Keller shares surge after earnings upgrade

(Sharecast News) - Shares in Keller surged by 20% after the geotechnical engineer said its annual earnings would be "materially ahead" of expectations after a strong performance in the first four months of the year. The company on Wednesday said strong momentum cited at full year results in March continued through the period, with overall performance materially ahead of prior year.

Keller in March reported pre-tax profit for the 2023 up 123% to £125.6m with the annual dividend lifted to 45.2p a share.

In North America, trading continued to be strong, driven by ongoing infrastructure spend and the sustained improvement in the operational performance of the Keller's foundations business.

The Europe and Middle East Division saw weak demand persisting in the residential and commercial sectors across Europe, whilst the infrastructure sector remained more resilient. Nordic region performance of challenging projects in the prior year was improving as a result of management actions, although one project remained loss-making in the period.

In APAC, Austral traded profitably and in line with plan, with no contract losses following the turnaround of the business in the second half of 2023. Keller Australia had a strong start to the year, albeit, as anticipated, trading in the period was lower than the prior year. In ASEAN, continued market softness persisted, with low levels of activity, whilst Keller India performed well.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com