Kier Group boss ‘confident’ of more dividends as order book nears £11bn
The chief executive of Kier Group said the construction firm was “confident” strong cash generation would lead to bumper shareholder dividends in the future, as it booked nearly £11bn in orders over the last year.
The company’s pre-tax profit rose 13 per cent to £118.1m on an adjusted basis, while operating profit rose 14 per cent to £150.2m. Revenue also soared 17 per cent to £3.97bn
Kier Group reported a full-year order book of £10.8bn, which marked a seven per cent year-on-year increase.
It is currently proposing investor payouts of 3.48 per share, together with an interim dividend of 1.67p.
The FTSE 250 firm brought back dividend payouts in March after whittling away at debts and improving cash flow.
“The past three years have seen the group achieve significant operational and financial progress,” chief executive Andrew Davies said in a statement.
“The strong results for FY24 are testament to the hard work and commitment of our people who have enhanced our resilience and strengthened our financial position in-line with our medium-term value creation plan.”
Davies believes the group is “well positioned” to benefit from renewed infrastructure spending pledged by the new UK government.
“We are confident in sustaining the strong cash generation evidenced especially over the last two years allowing us to significantly deleverage, increase dividends to shareholders and deliver the evolved long-term sustainable growth plan which will benefit all stakeholders.”
Shares in Kier Group are up over 40 per cent this year to date.
Kier Group also revealed on Thursday average month-end net debt had halved to £116.1m since last year.