Kingspan shares jump 3% as it plans to delist from London Stock Exchange

Kingspan CEO Gene Murtagh. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Kingspan shares jumped 3% after it announced plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in a trading update.

It said its current share trading on the LSE is “negligible as a percentage of total trading” and that it plans to leave its listing subject to shareholder approval.

“We remain committed to our primary listing on the main market of Euronext Dublin, where the majority of share trading takes place,” it said.

The building materials giant said overall the group “had a good first quarter in a challenging environment”.

Group sales reached nearly €2bn in the March quarter and were 4% ahead of the previous year, but suffered a 3% decline on an underlying basis.

Its data-centre business boosted the company while its insulated panel sales slowed by 5%, with volumes behind year on year. In 2022, the company saw accelerated demand for the panels in a highly inflationary environment.

Sales in its data-centre solutions and flooring division increased by 18% in Q1, offsetting the weakness in new office construction.

The insulation materials provider forecasts a trading profit of just over €400m for the first half of 2023.

Kingspan’s net debt by the end of March was €1.4bn, a reduction of €123m in the first quarter. The group’s current liquidity comes to about €1.5bn in cash and undrawn committed facilities.

Kingspan’s recorded strong activity across its business in the US in the first three months of the year but said the Central and Eastern Europe markets “remain tough”.

This echoed what Irish rival building materials firm CRH said in its trading update, published earlier this week.

CRH said it anticipates a "more challenging backdrop" in Europe this year, driven by continued inflationary pressures and some slowdown in the new-build residential sector.