at Keller.


A strong recovery in US residential building was the major catalyst behind a stunning
first half at ground engineering specialist Keller (KLR). Underlying pre-tax profit more than doubled to £26.8m and, despite predicting flat underlying revenue in the second half, further margin improvement should nudge full year results towards the top end of city forecasts.

8 Aug Liberum Capital 1,050.00 Hold

Ex dividend

09 Oct 13 Keller Group PLC [KLR] (8 p)

Keller wins £33m contract in Singapore

StockMarketWire.com

Keller Group has won a contract worth approximately £33m to construct foundations and related works for the new Sengkang hospital project in Singapore.

Keller's contract is for the construction of a diaphragm wall and bored and secant piles.

The piling works, which make up the largest element of the contract, will be undertaken by Resource Piling, who will install more than 2,500 piles of varying diameters.

At 9:19am: (LON:KLR) Keller Group share price was +12p at 1014p


Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Acquisition of Esorfranki Geotechnical

RNS


RNS Number : 0696Q

Keller Group PLC

09 October 2013






For immediate release Wednesday, 9 October 2013



Keller Group plc

("Keller" or "the Group")



Acquisition of Esorfranki Geotechnical, South Africa





Keller (LSE: KLR), the international ground engineering specialist, announces that it has agreed to purchase the Geotechnical Division of the Johannesburg-listed civil engineering and construction company Esorfranki Limited (JSE: ESR) for an initial consideration of R500m (£31m).



Esorfranki Geotechnical is the largest ground engineering business in South Africa, offering design and build services to the mining, civil engineering and construction industries, and has a strong track record of executing projects in other Sub-Saharan African countries. In the year ended 28 February 2013, Esorfranki Geotechnical generated revenue of R788m (£49m), of which 46% was earned outside South Africa, and an underlying operating profit* of R53m (£3.3m). At 28 February 2013, the value of the gross assets to be acquired was R630m (£39m) and the business had net assets of R419m (£26m).



In addition to adding a market-leading business run by an experienced management team who will remain with the business, the acquisition will accelerate Keller's entry into selected sub-Saharan construction markets, where significant growth is expected over the medium to long term, fuelled by major infrastructure and resources-related projects. The business will form part of the Group's EMEA division.



The total consideration, to be paid in cash from Keller's existing facilities, will comprise an initial payment of R500m (£31m), on a debt and cash free basis, together with a maximum deferred consideration of R150m (£9.4m) dependent on the achievement of a certain level of profits over the three years following the acquisition.



Completion is expected by the end of November 2013 and is subject, inter alia, to approval by shareholders of Esorfranki Limited at its general meeting on 18 November 2013 and the approval of the South African Reserve Bank.



*: stated before a R24m (£1.5m) profit on the sale of a property



Justin Atkinson, Chief Executive of Keller, said:



"This important acquisition marks another milestone in our strategy of extending our global leadership by expansion into new, higher growth regions.



"The combination of Esorfranki Geotechnical's local knowledge and resources with Keller's scale, experience and broad range of techniques will make us ideally placed to undertake complex major projects requiring design expertise and multi-product solutions in a region where we expect the longer-term opportunities to be significant."


Acquisition of Esorfranki Geotechnical

RNS


RNS Number : 0696Q

Keller Group PLC

09 October 2013






For immediate release Wednesday, 9 October 2013



Keller Group plc

("Keller" or "the Group")



Acquisition of Esorfranki Geotechnical, South Africa





Keller (LSE: KLR), the international ground engineering specialist, announces that it has agreed to purchase the Geotechnical Division of the Johannesburg-listed civil engineering and construction company Esorfranki Limited (JSE: ESR) for an initial consideration of R500m (£31m).



Esorfranki Geotechnical is the largest ground engineering business in South Africa, offering design and build services to the mining, civil engineering and construction industries, and has a strong track record of executing projects in other Sub-Saharan African countries. In the year ended 28 February 2013, Esorfranki Geotechnical generated revenue of R788m (£49m), of which 46% was earned outside South Africa, and an underlying operating profit* of R53m (£3.3m). At 28 February 2013, the value of the gross assets to be acquired was R630m (£39m) and the business had net assets of R419m (£26m).



