Kier is to cut employees’ salaries, including those of its executive board members, by between 7.5% and 25% in response to the impact of coronavirus.
The measure will apply for three months starting from 1 April. Kier is also bringing forward the closure of its Tempsford Hall head office in Bedfordshire.
Kier “paused” its operations for 24 hours on 24 March to make sure it complied with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) site operating procedures and said it would either modify or close sites where it couldn’t meet those standards.
The contractor has also suspended the planned sale of its Kier Living housing business, which it has been trying to sell since June last year in an attempt to reduce its debt.
It also asserted that it operates in several vital sectors, including highways maintenance, housing maintenance and facilities management services to the NHS, and housing and school building programmes. A number of its employees have key worker status as a result. Around 73% of its core construction and infrastructure activities relate to work for government departments or quasi non-governmental organisations.
But Kier is still grappling with a large amount of debt. The company said it is currently on course to save £65m for the year ending 30 June 2021 in an effort to reduce that debt. Its total facilities stand at £910m, £700m of which is due for renewal in 2022. For the six-month period ended 31 December, its average month-end net debt was £395m.
