Kingspan shares tumble 5% despite record profit expectations 

Kingspan CEO Gene Murtagh. Kingspan recently offered to purchase the shares it does not already own in the Sweden-headquartered firm Nordic Waterproofing for 2.6m Swedish crowns (€230m) to strengthen this part of the business. File picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Kingspan shares tumbled more than 5% hours after the Irish insulation giant re-iterated that it expects to deliver a record full-year trading profit of €875m amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

In a trading update, the company said sales revenue for the first nine months declined 7% to €6.1bn compared to the same period a year earlier, but it is "comfortably ahead" of the €833m it reported last year. 

“It is difficult to look too far ahead in this environment,” the company said.

Kingspan said challenges persist for building materials and construction firms, however the “global backlog of orders has remained reasonably stable over the last number of months” and refurbishment activity in general has gained momentum.

“There is still some way to go in 2023 with the seasonally important fourth quarter remaining,” the company said.

Kingspan said insulated panel sales fell by 10% in the first nine months but are improving. Sales volumes in the third quarter of the year were up globally and activity in the Americas continued to be “strong” while the UK market “weakened considerably” since mid-year and central and eastern Europe activity levels were “sluggish”.

Insulation sales in the first nine months were down 7% while the company’s roofing and waterproofing offer suffered “a difficult trading environment in the year to date”.

Kingspan recently offered to purchase the shares it does not already own in the Sweden-headquartered firm Nordic Waterproofing for 2.6m Swedish crowns (€230m) to strengthen this part of the business.

The acceptance period for the bid is expected to commence around November 23 and expire on February 1, 2024.