Keller Group plc, the world's largest geotechnical specialist contractor, issues a trading update ahead of its interim results for the six months ended 30 June, scheduled for 4 August 2026.
Since the AGM trading update on 20 May, in which the Group reported a strong start to the year, positive momentum has accelerated. The Group has delivered an excellent performance through the remainder of the second quarter with trading in North America, the Group's largest division, materially outperforming management's expectations. The division has benefited from record volumes and a significant increase in customer demand for infrastructure projects and data centres which has more than offset a softening south Florida residential market. During the period, the division has worked on multiple data centre projects and has won several high value infrastructure contracts where clients are focused on timely and quality delivery across complex and/or large scale projects.
Trading across the Europe and Middle East division has been robust for the year to date, with projects in Scandinavia, central Europe and the Middle East offsetting ongoing subdued market conditions in western Europe. The Asia Pacific division is performing broadly in line with management's expectations, with Austral continuing the momentum delivered in 2025 and largely offsetting pricing pressures in the Australia foundations market where activity levels remain strong.
Tendering activity across the Group remains buoyant and, as previously announced, the Group's order book currently sits at a record level of c£1.9bn, increased by the significant multi-year I-40 highway remediation contract.
Full year 2026 outlook
As a result of the strong trading performance set out above, the Group's continued margin discipline and its strong order book, the Board now anticipates that the Group's revenue and underlying operating profit for the full year 2026 will be materially ahead of current market consensus1.
The Group's balance sheet and cash generation remain strong, and the Board remains confident in the Group's strategy and long-term growth prospects.
As previously announced, the Group will be holding a Capital Markets Day on 14 October 2026.
1 Current company compiled consensus for the year-ending 31 Dec 2026 (based on the estimates of seven analysts) is Revenue of £3,150m and Underlying Operating profit of £223m.
This announcement contains inside information. The person responsible for making this announcement is Catherine Shuttleworth, General Counsel and Company Secretary.