Spotlight on Kier: Divestment of £200m public sector contracts

Spotlight on Kier: Divestment of £200m public sector contracts

Posted by Admin on 26 June 2019

Tussell insight into which public sector contracts are held by the businesses Kier has announced it will divest itself in the coming months. Enter your details below to download our full factsheet.

Kier, one of UK’s biggest construction firms and 'Strategic Supplier' to government, on 17th June announced it plans to sell a portfolio of non-core businesses. This comes after months of stock market turbulence for the firm, whose emergency rights issue in December 2018 was taken up by only 38% of shareholders.

Chief Executive Andrew Davies has described the move as “simplifying the portfolio and emphasising cash generation”, as Kier struggles with high levels of debt. The firm is planning to divest itself of Kier Facilities Services, Property, Environment Services and Living.

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But exactly what contracts would this sale comprise? We’ve delved into the firm's live public sector book of business to identify the £200m in contracts which would be sold off as part of this deal, to give potential buyers, investors and competitors additional insight into this corporate transaction.

8% of Kier's live public sector contracts on the block

Kier's proposed sell-off covers around 8% of the value of its live public sector contracts. The current proposal would leave it holding £2.2bn in live public sector contracts.

Kier Facilities Services holds 13 live contracts, together worth £160m - implying an average contract value of £12m. Kier Property Services, on the other hand, holds only one contract, but it is much larger at £43m.

This shake-up is just the latest event in a wave of uncertainty surrounding government outsourcers, following in the wake of Carillion and Interserve. The hope is that this transaction will be enough to stabilise a company that plays an important role in delivering some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects such as HS2 and Crossrail. Even now it continues to win notable contracts, including the construction of HMP Wellingborough in June 2019.

Enter your details below to download the detailed report on Kier's public sector contracts.