Kier Share Discussion Threads

[johnbuythedips] 09/8/2021 10:34

Bore off Pig face. You were warning investors off of Kier at 50p. What the hell do you know apart from how to clear a room at parties.

[bathboy2] 09/8/2021 10:06

I'm not saying that it's bad news, but with, you could say, is HS2 going to be the golden egg, margins will be tight. With all the money, from the equity raise and sale of KL, ultimately reducing debt, but not clearing, still left kier just hanging in there. Sentiment is everything and if that disappears, then the share price will falter, September results will be very interesting

[imastu pidgitaswell] 09/8/2021 09:37

I would agree with that - but it remains a work in progress (as is Costain before anyone starts...) Fragile and I don't think all of the nasties have been fully declared yet - trade financing and delayed tax etc etc.

I don't think any of that will impact the share price when it is declared - but they have been very careful with the level and timing of their disclosures.

Anyway - the article (really a very very short 'interview' once the journalistic background is excluded - how many quote?):



The chief executive of the UK government’s biggest construction contractor has admitted that a Cabinet Office decision to “de facto” support the company with contracts for the HS2 railway line saved it from a Carillion style-collapse three years ago.

Andrew Davies, the chief executive of Kier, says the business was an “absolute mess” and on the brink of bankruptcy when he took on the challenge of rebuilding the FTSE 250-listed business in April 2019. 

“It was tough love, and there were no special favours,” Davies said in an interview with the Financial Times. “But the government did de facto save us by awarding us contracts. The biggest one was HS2.”

Kier is the UK government’s second largest contractor overall, using thousands of subcontractors to build hospitals, schools and prisons. It is also the Highways Agency’s largest supplier as well as one of the biggest contractors on the HS2 rail link, where it is building the line from the Chiltern Hills, north west of London, to Birmingham.

“There were hard talks but the government made it very clear it didn’t want another collapse,” said Davies, a former executive of BAE Systems. “We did matter.”

The government said: “HS2 Ltd’s rigorous procurement process is open to all bidders with the relevant experience and required credentials, and ensures value for money for the taxpayer.”

Davies took over Kier after it admitted to “accounting errors” that wiped millions off the share price and with shareholders unwilling to support an emergency cash call.

Rival contractor Carillion had been liquidated a year earlier and Interserve was in the hands of creditors. There were fears that a Kier collapse would have been more disruptive to government services than its rivals as it was engaged in fewer joint ventures, in which partners could continue the work.

Now, Davies says that Kier is on the up again after posting a £9m profit on revenue of £1.6bn for the six months to the end of December, compared with a loss of £41m on revenues of £1.8bn in the same period the previous year. In April, it raised £241m in a rights issue to pay down much of its £436m net debt.

Like Carillion, Kier had squirrelled away debts on its balance sheet and expanded in areas in which it had “no experience and no expertise”, said Davies. He has narrowed the company’s focus, ridding it of its environmental services and housebuilding operations and shrinking its facilities management business, reducing staff numbers from 16,000 people to fewer than 12,000.

The company is now an infrastructure and construction group with an £8bn order book, almost solely focused on winning work from the government or regulated utilities, he said. It has yet to set out plans to restore the dividend.

Still Davies is optimistic that the company has weathered the pressures of the pandemic. Kier took £9m in furlough payments from the government, which it has not repaid. On most of its contracts, including HS2, the government bears the brunt of any increase in materials prices or unexpected costs.

Stephen Rawlinson, analyst at Applied Value, said Kier had “got lucky and been given the chance to rebuild”. “The collapse of Carillion helped the government realise it did not want a repeat,” he said. “The balance sheet is still weak but it is winning work.”

[dasty1] 09/8/2021 08:58

Bathboy, thanks, and I respect your interpretation. Mine is different. The fact he is willing to give such an interview says volumes. He is clearly far more confident and bullish than he has ever been. He would never have give that interview 1, 2 or 3 years ago. He now can. He's now confident. It's now his company- judge me from the hospital pass I was given, to now, to the future, he is saying. As a current holder, I'm very pleased to read it. Long term holders may be cursing past management.

[bathboy2] 09/8/2021 08:12

See in the FT, that Kier are lucky to be still in business, it is only the fact of promises of HS2 work, that pulled them through, but admits the balance sheet is still weak, will make interesting reading in September, to see what they have produced, surprising that Davies has broke cover with this interview.

