黑洞社区

A 鈥渟ophisticated鈥� fraud at Keller鈥檚 Australia business in which operating profit was exaggerated by as much as 拢18m over several years has seen two directors fired and the firm admit the amount of money it will now make last year be less than expected.

In an update this morning, the ground engineer said: 鈥淔ollowing an internal management operational review, it has recently identified an apparently deliberate and sophisticated financial reporting fraud discrete to the Austral business in Australia, a business unit within the AMEA (Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa) division.鈥�

It said two people had been fired and that an internal investigation was now underway with the firm looking to bring in outside involvement to carry out an independent investigation.

Keller said the impact of the fraud on operating profit would be 拢6m on the first half of last year, plus a further 拢8m to 拢10m on previous years.

It added: 鈥淭he financial reporting fraud relates to the overstatement of Austral鈥檚 performance from 2019 onwards.鈥�

As a result, it said the firm鈥檚 operating profit for 2022 would be 鈥渟lightly below the bottom end of the range of market expectations鈥�. Analysts had been forecasting a figure of between 拢109m and 拢114m.

Chief executive Michael Speakman said: 鈥淲e have responded swiftly and decisively to a serious issue within one of our business units and a full investigation is underway. Until this process is complete and its consequences fully understood, it is inappropriate to comment further.鈥�

Keller said the overall group was continuing to 鈥減erform well鈥� and would announce its 2002 results on 7 March at which it is expected to give an update on the Austral investigation.

Austral is a civil, mining and marine contractor that Keller said contributes around 3% of the firm鈥檚 revenue.

Group turnover in 2021 was up 8% to 拢2.2bn with pre-tax profit up 12% to 拢71.6m. Operating profit was down 16% to 拢93m.