Keller half-year results 2026: North America drives growth

Keller Group has delivered a strong set of half-year results, with North American infrastructure and data centre work powering double-digit growth in revenue and profit.

The geotechnical specialist also raised its interim dividend by 57%, continued its £100 million share buyback and finished June with modest covenant net debt. A record £1.9 billion order book provides further visibility, although weaker cash conversion and margin pressure in Asia-Pacific deserve attention.

Here is what investors need to know from the original company announcement.

Keller's first-half results at a glance

Key figure	H1 2026	H1 2025	Change
Revenue	£1,608.0 million	£1,457.7 million	10.3%
Underlying operating profit	£117.9 million	£102.6 million	14.9%
Underlying operating margin	7.3%	7.0%	30 basis points
Underlying diluted EPS	120.1p	98.1p	22.4%
Statutory profit before tax	£103.3 million	£87.4 million	18.2%
Free cash flow before interest and tax	£43.0 million	£51.6 million	-16.7%
Covenant net debt	£15.9 million	£61.5 million	-74.1%
Interim dividend per share	28.7p	18.3p	56.8%

Constant currency figures remove the effect of exchange-rate movements. On that basis, revenue increased by 11.1% and underlying operating profit grew by 17.1%.

The widening operating margin is encouraging. Keller converted 7.3% of revenue into underlying operating profit, compared with 7.0% last year, reflecting what management described as commercial discipline and strong project execution.

North America remains the main growth engine

North America delivered record first-half revenue of £984.4 million, up 16.7% at constant currency. Underlying operating profit rose 17.7% to £93.8 million, while the margin remained at 9.5%.

The division benefited from higher activity in infrastructure, power and data centre markets, alongside an increase in major projects. Keller completed more North American data centre projects during the half than it did throughout the whole of 2025.

That is an important signal. It shows the business is converting demand into active work rather than simply describing a promising pipeline.

North America's order book increased by 29.7% to £1,367.9 million. This included the expanded I-40 highway remediation project, which is expected to be completed over the next two to three years.

There were still softer areas. South Florida residential demand remained weak, while customers at Moretrench Industrial deferred environmental remediation spending. However, stronger foundations and infrastructure activity more than offset those pressures.

Europe and the Middle East improve profitability

Europe and Middle East revenue declined by 5.2% at constant currency to £396.1 million. Adverse first-quarter weather and fewer large projects affected activity.

Profit performance was considerably better. Underlying operating profit rose 28.0% to £19.2 million, with the margin improving from 3.6% to 4.8%.

The 120 basis-point margin increase suggests better project execution and a more favourable mix of work. Performance in the Middle East was particularly helpful, despite the ongoing conflict, while challenging projects that affected the previous period were completed.

The division's order book rose 16.5% to £396.7 million. Keller expects improved trading to continue into the second half, supported by higher volumes during the third quarter.

The UK remained difficult, however, with both volume and profit below the prior period. Conditions in western Europe were also subdued.

Asia-Pacific growth comes with a margin warning

Asia-Pacific produced the fastest divisional revenue growth, rising 22.8% at constant currency to £227.5 million. Austral continued to perform strongly, while Keller Australia achieved record volumes.

Unfortunately, that growth did not translate into higher profit. Underlying operating profit slipped 1.4% to £13.8 million and the margin fell from 7.7% to 6.1%.

Queensland weather, pressure on Keller Australia's project margins and the absence of prior-year project closure settlements offset the benefit of higher revenue. The division's order book also declined by 18.9% to £174.6 million because Austral secured fewer marine contracts.

Management remains confident about the second half, pointing to prospective civil and marine awards and an expected improvement in India. Even so, Asia-Pacific is the clearest operational weak spot in these results. Investors will want to see stronger profit conversion from its growing revenue base.

Record order book supports the outlook

Keller's group order book reached a record £1.9 billion, up from £1.6 billion a year earlier.

The total is elevated by the multi-year I-40 contract, meaning it will unwind over a longer period than Keller's usual six-month order-book cycle. Investors should therefore avoid treating the entire increase as near-term revenue.

Nevertheless, work-in-hand remains strong and tendering activity is described as buoyant across all three divisions. Management expects the full-year result to be in line with recently upgraded market expectations.

Company-compiled consensus from seven analysts stands at revenue of £3,337 million and underlying operating profit of £242 million for 2026. Keller has not disclosed a more precise company forecast.

Dividend and buybacks step up shareholder returns

The interim dividend rises by 56.8% to 28.7p per share. It will be paid on 11 September 2026 to shareholders on the register on 14 August.

The increase follows Keller's enhanced dividend policy, adopted in March, which targets dividend cover of between 2.5 and 3.5 times earnings. The interim payment has been rebased around anticipated full-year cover of 3.0 times.

Keller has also continued returning capital through buybacks. After completing a £50 million programme announced in 2025, it launched a further £100 million programme in March 2026. Around £35 million of that new programme had been completed by the results date.

Underlying earnings per share increased by 22.4% to 120.1p, benefiting from profit growth and the lower share count created by buybacks.

More company information is available on the Keller Group PLC share page.

Cash flow is the main financial caveat

The balance sheet remains strong. Covenant net debt was £15.9 million, equivalent to leverage of just 0.1 times underlying EBITDA. This is below Keller's target leverage range of 0.5 to 1.5 times.

The group also had £446.1 million of undrawn borrowing facilities and £209.7 million of cash and cash equivalents at the period end. Its £400 million revolving credit facility was undrawn and has been extended to June 2031.

Cash conversion was less impressive. Free cash flow before interest and tax fell from £51.6 million to £43.0 million, while operating cash conversion declined from 50% to 36%.

Working capital increased by £87.5 million, primarily due to higher inventory and receivables. Keller says cash generation is normally weighted towards the second half, but converting reported profit into cash will be an important test over the remainder of 2026.

After interest and tax, free cash flow was £16.4 million, slightly above £14.3 million last year, helped by lower tax payments.

What matters for Keller investors now

These results contain several clear positives: double-digit revenue and profit growth, a record order book, improving group margins, low leverage and materially higher shareholder distributions.

North America is doing most of the heavy lifting, supported by infrastructure and data centre demand. Europe and the Middle East are also becoming more profitable despite lower revenue.

The watch points are concentrated in Asia-Pacific margins, weaker first-half cash conversion and Keller's exposure to project execution, weather, tariffs, inflation and geopolitical disruption. Safety indicators also moved in the wrong direction, with the group Accident Frequency Rate rising from 0.04 to 0.05 and the Total Recordable Incident Rate increasing from 0.48 to 0.60.

For the second half, the central question is whether Keller can convert its unusually large order book into profitable revenue and stronger cash flow. The company enters that period with considerable financial flexibility and management confidence, but delivery still matters more than the size of the pipeline alone.