Goodbody ups Kingspan shares from ‘add’ to ‘buy’

KINGSPAN has seen its share recommendation upped from ‘add’ to ‘buy’ by Goodbody Stockbrokers, on the back of the Cavan-based building materials firm issuing a better than expected trading update for the past four months.

While the group, which specialises in insulation products for buildings, is not anticipating widespread improvement in performance until 2011, it said yesterday that overall trading, to date, in the second half of the year has been steady and that operating profit for the full year should come in at €60 million.

“With the exception of western Europe, construction markets remain under significant pressure and, in particular, the non-residential sectors in central and eastern Europe and North America have both noticeably contracted in recent months.