LONDON, July 7, 2026, 14:04 BST
- Keller Group plc LON:KLR jumped 21.25% to 3,252p at 14:02 BST, trading at a fresh 52-week high of 3,320p earlier in the session.
- The order book hit a record, around £1.9 billion, or about 60% of the company’s 2026 revenue consensus, based on company estimates.
- RBC moved Keller up to “outperform” and Berenberg upped its target to 3,150p, but the stock traded beyond both of these new targets. Morningstar
Keller Group plc LON:KLR shares rose Tuesday after the ground-engineering company said it expects full-year revenue and underlying operating profit to beat consensus by a wide margin, thanks to a jump in U.S. infrastructure and data center orders. The ramp in orders now puts the company’s valuation in focus for the rest of the year.
London stocks were trading with the market open as of publication. The London Stock Exchange’s regular hours on July 7 are 0800 to 1630 BST. Keller last changed hands at 3,252p at 14:02 BST, up 570p for the day. Volume hit 708,230 shares, topping Google Finance’s average of 173,280 by more than four times.
Keller’s equity got a £395 million lift on paper with the shares up 570p intraday and 69.39 million outstanding, according to Google Finance’s share count. The service listed Keller’s market cap at £2.27 billion.
| Market read | Latest figure |
|---|---|
| Keller shares | 3,252p |
| Move on the day | +21.25% |
| Day peak / 52-week top | 3,320p / 3,320p |
| Volume vs. average | 708,230 vs 173,280 |
| FTSE 250 index | +0.07% at 23,520.74 |
The FTSE 250 barely moved, leaving Keller’s stock move looking like a one-off, not a sector trend. Lloyds Bank’s screen showed the index up 0.07% at 23,520.74 in early London trading.
Order book size grabbed attention, not the actual price move. Keller said its backlog hit around £1.9 billion, boosted by a big I-40 highway fix contract in the US. That’s higher than the £1.5 billion seen at end-2025 and is about 60% of the £3.15 billion in revenue consensus Keller believes it can now top.
| Measure | 2025 actual / year-end | Pre-upgrade 2026 consensus | July 7 read-through |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £3.087 bln | £3.150 bln | Management expects FY26 to come in well ahead |
| Underlying operating profit | £218.2 mln | £223 mln | Management expects FY26 to beat |
| Underlying operating margin | 7.1% | 7.1% implied | Margin discipline still key |
| Order book | £1.5 bln | — | about £1.9 bln |
North America is still Keller’s biggest driver. Keller said the region brings in about 60% of its total revenue. Record volumes and solid demand for infrastructure and data center work were enough to make up for a weaker south Florida residential market. CEO James Wroath called North America’s performance “exceptional” across the U.S. and Canada. Keller Group plc
Keller’s I-40 project update for June puts some numbers to the change. Keller reported it has locked in about $380 million in work on the rebuild, which includes a $207 million variation order. Of the total, around $70 million is already done; the rest is scheduled for the next two to three years.
Broker price targets moved up but couldn’t keep pace with the stock. RBC raised Keller to “outperform” from “sector perform” and bumped its target to 3,100p from 2,270p. Berenberg upped its target to 3,150p from 2,550p, sticking with its “buy” rating. Keller finished at 3,252p, which is 3.2% above Berenberg’s target and 4.9% over RBC’s. Morningstar
Berenberg said North America is still Keller’s “primary engine of growth” and put the shares at 10.3x FY26 price-to-earnings, 5.0x EBITDA and 7.4x EBIT after the latest update. The broker said growth since May was all organic, no acquisitions or disposals. Halifax Investments
The risk is the market may have already priced in more upgrades. Investors Chronicle data as of July 2 shows seven analysts with a median 12-month target of 2,550p and the top at 2,843p before Tuesday’s broker moves. Shares jumped past that whole range in a single day.
Keller is set to post interim numbers on Aug. 4, with a capital markets day planned for Oct. 14. Investors will watch if the order book delivers profit without Keller slipping below the 7.1% margin seen in 2025.
