20th Sep 2019 10:29
(Alliance News) - Keller Group PLC on Friday said it expects to report an annual performance broadly unchanged from the prior year due to a mixed performance across its three operating regions.
Keller also said Chief Executive Alain Michaelis will be leaving the firm at the end of the month by mutual agreement with the board. Michael Speakman, chief financial officer, will become interim boss from the beginning of October.
Michaelis will remain available to Keller until the end of 2019 to ensure an orderly handover, the company said. Mark Hooper, financial controller, will become interim CFO, but will not join the board.
"Alain has done a tremendous job over the last four years. The board and I would like to thank him for his enormous contribution in evolving Keller into the more integrated and professional organisation it is today," said Chair Peter Hill.
He added: "The board looks forward to working with the executive team as we focus even harder on driving financial performance and growing shareholder value."
Keller said the process of recruiting Michaelis's successor will now commence and will be led by the Nominations Committee of the board.
Turning back to the outlook, the geotechnical company said it expects 2019 results to be broadly flat versus 2018, with an improvement in margin progressively driving an increase in profit.
Keller explained that its full-year result are "more dependent than usual" on the timing of expected large contract awards and the crystallisation of a number of customer claims that are in the final stages of negotiation.
Geographically, the company said trading momentum in North America in the second half of 2019 has started more slowly than previously expected.
Trading in Europe, the Middle East and Africa remains mixed, with good progress in Keller's key continental European businesses partly offset by challenging market conditions in "some of the more geographically peripheral" operations.
In Asia Pacific, Keller said it is on track in winning new targeted contracts in Australia, which will ramp up during the fourth quarter.
"Keller remains strategically well positioned with ongoing favourable market fundamentals expected to support profitable growth in the medium term. The order book continues to be robust, and we remain focussed on positioning the business to take full advantage of the positive market trends of urbanisation and infrastructure growth," the company said in its statement Friday.
Keller shares were trading 4.7% lower on Friday at 631.00 pence each in London.
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