Keller Group plc (“Keller” or “the Group”), the international ground engineering specialist, is providing the following pre-close trading update in advance of its results for the financial year ending 31 December 2010, to be announced on 28 February 2011.
Since our Interim Management Statement released on 18 November 2010 (the IMS), overall market and trading conditions have remained largely unchanged and the Board therefore expects the results for the full year to be in line with current market expectations.
Of all the Group’s markets, the two most severely impacted by the global recession have been the US residential market and the construction market in Spain. In both markets, the short term prospects are no better than a year ago and only a slow recovery is expected over time. As a consequence, the full year 2010 results will include non-cash goodwill impairment charges in respect of Suncoast, our business most exposed to the US residential market, and Keller-Terra in Spain. Subject to the completion of the detailed year-end financial exercise, we currently expect these non-cash impairment charges to total between £20m and £25m, or around half of the total goodwill relating to these businesses.
Since the IMS, the Group has successfully completed the refinancing of its main central banking facilities, replacing £145m of committed facilities due to expire in the summer of 2011 with a new £170m revolving credit facility, expiring in April 2015.
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This document contains forward-looking statements which have been made in good faith based on the information available at the time of its approval. It is believed that the expectations reflected in these statements are reasonable, but they may be affected by a number of risks and uncertainties that are inherent in any forward-looking statement which could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.
Note to Editors
Keller is the world’s largest independent ground engineering specialist, providing technically advanced and cost-effective foundation solutions to the construction industry. With 2009 revenue of £1,038m, Keller is a member of the FTSE-250. It has around 6,000 staff world-wide, with offices in over 30 countries on five continents.
Keller is the market leader in the US and Australia; it has prime positions in most established European markets; and a strong profile in many developing markets.