Kier

From debt crisis to ‘government’s speed-dial contractor’ in six years – CN reflects on CEO’s legacy

In a trading update this week, Kier announced it expects to see “good growth" going forward, “reflecting strong operational execution”. That optimism is a far cry from the financial nerves on display before Andrew Davies took over as chief executive in March 2019. Following an  announcement on Tuesday (22 July)…

Working on a site in the remote Yorkshire countryside, the task of building the UK’s first all-electric prison was always going to have its challenges for tier one contractor Kier. HMP Millsike’s rural location in Full Sutton, near York, led to difficulties attracting labour, as well as infrastructure issues when…

It’s faced bankruptcy and sold its most profitable arm, but the firm is now growing again The first line of the introduction to Kier’s latest results reads: “Over the last two years, Kier has undergone a transformation.” At a glance, this claim could look wrong. The company’s share price has…

The outlook for the year ahead changed dramatically towards the end of 2022 – from optimism and expected growth to worries about material costs and inflation. The last couple of months of the year saw a raft of gloomy forecasts about the state of the construction industry in 2023, with…

An increased margin was the main headline from Kier’s full accounts for this year, with the group recording a pre-tax profit of £15.9m in the year to 30 June 2022. This was up from £5.6m its previous 12 months. Its revenue fell for the second consecutive year, to £3.14bn, down from…

2021 saw the pandemic, Brexit, and materials & labour shortages hit the industry. Record job vacancies and costs followed strong – although uneven – growth. As we move further away from the era of full-on lockdowns, the prime minister’s age of ‘Build Back Better’ was meant to be upon us,…

Winner: Kier – HMP Five Wells The £253m HMP Five Wells project will deliver 1,680 new prison places, as part of the Ministry of Justice’s aim to modernise the prison estate, to make it more efficient, safer and better focused on rehabilitation. A core goal is to optimise design, procurement,…

Kier’s leadership took the unusual step of not speaking to the media following the release of its full-year results, which showed a £225m pre-tax loss for the contractor. Instead Construction News had to rely on city analysts to grill the business’s leaders – Zak Garner-Purkis picks out four things we…

Since Carillion’s demise two-and-a-half years ago, most large contractors have hammered home the message that they are focused on two things: cash and profitability. Revenue growth was almost looked upon with disdain in some quarters, as quality trumped any desire for quantity. This falling revenue trend has taken on a…