Round-up: Kingspan, JKX, Ocean Wilson...

15th Nov 2010 14:38

Insulation board specialist Kingspan expects operating profits this year to come in little changed, even though sales picked up in the last three months.Group turnover in the 9 months to 30 September was €865m, up 6% year on year, with third quarter sales up 15%. The UK and Europe outside Ireland did OK, but North America was slow and Ireland remains depressed. "The year to date performance coupled with the current order book is likely to deliver a 2010 full year operating profit in the range of €62m to €65m, compared to €62.7m in prior year," Kingspan said.Oil and gas group JKX's production tumbled 34% to an equivalent 9,080 barrels daily as a second drill rig was delayed in its arrival in Ukraine. Gas prices rose by 3% and oil by 13%. Average production for the year is now expected to be between 10,000 and 10,500 boepd, depending on the timing and initial rates of the new wells coming on-stream. "Further ahead, we remain on target to meet our key production objective of 20,000 boepd during 2011," JKX said. Brazil-focused Ocean Wilson's revenue for the nine months ended September was $416m, up 19.5% on the comparative period in 2010, due to improvements in the port operations and logistics businesses. Third quarter revenues were up 18.4% to $153.5m. Underlying profit was $25.2m for the quarter and $91.1m year to date, down 9.3%.Speech recognition specialist Eckoh posted an operating profit of £0.1m, from a loss of £0.3m, in the half year to September. Sales rose to £4.19m from £3.75m. One-offs meant a pre-tax loss of £1.13m.Contract wins and renewals achieved to date this year, combined with recent contract wins, will contribute to increased revenue and profits in the second half of the year. "As a result, the board is confident that the revenue growth trend will continue strongly and profits will rise for full year 2010 and beyond," Eckoh added.