Have held KIE since flotation in early 1990s and they have increased profits every year since. Share price has moved in line, but still modestly rated on historic P/E of 11 at 750p.Lots of cash and largely ungeared track record, good spread of activity between housebuilding and construction, with a number of valuable longterm PFI projects underpinning cash flows for many years to come. AGM at end of this week should confirm underlying strength. One to lock away imo but of course dyor.

Kier preferred bidder to deliver £240m Watford Health Campus


Kier Property has been selected by the Health Campus Partnership (formed by Watford Borough Council, West Hertfordshire Health Trust (WHHT) and Watford Football Club) as the preferred bidder for the £240m Watford Health Campus project.

The contract will deliver a 375,000sq ft mixed-use development, including new hospital facilities for Watford and south-west Hertfordshire; up to 650 homes, 35% of which will be affordable housing; a 37,500sq ft office, which will be pre-let to WHHT; and a large multi-storey car park.

The Health Campus Partnership has been established to regenerate land in Watford and the surrounding area, creating new office, retail and industrial space and the potential for 1,600 new local jobs.

Kier's chief executive, Paul Sheffield, commented: "We are extremely pleased to be selected as the preferred partner to deliver the Watford Health Campus scheme, having worked closely with the partners to understand their vision and aspirations for the Health Campus and the area overall. We have an excellent track record of delivery and have an experienced and skilled team to take our proposals forward."

Kier will be working with the Health Campus Partnership to complete the financial and legal aspects of their agreement by December 2012.

In a related business, we have annual results from construction and civil engineering group Kier scheduled for Thursday, and again the upcoming statement has been preceded by a positive update. Trading, we were told in June, was "resilient", and 85% of the company's forecast construction revenue for 2013 is already on its order books as "secured" or "probable".

The City is currently forecasting a dividend yield of more than 5%, and estimates put the shares on a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 9. The shares have done well in the past few months, having risen 17% since the beginning of April to today's 1,330p, but current valuations suggest they could still be too cheap. More details of the company's outlook on Thursday could help cement that feeling

Interim Management Statement

Current trading

Kier continues to be on course to meet its expectations for the current financial year with a bias towards the second half of the year as forecast.

Construction

Our Construction division has maintained its position in a challenging market, having secured over £400m of new work since 1 July 2012 much of which has resulted from our numerous frameworks and similar arrangements. The operating margins will remain in line with our expectations for this financial year.

StockMarketWire.com
Kier - a leading property, residential, construction and services group - posts underlying operating profits of £88.0m for the year to the end of June - 59% up on last time and 3% up on a like-for-like basis.

Revenues rose to £3.0bn up 51%, including nearly a full year from the May Gurney acquisition and underlying profit before tax rose 54% to £73.1m (2013: £47.6m).

The proposed full year dividend is increased by 6% to 72.0p (2013: 68.0p), reflecting the group's progressive dividend policy and the board's confidence in the future of the group.

Chief executive, Haydn Mursell said: "I am pleased to report a good set of results that show significant progress on last year and demonstrate the strength of the operational performance of the business and the benefits of the May Gurney acquisition."

"Despite inflationary price and labour cost pressures in the market, our margins remained solid, particularly in our Services business. Following the integration of May Gurney, which transformed the scale and diversity of the Group, the breadth of our capabilities has resulted in new as well as larger contract awards. We are now able to help our customers maximise the value of their assets as they invest, build, maintain and renew them. Our capabilities extend from negotiating finance and planning permissions to constructing major buildings and infrastructure, as well as providing facilities management and environmental services. This breath of capabilities puts us in a good position to pursue future growth."

"While the economic climate continues to be positive, operating margins are under pressure due to inflationary cost increases in the supply chain. Cash generation will continue to be constrained in the short-term. However, strong risk management and our ability to offer a greater range of service offerings positions us well for the future." "The continuing improvements in our operating performance and our strong order book mean that we are on course to meet the Board's expectations for the current financial year."

"Since taking up the CEO role on 1 July, we have reviewed and refreshed the Group's strategy, Vision 2020, a strategy for sustainable profitable growth. This strategy will see the Group aim to deliver double-digit compound annual profit growth for the period to 2020 and to be a top three in our chosen markets."

* Kier also announcesd that it has appointed Beverley Dew as its Finance Director. The date on which the appointment will become effective has yet to be decided; a further announcement will be made in due course.

Dew, aged 43, joins Kier from Balfour Beatty, where he has been the Finance Director of the Regional Construction business in the UK since June 2013. Prior to this, he was the Chief Financial Officer of the UK and CEMEA Engineering and Construction businesses at Lend Lease between September 2008 and December 2012.

StockMarketWire.com
Kier Group has secured one of Highways England's largest Smart Motorway Programme contracts worth up to £475m, in a 50-50 joint venture with Carillion.

Awarded as part of the Collaborative Delivery Framework (CDF), the programme will be focused on the 19 mile stretch of the M6 running from Junction 16 to 19 and the M6 running from Junction 13 to 15, as well as the M20 between Junction 3 and 5 and the M23 from Junction 8 to 10. The first phase of the contract on the M6 (J16-19), worth £129.5m, is due to begin in the autumn, with the other packages phased for delivery over the next four years. Final target costs for these tranches will be agreed with Highways England in due course.

