Kier share price trades higher after half-year results
The UK construction services and property group saw its share price soar on Thursday morning after it delivered an encouraging set of half-year results.
Kier Group shares soared more than 19% on Thursday morning after it delivered an encouraging set of half-year results that showed its turnaround strategy is bearing fruit. However, the company did still suffer a £41 million loss over the period.
‘I am pleased to report that many of the actions we outlined at the beginning of the year have been executed successfully,’ Kier Group CEO Andrew Davies said.
‘We have a new executive management team in place; we are continuing to embed Performance Excellence; and our cost reduction programme is expected to deliver benefits of at least £65m by 30 June 2021.’
Kier is trading at 121p a share as of 11:35 (GMT) on Thursday.
Looking to trade Kier and other UK stocks? Open a live or demo account with IG today.
Cost cutting boosts profit at Kier
Cutting costs at the construction services and property group is essential for its survival, with the company getting rid of 420 jobs over its first six months of trading and a further 50 are forecast to go over the summer months.
Kier said its cost cutting programme is expected to save it around £65 million from lower overheads by June 2021.
Its results also showed that its cost reduction efforts have boosted its underlying profit, with it remaining flat despite revenue declining to £1.82 billion, down from £1.98 billion over the same period last year. In fact, the company’s underlying pre-tax margin grew from 1.5% to 1.7% over the period.
You can go long or short Kier with IG using derivatives like CFDs.
Kier Living sale ‘progressing’
Another key component in the company’s turnaround strategy and its efforts to strengthen its balance sheet is the sale of its residential unit, Kier Living.
In its half-year results, the company said that it is ‘progressing’ with the disposal of the unit but noted that it wrote down the value of the business by £59.8 million over the trading period.
The company’s relatively positive set of results will give investors hope for the future, with analysts from Liberum Capital and Peel Hunt both reiterating their ‘buy’ ratings for Kier in March.
This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients.
CFDs are a leveraged products. CFD trading may not be suitable for everyone and can result in losses that exceed your initial deposit, so please ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
Act on stock opportunities today
Go long or short on thousands of international stocks with CFDs.
- Get full exposure for a comparatively small deposit
- Trade on spreads from just 0.1%
- Get greater order book visibility with direct market access
See opportunity on a stock?
Try a risk-free trade in your demo account, and see whether you’re on to something.
- Log in to your demo
- Try a risk-free trade
- See whether your hunch pays off
See opportunity on a stock?
Don’t miss your chance – upgrade to a live account to take advantage.
- Trade a huge range of popular stocks
- Analyse and deal seamlessly on fast, intuitive charts
- See and react to breaking news in-platform
See opportunity on a stock?
Don’t miss your chance. Log in to take advantage while conditions prevail.
Live prices on most popular markets
- Forex
- Shares
- Indices
Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only. All shares prices are delayed by at least 15 mins.
