Irish-headquartered builders’ merchants and DIY firm Grafton Group have bought a market leading Dutch company in its biggest ever deal in Continental Europe.

Cork’s Clarion Hotel has been acquired by the Dalata Hotel Group for €35.1m in a cash deal expected to be concluded before the end of this month.

Irish headquartered building materials group and Woodies owner Grafton Group made a pre-tax profit of £101.2m (€142.5m) last year as the Irish and UK economies continued to improve.

Dublin-based builders’ merchants group Grafton has broadened its presence in the UK via the purchase of niche company TG Lynes for an undisclosed sum.

Kingspan has identified Latin America as the likely next step in its ongoing geographical expansion, with a presence in both Brazil and Mexico likely to be taken over the next few years.

Kingspan has continued its early year acquisition activity by taking full control of the industrial insulation products joint-venture it shares with Belgian group, Recticel.

Kingspan has taken “a quantum leap” in its global expansion plans by acquiring Belgian specialist building materials firm Joris Ide for an estimated €315m.

Co Cavan-based building materials group Kingspan is in advanced talks over a takeover deal in Belgium which would see the company significantly expand its insulated panels business in mainland Europe.

Builders, merchanting, and DIY group Grafton increased revenues by almost 10% last year, helped by exposure to the recovering construction sectors in Ireland and the UK.

Dublin-based builders merchants group Grafton has expanded its presence in the south of England, via an acquisition likely to add nearly 1% to its UK revenues next year.

Builders’ merchants and DIY firm Grafton Group increased revenues by just over 10% to the end of October, according to its interim management statement released yesterday.

Specialist building materials group Kingspan expects to see a near 20% increase in trading profit this year, despite management remaining cautious over macroeconomic conditions.

Grafton Group has extended its presence in the UK through the acquisition of a three-branch builders merchanting business in the south-east of England.

Builders’ merchants group Grafton has expanded its asset base in Britain, through the acquisition for an undisclosed fee of English timber merchant Beaumont Forest Products.

Building materials group Grafton is expecting its full-year operating profit to come in at the higher end of market expectations, after recording a near 6% year-on-year revenue increase for the first 10 months of the year.

Kingspan’s product development pipeline is set to drive growth, said group chief executive Gene Murtagh

THE change in stamp duty on houses could help boost housing demand, analysts at Davy research suggest in a note yesterday.

BUILDING materials group Grafton said January trading was “badly affected” by the bad weather and resulted in sales plunging €25 million below the level a year earlier.

GRAFTON group, the largest builders merchants in Ireland, is on course for improved results next year despite a 28% revenue drop to €1.69 billion in the year to the end of October.

KINGSPAN’S share price surged ahead by almost 6% yesterday after the company disclosed first half pre-tax profits increased by 32.5% to €37.5 million, well ahead of expectations.