Keller had revenues of £1,317.5m for the year to 31 December 2012 (2011: £1,154.3m), up 14%.
Pre-tax profit doubled to £43.5m (2011: £21.9m), thanks to improvements in North America. Operations in Asia and Australia also saw imporvements. However, operating profit from Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) shrank badly from £8.4m (2.2% margin) in 2011 to £2.2m (0.6% margin) in 2012.
Chief executive Justin Atkinson said: "These results reflect an improved performance in three of our four divisions, driven by a combination of the self-help measures taken across the group and a strong performance by our business in North America, where market conditions continue to improve. Whilst our EMEA division faced very challenging markets across most of Europe, resulting in a first-half loss, its performance improved as the year progressed and it made a profit for the year as a whole.
"Overall, we are confident that 2013 will be another year of progress and that the measures we have taken, and continue to take, will further improve and develop our business."
Keller operates globally but remains busy in London. At Victoria Station it is installing 2,400 jet grout columns to allow 400m of new tunnels to be excavated to connect new and existing ticket halls. The interlocking jet grout columns are being used to form a two-metre annulus around the line of the tunnel excavation, which will both stabilise the ground and act as a barrier to water ingress. By the end of 2012, around 1,000 grout columns had been installed and work is set to meet the targeted completion date in spring 2014.
A second major London project is at Crossrail, on which Keller has two contracts with a combined value of around £30m. The first is for compensation grouting works around Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street underground stations. The second is for structural monitoring, geotechnical instrumentation and surveying works, employing the Getec monitoring system developed by Keller in Germany. Work here is expected to continue through to spring 2014.
Keller 2012 results by region
|
North America |
||
|
2012 |
2011 |
|
|
Revenue |
£581.9m |
£471.1m |
|
Operating profit |
£32.0m |
£12.0m |
|
Operating margin |
5.5% |
2.5% |
|
Europe, Middle East & Africa |
||
|
2012 |
2011 |
|
|
Revenue |
£358.6m |
£384.8m |
|
Operating profit |
£2.2m |
£8.4m |
|
Operating margin |
0.6% |
2.2% |
|
Asia |
||
|
2012 |
2011 |
|
|
Revenue |
£118.6m |
£76.7m |
|
Operating profit |
£9.5m |
£6.0m |
|
Operating margin |
8.0% |
7.8% |
|
Australia |
||
|
2012 |
2011 |
|
|
Revenue |
£258.4m |
£221.7m |
|
Operating profit |
£8.7m |
£6.7m |
|
Operating margin |
3.4% |
3.0% |
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