Dividend up as revenue grows at Kier Group
INCREASED confidence among UK businesses helped to push revenue up at construction firm Kier Group, according to boss Haydn Mursell.
The company posted an 11 per cent improvement in revenue, up from £1.43bn during the final six months of 2013 to £1.58bn in the same period to 31 December 2014. Profit before tax dipped by two per cent, falling from £36.8m to £35.9m, in line with expectations.
Mursell said that the results, as well as growth in Kier’s order books, gave the group “increased confidence which allowed us to up the dividend”. It went from 22.5p to 24p.
He added: “Our regional building business is recovering primarily because of increased business confidence in the UK.”
According to Mursell, the property market in the UK is seeing increasing demand, mainly as a result of companies wanting to build new premises or modernise existing sites.
Profits are expected to rise in the second half of the year, with several residential property projects set to complete in the first three months of 2015. “That’s still a very buoyant market,” said Mursell. “There is huge demand in the UK for houses that will play out for the next few years.”