22nd Jan 2019 08:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - Kier Group PLC on Tuesday said its Chief Executive Haydn Mursell will stand down and leave the business with immediate effect due to the board's decision of appointing a new leader to head the company.
"The board believes that, following the completion of the recent rights issue, now is the right time for a new leader to take Kier forward to the next stage of its development," Chairman Philip Cox said.
Shares in the construction, services and property company were trading 0.1% higher at 524.18 pence each in morning trade following the CEO departure and a separate trading update.
Mursell's departure comes on the back of the company's attempt to raise new capital late last year via a right issue. The company in December raised GBP250 million via a 33-for-50 rights issue of 64.5 million new shares at 409p.
However, just 24.3 million, or 38%, of the rights issue was taken up by investors and the company's bookrunners were left with taking up the remaining shares. The bookrunners later on managed to sell the shares they were left with.
Kier didn't name a replacement to Mursell and said that current Chairman Philip Cox will assume executive chairman role to oversee business operations. It has commenced a search for an external successor to Mursell.
Separately, the UK listed company said it remains confident to meet expectations for the year ending June 30 and results would be, as usual, second half weighted.
The company said its infrastructure services and buildings businesses won several contracts and now have 100% visibility of the forecast revenue for 2019 financial and an order book of more than GBP10 billion.
Kier remains on track to report a net cash position at the year-end. As at December 31, 2018, the company's net debt was GBP130 million, down from GBP239 million a year ago, mainly due to the rights issue.
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