Strong Kier Construction Scotland performance helps drive strong group full year results

A strong performance from Kier Construction Scotland, which has a turnover in excess of £150m per annum and employs over 200 people from its offices in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and Newcastle, has underpinned this latest set of results.

Kier reports that it has continued to grow the business, expand its order book, and provide diverse local employment and training opportunities throughout the country.

Commenting on the results, Brian McQuade, managing director of Kier Construction Scotland, said: “We have a solid pipeline of work, largely from our partnership on a number of significant health and education frameworks. Most recently we have become a partner on the £125m Aberdeenshire Council Capital Works Framework, been reappointed to deliver over £25m of minor works projects as part of the £1.5bn Scape National Minor Works Framework and are providing building works as part of Glasgow Airport’s framework over the next three years.

“In Scotland we are delivering major build projects across education, healthcare, commercial and retail sectors. We are also working on an exciting range of heritage projects, restoring some of the country’s most important landmarks for future generations to enjoy. Notably, we are managing the £25m restoration of the fire damaged, world-renowned Mackintosh Building for Glasgow School of Art, where we are combining ancient heritage skills with modern engineering expertise.

“We are also working with the Edinburgh College of Art to refurbish its Grade A-listed sandstone building in Lauriston Place in a £14m project - another scheme which has both local and international importance. Next month, work begins on the £6.7m contract to carry out restoration, redevelopment and upgrade work at one of Scotland’s oldest and most historic concert halls - the A-listed Aberdeen Music Hall.

Also commenting on the results, chief executive, Haydn Mursell, said: “I am pleased to report a good set of results reflecting the evolution of the Group during the year following the completion of the integration of Mouchel.

This year, we have successfully focused on our commercial and capital disciplines and are pleased to report a significant improvement in our net debt, further strengthening our balance sheet and the delivery of a key Vision 2020 target: net debt: EBITDA of less than 1x, a year ahead of our expectations.

The Group continues to perform well in growing market sectors including infrastructure, housing and regional building, providing a breadth of capabilities to our clients. For the first time, 50 per cent of Group profit now comes from our Services division where essential day-to-day services are provided to clients and we have long-term visibility of our future pipeline of work.

“We remain focused on growing the business through improving operational efficiencies and investing in new technology to support our operations. We believe that our range of complementary businesses underpins the resilience of our operating model and the strength of our order book. Having completed the integration of Mouchel, we are well progressed with the simplification of our portfolio of businesses and are focused on capitalising on the growth opportunities available to the Group. We remain confident of achieving our goal of double-digit profit growth on average each year to 2020.”