Just caught Kier Group's H1 results and the numbers look pretty solid. Profit before tax jumped 14% to 32.6 million pounds, and they're clearly doing something right operationally - adjusted operating profit grew 6.6% to 71m. The EPS story is interesting too, with basic earnings per share up 24% to 5.7p.

What caught my eye though was the dividend decision. Kier bumped the interim payout to 2.6p per share, which is a 30% year-on-year increase. That's a pretty confident signal from management, especially when you look at the revenue side - up 2% to 2.01bn on a statutory basis. Adjusted revenue came in slightly better at 2.03bn with 2.6% growth.

Stock was trading around 235p at last close. For a construction and services company, these results show decent momentum. The adjusted metrics are particularly telling - 9.2% growth in adjusted EPS to 9.5p suggests underlying business health beyond just the headline numbers.