Profit slips but geotechnical engineer says full-year expectations unchanged

Keller said workloads in the booming North America market were now starting to steady as the firm said revenue in the first half stayed flat.

The geotechnical engineer, which has been working on parts of the HS2 scheme in the Midlands, said revenue in the six months to June remained at 拢1.4bn. Pre-tax profit was down 8% to 拢87m.

North America accounts for more than half its workload with revenue in the first half of 拢868m.

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Keller said it was on track to meet full year expectations

In its results, the FTSE 250 firm said: 鈥淲hilst there is increased uncertainty over the US construction backdrop, the order book for North America at the period end was strong.鈥�

Around 3% of its business in the UK but the firm said: 鈥淚n the UK, despite comparable volumes versus the prior period, continuing challenging market conditions had a negative impact on margin.鈥�

The firm said it was in discussions 鈥渨ith the client to remedy the contractual position on the challenging project鈥� in the Middle East with revenue from this business and Europe down 3% to 拢408m. But underlying operating profit more than quadrupled to 拢14.6m with the firm saying the jump 鈥渞eflected an overall improvement in project execution and operational performance across the division鈥�.

Keller said its full year expectations were unchanged with the firm adding that its dividend for 2025 would be up 5% on last time.

The firm confirmed that James Wroath is joining as chief executive on 18 August after saying last month incumbent Michael Speakman was standing down for medical reasons after nearly six years in charge.

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