Gaps may be looming in the allocation of big UK contracts amid the uncertainty around Brexit, Haydn Mursell, chief executive of Kier warned yesterday. Any slowdown has yet to affect the company’s performance, however, and at the moment Kier seems on track to meet the ambitious targets it put in place for 2020 several years ago.
The company is targeting “double-digit profit growth” on average each year until then. The pre-tax line, which showed a profit of £34.9 million in the first half against £4.3 million last time, is distorted by various accounting one-offs. Earnings per share, the company’s measure, was ahead by 11 per cent.
Property and residential, the two asset-heavy divisions, are required to achieve a return on capital employed of 15 per