Chief executive Haydn Mursell said: "Investment into the transport infrastructure sector is a key component of the National Infrastructure Pipeline, and this significant award is testament to Kier's growing presence in this arena. Our role in the Smart Motorway Programme extends Kier's capabilities into Highways England's capital expenditure programme, leveraging our expertise through the recent acquisition of Mouchel and illustrating the breadth of services that Kier can provide to clients in our core markets."

StockMarketWire.com
Property and construction Kier Group has been retained by Scape Group as the sole contractor to deliver up to £1.5bn of construction and maintenance work over the next four years.

The Scape National Minor Works framework covers the whole of the UK and delivers schemes valued between £50,000 and £4m, ranging from refurbishment and maintenance to new construction projects.

The framework is open to any public sector organisation, with projects ranging from schools, health centres, police and fire stations to town halls, leisure centres and community buildings.

Kier was first appointed to Scape's National Minor Works framework in September 2011, which encompassed projects valued up to £2m, and this latest agreement extends the partnership for a further four years, increasing the value of projects to £4m. Kier has already delivered over 500 successful projects through the first framework and at its peak it was delivering the equivalent of one project per day for six months.

StockMarketWire.com
Kier Group says its underlying trading performance since it announced its interim results on 17 March has remained in line with management's expectations.

It says the EU referendum result has created some uncertainty albeit with no impact on the business to date.

The board believes the Group's breadth of activities and strong order books provide both visibility and resilience.

The acquisitions of May Gurney and Mouchel have significantly increased the level of visible, long-term earnings from our Construction and Services divisions.

The Property division has a healthy pipeline of projects totalling more than £1bn, largely comprising non-speculative schemes, and the Residential division's mixed tenure business has a pipeline of over £600m.

Following an improved cash performance, the Group's net debt position of less than £140m at 30 June 2016 is ahead of the forecast range of £150m - £170m. This position includes the cash expenditure of £44m on the Mouchel integration and £25m on new systems and upgrades. This performance equates to a net debt to EBITDA ratio of <1, which has been achieved a year ahead of our Vision 2020 goal of a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1 by 30 June 2017.

The Group has recently concluded the raising of £82m (€100m) of additional finance via the Schuldschein market. The placement has an average maturity of approximately five years and a blended interest rate of approximately 3% including fees. This fundraising further diversifies the Group's sources of funding and provides it with long-term, fixed-rate debt, thereby reducing the Group's exposure to increases in interest rates over the longer-term.

Kier says the Mouchel business is performing well. The integration of the strategic highways and local authority highways maintenance businesses is now complete. In addition, the Mouchel business services operations have been integrated with Kier's facilities management operations, creating Kier Workplace Services. These activities have delivered the anticipated cost savings of £4m in FY16.

Furthermore, they are expected to deliver additional savings of £5m in FY17, increasing the total anticipated annual cost synergies from the Mouchel acquisition to a total of £15m in FY17. To achieve the higher level of savings, integration costs have increased by £29m to £44m, with these additional costs having been incurred during FY16. The Mouchel acquisition remains on track to deliver a ROCE in excess of our target of 15% in FY17.

StockMarketWire.com (15.03.18)
Kier said underlying pre-tax profits rose by 4% to £48.8m in the six months to the end of December amid strong performance from its property and services divisions.

The firm reported revenue of £2,154m, up 5% while underlying operating profit was £60m, up 5%.

The property division continues to perform ahead of its 15% ROCE target while the residential division's return on capital made progressed toward its 15% target.

Revenue in the construction division decreased by 7% mainly as a result of delays in the commencement of certain projects to the second half of the financial year.

The services division saw revenues rise 17% underpinned by the highways business and the better than expected contribution in the first half from McNicholas, which Kier acquired in July 2017.

Kier said forecast revenue in construction and services 100% secured for year to 30 June 2018 while more than 65% of revenue in construction and services was secured for year to 30 June 2019.

The firm said its order book of approximately £9.5bn reflected strong pipeline conversion in regional building and highways.

The firm proposed an interim dividend of 23.0p, up 2% from the prior period, while basic earnings per share was 41.0p, up 3% from 39.7p.

Haydn Mursell, chief executive, said: 'The Group is performing well. Our £9.5bn Construction and Services order book, combined with our £3.5bn pipeline in the Property and Residential divisions, provides good visibility of work over the medium term.'

'The Group's performance reflects the strength of our business model and our financial and operational disciplines. Our portfolio of businesses provides balance and resilience and our approach to risk management is evident in the margin performance we have delivered over many years. We remain on course to deliver double-digit profit growth in 2018 and to achieve our Vision 2020 strategic targets.'

StockMarketWire.com
Property and construction group Kier reported Tuesday underlying profit and earnings is expected to be in line with expectations.

The company also said year-end net debt is expected to between a £170m to £190m range as forecast, with average month-end net debt of about £375m as its construction business was hampered by poor weather.

Construction volumes, however, have since returned to levels in line with management's expectations, the company said.

The construction and services order books increased to more than £10bn, providing a 90% secured revenue position in these businesses for 2019, Kier added.

Kier secured a three-year extensions to the Highways England contracts for Areas 3 and 9, expected to generate aggregate total annualised revenues of about £250m.

The company launched a new efficiency and streamlining programme, 'Future Proofing Kier,' expected to improve productivity, include the disposal of non-core operations and deliver an improvement in operating margins and cash generation.

The 'material' benefits of the programme would be realised in the financial year ending 30 June 2020 and beyond, the company said.

'The strength of the Construction and Services order books, together with the long-term Property and Residential pipelines, provides a robust platform to deliver our Vision 2020 targets,' Kier said.