Yeah, but as you've said, Kier paid an exec's phone bill, so I think it's only a matter of time before the £4bn company collapses. Head for the hills.
Glad to see you're all over that phone bill. Really shocking, paying an exec's phone bill for a few months after he's left. What a terrible company.
Yes, a good return and working capital are easily achievable. Over £4bn in revenue, even without the residential business which is up for sale. £65m in retained dividends (not paying out to shareholders). Rights issue of £250m earlier this year. Some assets already sold (overseas business, office buildings and land etc) and more up for sale. The new management is building cash and will easily fund the business. Even the debt is not high; group net debt of £165m (on turnover of £4bn plus, this is tiny) and average monthly debt of around £420m, which is half of the debt financing available to Kier. The business is even recession proff ot a much higher degre than thewider industry; most of Kier's customers are regional authorities who have already contractually committed to their schools, hospitals, and roads projects.
Massive fall in share price over the last three days; almost 25% down from 110 last week to 86p this morning. Rumour driven as far as I can see, but Davies is going to pretty stupid on Friday asking shareholders, who are watching the value of the business plummet under his management, to vote for his big bonus deal. They might as well tell him to resign. Maybe he's about to get the Kier Living deal signed off today or tomorrow and will be able to go into the AGM head held high.
Assets were sold fast; the Australian Kier roads business sold; land and properties sold all over the UK, including £25m for one office block in central London. Kier Living sale is imminent with Lone Star named as a contender. Motleyfool bloggers in my experience are just amateurs and paid advocates a lot of the time. Probably in league with hedge funds shorting kier (most of whom are exiting their shorts).
If the share price is any indication, it looks as though some kind of disaster has overtaken Kier. Almost 20% down in 3 days. AGM is on Friday; we will hear then whether it's just rumour or facts that are hitting the share price. However, a public company with Kier's recent record on share collapse should really be responding a bit more promptly with an RNS today or in the morning, especially if Davies wants to avoid walking into a room of very hostile institutional shareholders and then expecting them to vote through the board's pay deal.
Kier's net group debt is only around £170m and monthly average debt is about half of what is available to Kier. There will NOT be a debt for equity swap because the business is not short of cash and has good revenue. Kier's recent forecast is for flat revenue in 2020, approx the same as last year. The story which is being hyped by a telegraph journalist relates to HSBC, which has reported bad results in Europe and might be trying to manage its loan book down. Kier does not have 'aggressive' lenders. The company is a reliable loan customer and meets all debt obligations. Trying to spin rumours into some sort of adverse comment on Kier seems to be your hobby. Stick to facts.
I'm wondering if we're about to see a bid for the whole of Kier. The residential business is for sale at around £150-160m; take that off the market cap and the rest of the business is currently valued at £20m. This makes Kier the biggest bargain on the stockmarket. Kier's entire group debt at around £170m is barely more than one year's earnings. Turnover without the residential business is over £4 billion. The company is the UK's largest regional construction firm and is currently is ranked number one in Construction Enquirer's league table for the amount of construction work won in the last 12 months. I would not be surprised to see Balfour or Mace bid for Kier while its share price is so low, even if it were only to get Kier to open its books and get a good look inside the business. A foreign buyer could snap Kier up easily and have instant massive momentum in the undervalued UK market.
Kier has been awarded a contract for multiple lots in a £30bn Government framework: [link] The only lots which Kier was not awarded are residential and demolition. This huge seven-year contract win will produce many millions in revenue for Kier over the next seven years and produce great quality buildings for central and regional authorities. And as far as day-to-day contract wins go, Kier has also won a contract as the main contractor for Braintree Council's £30m Manor Street town-centre regeneration scheme. I hope that will help anyone here who keeps wondering how Kier manages to make money and why Kier has been the number one work winning contractor throughout the last 12 months up to September. And banks won't be getting tough with Kier since it's the second largest business in its sector, pays its debt obligations on time and rewards investors with 4% on its corporate bonds; a moderate rate of interest from a dependable business. My message here contains FACTS, not mere wonderings. That's why I'm invested in Kier.
You seem to do a lot of wondering, usually with some kind of negative tone towards Kier. The share price seems to be ignoring you so far. As far as selling the HQ is concerned, I see it as a good thing at this stage. Another HQ can be leased. Makes sense for Kier to free up as much cash as possible.