(Alliance News) - Keller Group PLC on Tuesday announced a higher dividend and profit surge as it anticipates to sharply beat market expectations amid a buoyant North American market.

The London-based geotechnical engineering company said pretax profit surged to GBP95.3 million in the first half of 2024 from GBP43.1 million a year prior.

Revenue climbed 1.6% to GBP1.49 billion from GBP1.47 billion. Keller's order book edged up to GBP1.6 billion from GBP1.5 billion. Net cash inflow from operating activities jumped to GBP118.9 million from GBP35.3 million.

"We maintained our focus on sustainable markets and attractive projects and the results reflect both the strength of the group's presence in the buoyant North American market and our continuous groupwide emphasis on improving project execution and delivery," Keller said.

The company declared an interim dividend of 16.6 pence per share, up 19% from 13.9p a year prior.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Speakman said Keller now expects its performance for 2024 to be materially ahead of current market expectations, citing an analyst consensus of GBP178 million for underlying operating profit, with a range of GBP176 million to GP179 million.

In 2023, underlying operating profit was GBP180.9 million.

"The current macroeconomic environment presents opportunities, particularly in North America, albeit there are challenges in some of our other markets. The strength of the group's performance, together with the quality of our record GBP1.6 billion order book, provides us with increased confidence in the outlook for the rest of this year," Keller said.

Keller shares rose 8.6% to 1,496.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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