Kingspan sales up 13% as construction picks up
Sales in the nine months to Sept 30 were €1.32bn, earning the company an ‘outperform’ rating from Davy stockbroker analyst Robert Gardiner.
“The group expects to deliver trading profit growth of 10% in the full year which implies a result of €118m-€119m,” said Mr Gardiner. “This is slightly ahead of our forecast of €117.8m. Outlook comments are generally more positive with improvement noted in the UK while the recovery elsewhere remains tentative.”
In its interim management statement, Kingspan said that there had been an emerging slowdown in the US market.
“In particular, there has been a slowdown in activity in the US in the third quarter, although it is too early to call this as a trend,” said Kingspan. “Emerging regions for the group, including Australia, Turkey, and the Middle East, continue to progress well. Taking account of this, and with the seasonally important fourth quarter to come, the group expects to deliver trading profit growth of approximately 10% for the year.”
Sales of insulated panels rose by a third, driven by activity in the UK and Western Europe.
Insulation board sales in the first nine months were down 3% compared with the same period last year, attributed to low levels of activity in the Netherlands.
