Troubled groundworks specialist loses £20-25m on US and Spanish companies
Groundworks specialist Keller has written off between £20m and £25m of goodwill on businesses heavily exposed to the troubled US residential and Spanish construction markets.
The write downs have hit Keller firms Suncoast in the US and Keller-Terra in Spain.
In a statement to the City Keller said: “In both markets [the US and Spain], the short term prospects are no better than a year ago and only a slow recovery is expected over time. As a consequence, the full year 2010 results will include non-cash goodwill impairment charges in respect of Suncoast, our business most exposed to the US residential market, and Keller-Terra in Spain.
It said: “Subject to the completion of the detailed year-end financial exercise, we currently expect these non-cash impairment charges to total between £20m and £25m, or around half of the total goodwill relating to these businesses.”
In a statement on November 18 Keller has warned of shrinking margins, zero growth and £3m in redundancy and restructuring costs in the fourth quarter of the year. Keller’s said this morning said that market and trading conditions remained in line with that statement.
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