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.

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.