In addition to adding a market-leading business run by an experienced management team who will remain with the business, the acquisition will accelerate Keller's entry into selected sub-Saharan construction markets, where significant growth is expected over the medium to long term, fuelled by major infrastructure and resources-related projects. The business will form part of the Group's EMEA division.



The total consideration, to be paid in cash from Keller's existing facilities, will comprise an initial payment of R500m (£31m), on a debt and cash free basis, together with a maximum deferred consideration of R150m (£9.4m) dependent on the achievement of a certain level of profits over the three years following the acquisition.



Completion is expected by the end of November 2013 and is subject, inter alia, to approval by shareholders of Esorfranki Limited at its general meeting on 18 November 2013 and the approval of the South African Reserve Bank.



*: stated before a R24m (£1.5m) profit on the sale of a property



Justin Atkinson, Chief Executive of Keller, said:



"This important acquisition marks another milestone in our strategy of extending our global leadership by expansion into new, higher growth regions.



"The combination of Esorfranki Geotechnical's local knowledge and resources with Keller's scale, experience and broad range of techniques will make us ideally placed to undertake complex major projects requiring design expertise and multi-product solutions in a region where we expect the longer-term opportunities to be significant."

Keller reschedules trading update

StockMarketWire.com

Keller Group has amended the date of its interim management statement which will now be released on 19 November.

At 9:46am: (LON:KLR) Keller Group share price was -18.5p at 1031.5p


Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

The sp does seem to have drifted from its highs at the end of September but seems to have recovered half of the sp fall. In IC this week - US worries hit Keller. Keller's US orders have fallen by more than 10% from their peak in July. That's significant because the ground engineering specialist generates over half of its turnover from North America and sentiment there has been dented by the failure to agree a budget and on worries that political wrangling could lead to a US debt default.
Keller is picking up work elsewhere.


Investec securities says - Buy - we expect to see a continued improvement in margins and - with the shares trading on a multiple of 6 x 2014 forecast embedded value to cash profits - we are setting a price target of 1300p . We are increasing our 2014 estimates to £80m of pre-tax profit and EPS of 77.1p reflecting the positive effects of buying Esortranki Geotechnical.


Liberum Capital says - Hold - Keller's South African bolt-on acquisition isn't expected
to deliver any material contributions this year, but we estimate the business will add 3% to 2014's full year earnings. We retain our 1,050p price target.

DC, where do you get your broker snippets from at the bottom of last post?are they in the article in the IC?.

Yes goldfinger, although they are some what different in their thoughts.

Shares - Trading statement Tues 19 Nov (Third quarter)

Ground works Engineering specialist Keller is likely to set the scene for full year results towards the top end of market expectations. Encouraging newsflow during the period includes last months £31 million acquisition of the geotechnical division of South African-based civil engineer Esorfranki and a £33 million contract win in Singapore in Sept.

Interim Management Statement

PRNW



For immediate release Tuesday, 19 November 2013


Keller Group plc

Interim Management Statement

Keller Group plc ("Keller" or "the Group"), the international ground
engineering specialist, issues this Interim Management Statement, covering the
period from 1 July to 18 November 2013.

Overview

The Group's trading in the four months to the end of October has continued the
improving trend established in the first half of the year.

Although there has been no significant change in overall market conditions
since we last reported, our project awards have increased. Accordingly, the
value of the like-for-like order book at the end of October, for work to be
executed over the next 12 months, is now slightly above this time last year.

As expected, revenue has been broadly flat, after adjusting for the effect of
acquisitions. However, the efficiencies driven by our ongoing business
improvement initiatives, combined with very strong final results on some
completed major projects, have generated better-than-expected margin
improvement.

Accordingly, the Group's results for the full year are expected to be slightly
above the top end of current market expectations.

Divisional Review

North America

The US construction market as a whole continues to recover, albeit there are
some indications that the rate of recovery is slowing. Private expenditure on
construction continues to grow, while public expenditure has fallen for the
third consecutive year.

