Keller Share News (KLR)

Shares in construction site ground preparation specialist Keller slumped by a fifth as it warned problems in the US would hit its results hard this year."A continued deterioration in the US construction market has led to a further reduction in volumes in our US businesses. More importantly, the resulting more intense competitive environment has led to increased pressure on margins, which is likely to continue for the remainder of 2010," Keller said.As a result the US businesses will just about break-even at half-way and come in well below expectations for the full year.Keller's business servicing continental and Asia will also come in lower than expected due to the severe weather in Northern Europe. The UK and Australia are doing better.On a more encouraging note, like-for-like order intake up to the end of April 2010 was 9% ahead of the same period in 2009 and the order book has increased each month since December 2009, Keller said.At the end of April, the order book was 7% below the level at this time last year, compared with 14% below at the end of January 2010.