Kier has started 2019 how it spent 2018 – chasing turnover.
According to data gathered by the Builders’ Conference, in 2018 Kier won 171 construction contracts, with a total combined value of £2.8bn.
It has maintained that momentum into 2019 and started out on course to exceed its 2018 haul. In the first two months of 2019 Kier has already won £1.4bn worth of new construction business from 67 different contracts.
In January 2019 Kier won 22 jobs. And then in February it signed another 45. The largest is a £300m new build, mixed use development at Blossom Street in east London for British Land.
Kier tops the Builders’ Conference BCLive monthly league table more often than any other contractor. But despite its haul of 45 contacts in February, with a total combined value of £997m, the top spot for the month went to Lendlease, thanks to a regeneration deal signed with social housing landlord Peabody that is expected to be worth £4bn over the next 30 years. (Or maybe £8bn, depending on what you read. The Builders’ Conference has conservatively gone for the lower figure.)
Strip out that 30-year Lendlease development deal and there were still £5.6bn of new construction orders recorded by the Builders’ Conference in February 2019, which paints a very different picture to other industry surveys that indicate a slowing down. The usual BCLive monthly average is around £4bn, give or take.
“Quite how you explain such an anomalous and uncharacteristic upsurge in the shortest month of the year, frankly, is anyone’s guess,” said Builders’ Conference chief executive Neil Edwards.
Other strong performers in February were: Galliford Try, with six contract wins totalling £381m; Mace, with four contract wins totalling £280m; Multiplex, with a single £250m contract (Chelsea Barracks); and Balfour Beatty, picking up three contracts totalling £243m.
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