Following a strong first half, our North American business has continued to
perform well. Our US foundation contracting companies are expected to end the
year with both revenue and, in particular, profit significantly ahead of last
year. North American Piling, which we acquired in July 2013 and have rebranded
as Keller Foundations Canada, is performing in line with our expectations at
the time of the acquisition. Our post-tension cable systems business, Suncoast,
continues to benefit from the positive momentum in the US residential sector.

Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA)

Conditions in our key EMEA construction markets remain mixed and in those
regions where we have started to see signs of improvement, recovery continues
to be somewhat fragile.

Despite this market backdrop, we expect overall revenue for the full year to be
ahead of last year. In profit terms, the self-help measures implemented by
management continue to bring benefits, which we expect to be reflected in a
much improved full-year operating margin.

In South Africa, Esorfranki Limited has secured shareholder approval for our
acquisition of its geotechnical division, which we announced in October. The
acquisition is set to complete by the end of November.

Asia

Overall, we have seen little change in the conditions in our Asian markets.

Revenue in the last four months has lagged behind the corresponding period last
year, reflecting a slowdown in the Indian market and the absence of a major
project in Malaysia to replace the Vale contract. However, operating profit for
the full year is expected to be close to last year's level, helped by a strong
finish on a number of projects and a good start on the Sengkang hospital
project in Singapore, which together have helped to offset a weaker result in
India.

Australia

As we reported in July, the resources sector of Australia's construction market
has been less buoyant than in recent years and this has not changed discernibly
in the past four months. Nor has there been any improvement in the weak
commercial and infrastructure sectors.

Overall, however, Keller Australia has fared better than the market conditions
might suggest, thanks to a strong performance on some of its larger contracts.
In particular, since our last report, encouraging progress has been made on the
Wheatstone contract, the value of which has now reached A$200m (£116m) and
which we expect will contribute towards a much-improved full-year result.

Financial Position

There has been no material change in the financial position of the Group since
the interim results announcement on 30 July 2013.

Outlook

Given the better-than-expected improvement in the overall margin in the period
to the end of October, driven largely by business efficiencies and strong
contract outcomes, the Group's results for the full year are expected to be
slightly above the top end of current market expectations.

Looking further ahead, we remain optimistic about the long-term prospects for
our sector and our business. Recent acquisitions have increased the Group's
presence in higher-growth regions and we feel that our business is in good
shape to take full advantage of future opportunities.

Keller will issue a pre-close statement in respect of the year ending 31
December 2013 on 19 December 2013.

19 Nov Numis 1,120.00 Add
19 Nov Investec 1,300.00 Buy

22 Nov Jefferies... 1,360.00 Buy

Keller Group: Goldman Sachs raises target price from 1385p to 1480p and stays with its buy recommendation.

Shares - Pre -close statement 19 Dec - recent contract awards which should fuel further growth as the cycle turns higher. Consensus full year pre-tax profits of £71.9m could be exceeded.

Trading Statement

19 Dec 13 Keller Group PLC [KLR]

Trading Statement

PRNW



For immediate release Thursday, 19 December 2013

Keller Group plc

Year End Trading Update

Keller Group plc ("Keller" or "the Group"), the international ground
engineering specialist, is providing the following routine trading update in
advance of its results for the financial year ending 31 December 2013, to be
announced on 3 March 2014.

There has been no significant change in market and trading conditions since the
release of the Interim Management Statement on 19 November 2013. The Board
therefore expects that the full year results will be in line with current
market expectations.

For further information, please contact:

Keller Group plc
Justin Atkinson, Chief Executive 020 7616 7575
James Hind, Finance Director

Finsbury
Gordon Simpson, Rowley Hudson 020 7251 3801

Forward-looking Statements

This document contains forward-looking statements which have been made in good
faith based on the information available at the time of its approval. It is
believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable,
but they may be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties that are
inherent in any forward-looking statement which could cause actual results to
differ materially from those currently anticipated.

Note to Editors

Keller is the world's largest independent ground engineering specialist,
providing technically advanced and cost-effective foundation solutions to the
construction industry. With annual revenue of around £1.5bn, Keller has
approximately 8,000 staff world-wide.

Keller is the market leader in the US and Australia; it has prime positions in
most established European markets; and a strong profile in many developing
markets.



END

:-))