Kingspan shares rise 2% as chairman tells of sales surge

KINGSPAN shares rose 2% yesterday after the Cavan-based building materials group issued an upbeat statement on recent trading.

Chairman and former chief executive Eugene Murtagh told shareholders at the annual general meeting that sales in the first four months of the year were well ahead of the same period last year.

“This reflects strong underlying volume growth across the main product groups and the ability to pass on raw material price increases in a timely fashion,” said Mr Murtagh, who stepped down as chief executive earlier this year to make way for his son, Gene Murtagh Jnr. The Murtagh family owns about 30% of the company, which is valued at €1.5 billion. The company has benefited in recent years from the building boom in Ireland and Britain.

Shareholders approved all the motions put to the meeting, which included a special vote to approve a share buyback scheme that will allow the company buy up to 10% of its issued share capital. Buyback programmes aim to boost a company’s share price by using excess capital to reduce the total number of shares on the market.

Details of a similar programme were announced yesterday by housebuilder Abbey, which will hold an extraordinary general meeting for shareholders to vote on a scheme to buy back just under 15% of its outstanding shares over the next 18 months. It plans to spend about €45 million on the programme. Main shareholder Gallagher Holdings, controlled by Abbey executive chairman Charles Gallagher, is not expected to sell any of its 29.8% stake.