Exceptional items distorted headline numbers for Keller (KLR) for the year to December 2015, with both 2015 and 2014 affected by provisions made to reflect the slowdown at Keller Canada as oil sands exploration declined. However, underlying operating profit was up 12 per cent at £103.4m, while operating margins were pushed through the internal 6.5 per cent target rate to 6.6 per cent, up from 5.8 per cent a year earlier. Crucially, the return on capital employed rose from 18.3 per cent to 20.5 per cent.
The key driver remained Keller's US operation, which generates half of group revenue and three-quarters of group operating profit. Trading was boosted by another solid performance in the residential construction market and a number of large piling projects.
Business elsewhere provided a more mixed picture, with Spanish markets under pressure, although this was offset by solid trading in Germany and the UK. Overall, the so called Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operation showed a very small drop in turnover, but operating profit nearly doubled to £21.3m thanks to a number of business improvement initiatives, which helped to lift operating margins to 4.8 per cent, the best for six years.
Analysts at Peel Hunt are forecasting adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to December 2016 of £107m and EPS of 99.6p, up from £96m and 85.4p in 2015.
| KELLER (KLR) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 812.5p | MARKET VALUE: | £583m | |
| TOUCH: | 808.5-813p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 1,105p | LOW: 720p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 3.3% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 460p* | NET DEBT: | 55% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 1.20 | 21.9 | 24.8 | 22.8 |
| 2012 | 1.30 | 43.5 | 45.9 | 22.8 |
| 2013 | 1.44 | 52.0 | 43.2 | 24.0 |
| 2014 | 1.60 | 28.2 | -4.2 | 25.2 |
| 2015 | 1.56 | 56.3 | 35.5 | 27.1 |
| % change | -2 | +100 | - | +8 |
Ex-div: 19 May Payment: 10 Jun *Includes intangible assets of £160m, or 223p a share | ||||