[johnbuythedips] 05/8/2021 09:16

Just checking in. 126p and very strong. Wow, what was the issue price LOL
Good to see Wally has been found out for the liar that he really is.
Where is Brazilian Fan Boy. Short @ 78p. Imagine how sticky the Mexico 70 Panini Sticker Album is under his bed LOL
Losers, the pair of them. Both lackeys on a desk in SW1 somewhere, the train fare and Pret takes up most of their wages.
This continues north IMO>
Best of luck all.
The clue is in the user name. John.

[ammu12] 04/8/2021 10:46

Time to get back in costain teddy bear

[stdyeddy] 03/8/2021 19:13

Ammu, a shame then that Costain trails Kier, the market leader in regional construction in terms of size and market dominance. Please keep these spam-like posts for the Costain board, then posters here won't feel the need to paste a load of Kier-positive news all over the Costain board.

[petersw1] 02/8/2021 23:53

Oh! Hi there Wally. Good of you to pop in again :)
It is much more interesting discussing with you rather than your little disciple.

Have you noticed yet that the share price is firmly past £1?

You do realise that if you'd bought Kier when you first started posting here and took up the open offer rights you'd be sitting on a small gain, right?
Obviously it would have been a better entry point to go long when you were boasting about being short.
So, what could your analysis be missing that keeps making you get the direction wrong?
Did you ever hear the idea that markets are forward looking?

I don't think I've ever said Kier are great, but now you mention it...

If you don't like construction don't hold Kier.
If you don't like recovery shares don't hold Kier.

Otherwise you can be happy with the decent gains and positive outlook from holding a company that is delivering valuable projects in communities all around the country and all that with an increasing profit margin.

I bought my shares for the recovery and that has been going well. As long as the market doesn't get too far ahead of itself I'm increasingly intending to hold them longer term.

[stdyeddy] 02/8/2021 21:15

Yep, you definitely learnt the hard way, didn't you wolly? Lost a load of money on a Kier short from 50p. I can see it hurts you.

Of course all the lying you've done here has somewhat reduced the level of sympathy that there might be for you. How much did you lose?

[wallywoo] 02/8/2021 20:16

Yes bound to make a fool of yourself by saying the company that has disappointed with its results for 5 years, will disappoint again.


Let's have a little recap, Kier have;

1) issued 459 percent more shares in 2.5 years, to continue trading.


2) made well over 100p a share losses for the last 2 years.


3) lost roughly £200m a year in cash for the last 2 years.


And Peter thinks Kier are great. Some people just have to learn the hard way.

[petersw1] 02/8/2021 19:54

Quite a lot of comedy value in your post 22731 bathboy :)
Part of me wants to believe that you're actually a comedian deliberately keeping us amused, but in reality I know we're laughing at you rather than with you. :/
I would feel bad except that you've already been warned that you're making a fool of yourself.

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 18:55

They all come out to play, all the poor people sat on losses, and desperate to push the price up, could be falling of a cliff when results out in 6 weeks, line up lemmings. 1,2,3 jump

[sparty1] 02/8/2021 17:16

"and try and Diss me"

Not a hard ask is it bathscum..?

Are you old enough to vote? Because that would be a worry. Back to flipping burgers...and easy on the gherkins..

[stdyeddy] 02/8/2021 17:02

It's 'you're' not 'your' bathbot, both times. Now I'm not saying you're a TOTAL idiot, but I reckon you're at least a partial. Just like wolly. But please keep going; I might well be wrong -- maybe you ARE a total idiot. 😊

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 16:55

You think your very clever, but you don't have a clue, you keep thinking your intelligent, and try and Diss me, total idiot.

[petersw1] 02/8/2021 14:53

Good work bathboy! You found a place where you can look the terms up all by yourself.
The next big step is to see if you can make a coherent statement using them.
Though I can see that is going to take quite some practice.
Maybe you can find a friend to practice with in private so you don't go embarrassing yourself any further here?

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 13:36

But on lse the shares are listed as sold, explain,

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 13:34

Look up operating profit on investopedia, then you grasp what can be hidden behind 'operating profit',

[stdyeddy] 02/8/2021 13:27

You mean 'bought' not 'brought'. Only wolly is that stupid.

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 13:09

Think you might find shares sold not brought

[bathboy2] 02/8/2021 13:05

Come on then petersw, you explain the difference, operating profit is to me gross profit, but that never relatates to net profit, that's the true bottom line

[petersw1] 02/8/2021 12:38

Bathboy, you're making a fool of yourself. I'd suggest you look up and try and understand the definitions of the words you're using before posting further.