Kier Group plans to raise up to £240m to ease debt pile
Kier Group has said it plans to raise up to £240m by offering new shares as it looks to ease its debt burden.
The construction firm said the proposed raise, which it plans to launch in the coming weeks, will help to bolster the group’s balance sheet by reducing net debt.
The construction firm has previously taken drastic measures to lower its debt burden, including suspending its dividend for the last two years, as it looks to distance itself from the fates of collapsed rivals Interserve and Carillion.
Chief executive Andrew Davies said the raise will “facilitate investment in the business to help drive sustainable, profitable organic growth and the achievement of our medium term financial targets.”
Shares in the firm are down 3.2 per cent in early trading.
It came as the group reported pretax profit of £9m for the six months ended 31 December, compared with a loss of £41.2m a year earlier.
At the end of 2020 Kier said it had an increased order book of £8bn, covering 62 per cent of year to 30 June 2022 forecast revenues. It added it stood to benefit from both Government and regulated industry spending.
The firm said the process of simplifying the company had been “substantially completed through the exit of non-core businesses and the adoption of an appropriate cost base” which had delivered annualised cost savings of at least £115m.