Kingspan expecting 33% profits hike for 2006

Building materials group Kingspan has said its operating profit for 2006 is expected to grow by about 33%.

Strong underlying markets, a contribution from acquisitions and a favourable material pricing environment contributed to the performance, Kingspan said today.

Net debt at year end is expected to be about €160m, after €60m in capital expenditure and an acquisition spend of €85m on nine deals which have combined annualised sales of more than €100m.

In a trading update today, Kingspan singled out its insulated panels business as having led its advance, through both strong sales in Ireland and the UK and greater rollout of the products in central and eastern Europe.