Kingspan posts jump in H1 profit and revenue

22nd Aug 2016 07:57

(ShareCast News) - Irish building materials group Kingspan reported a jump in first-half profit and sales thanks to acquisitions and strong insulated panels sales.In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to €154.8m from €100.4m, on revenue of €1.47bn, up 19% from the same period a year ago.Trading profit was up 50% to €167.3m and trading margins were 240 basis points firmer at 11.4%.Kingspan posted insulated panel sales growth of 26% globally, with "significant advances" in Western Europe and North America in particular.Meanwhile insulation board sales growth came in at 9%, with the strongest performance in the UK, North America and the Netherlands.The company declared an interim dividend of 10 cents per share, up 25% from the first half of 2015.Chief executive Gene Murtagh said: "These results reflect our strongest ever six month performance, underpinned by solid organic growth and a robust contribution from the Joris Ide and Vicwest businesses acquired last year. The expansion in profit margin has helped deliver a 50% increase in trading profit, and with good order intake momentum in the second quarter continuing into the current trading period, we expect a solid performance in the second half."We continue to acquire complementary businesses, with a total of €83m invested in two businesses in the first half and €126m paid for two further businesses after the period end."At 0808 BST, shares were up 5.5% to €24.01.