Kingspan gets court backing in Tate flooring row

A US court has upheld an arbitration award of $40.7m (€33.2m) made to building materials group Kingspan last year in relation to the company's purchase of a flooring company.

Kingspan paid $120m (€97.8m) January 2001 for Tate Access Floors, but then found that key contracts did not materialise.

The arbitration panel found Daniel Baker and the other sellers of Tate Access Floors liable for breach of contract, common law fraud and federal and Pennsylvania securities law violations in connection with the sale of the stock of Tate to Kingspan.

The sellers appealed the award to the US District Court in Pennsylvania. The latest judgement has also been appealed to a higher court.

Despite the positive news for Kingspan, the company's share price fell by a cent to €4.83 in trading this morning on the ISEQ index of Irish shares.