For the year to 31st December 2017 Keller Group grew pre-tax profit by 50% to آ£110.6m (2016: آ£73.9m) on turnover up 16% آ to آ£2.07bn (2016: آ£1.78bn).
Keller executed 6,300 projects around the world in 2017 with an average project size of آ£300,000.
The improved financial results are largely the result of two much larger projects, both of which were substantially complete at the year-end; the Caspian project and Zayed City in Abu Dhabi. Between them, these projects accounted for around آ£100m of revenue and آ£30m of operating profit in 2017, and together account for most of the year-on-year profit increase.
In the UK, which accounts for just 4% of group turnover, Keller has suffered a slowdown in orders in recent months and expects 2018 to be “a challenging yearâ€, it said. However, with major infrastructure projects such as HS2 coming, it expects the UK market for geotechnical work to pick up in 2019 and 2020.
Chief executive Alain Michaelis said: "Overall Keller has had a positive year with good growth in group revenue and profits. The results were extremely strong in EMEA and solid in North America, but disappointing in APAC.â€
He added: “The order book of over آ£1bn gives us confidence as we start 2018. Most of our markets remain robust and bidding activity is at a healthy level. Overall, despite the completion of our excellent Caspian project, we expect 2018 to be another year of underlying progress."
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