Interim Management Statement
May 13 2008 - 3:00AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number : 2487U
Keller Group PLC
13 May 2008
For immediate release Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Keller Group plc
Interim Management Statement
AGM Statement
Ahead of its Annual General Meeting to be held at 11.00 a.m. today, Keller Group plc ("Keller" or "the Group"), the international ground
engineering specialist, announces its first Interim Management Statement, as required by the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.
Overview
Trading in the first four months of 2008 has remained strong, with revenue, operating profit and orders all ahead of the comparable
period last year and in line with the Board's expectations.
Divisional Review
US
With the private non-residential and public infrastructure sectors of the US construction market, which generate the majority of our US
business, holding up well, our US foundation contracting businesses have continued to be busy. Revenue and orders in the period have been
good and profit is in line with last year. The integration of HJ, the Florida-based continuous flight auger piling specialist acquired in
October 2007, is progressing well.
Suncoast, with its exposure to the residential sector, is having a difficult first half, albeit no worse than expected. However, while
revenue and particularly profit are significantly down against the same period last year, the business remains profitable.
Continental Europe, Middle East & Asia (CEMEA)
CEMEA continues to show good growth, with revenue and operating margin both well ahead of this time last year. In particular, the
Middle East and Eastern Europe businesses have performed exceptionally, as they continue to add capacity and extend their product offering
to meet high levels of demand. The other regions in this division have also made a positive start to the year.
Australia
Last year's very strong performance from Australia has continued into 2008. All four of our businesses are reporting record sales with
good margins, in strong market conditions which are showing no signs of abating.
UK
The UK result has been impacted by the weakening housing market. However, the order book is good, helped by the award in March of the
contract for the foundations for the Olympic Main Stadium, where our work began at the end of April.
Financial Position
The Group's financial position remains strong, there having been no significant changes to this position since the publication of the
Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2007. Since the preliminary results, we have initiated our share buyback
programme and have so far purchased 250,000 shares at a cost of £1.7 million. All of these shares are held in treasury.
Outlook
The robustness of Keller's business model underpins the Board's confidence in the Group's prospects. Our broad client base and exposure
to diverse geographic markets protect against cycles in individual markets and will help to mitigate the impact of the widely-expected
downturn in the US commercial sector.
In the shorter term, demand for our products in most of our markets remains good, our operations are performing well and all four of our
geographic regions currently have higher order books than at this time last year. This strong start to the year supports a favourable
outlook for the Group for the half year to 30 June 2008.
Notice of Interim Results
Keller intends to announce its interim results on Monday, 28 July 2008.
For further information, please contact:
Keller Group plc www.keller.co.uk
Justin Atkinson, Chief Executive 020 7616 7575
James Hind, Finance Director
Smithfield 020 7390 4600
Reg Hoare/Will Henderson
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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