20th Aug 2021 11:57
(Alliance News) - Irish building materials firm Kingspan Group PLC on Friday reported a "remarkably strong" first half, with revenue surging on the back of high demand.
Shares in Kingspan Group were trading up 3.6% at EUR97.50 pence each in London on Friday.
In the six months ended June 30, the company's pretax profit rose 67% to EUR297.2 million from EUR177.5 million a year before.
Pretax profit was up 42% compared to the EUR208.9 million reported for the same period in 2019.
Trading profit also grew, increasing 64% year-on-year to EUR328.9 million from EUR200.1 million and up 43% from the EUR230.4 million noted two years prior.
Revenue reached EUR2.92 billion in the first half, rising 41% from EUR2.07 billion a year before and up 30% from EUR2.24 billion taken in the first half of 2019.
The company said that its price recovery was on-track with strong underlying volume growth of 30% in the first half.
"Despite inflation in our input costs, effective price management has helped increase trading margins, with a stand out performance in our largest division - insulated panels," said Chief Executive Gene Murtagh.
According to Kingspan sales of insulated panels rose by 44% as construction activity gained momentum.
Sales increased across the company's segments rising 36% for insulation boards, 39% for Light & Air products, 36% for Water & Energy, and 22% for Data & Flooring goods.
Kingspan made several acquisitions in the first half, including the purchase of insulation solutions supplier Logstor, whilst also adding climate control company Colt Group and lighting business Skydome to its Light & Air division.
"Our strategy of expanding through acquisition and diversifying geographically has continued, with ten acquisitions made during the period across four continents, and a robust balance sheet positioned to support future growth," Murtagh said.
With profit and revenue rising, Kingspan issued a dividend of 19.9 euro cents for the first half, after withholding payment last year.
In comparison, the company issued a 13.0 cent per share payout at this point in 2019.
Inflation is expected to continue into the second half of 2021 and into 2022, the company said.
However, Murtagh concluded that: "A strong pipeline of future demand means we are positive about the outlook for the second half of the year. Longer term, the decarbonisation agenda and increasing awareness of the need to reduce the contribution of the built environment to climate change is supportive of our focus on delivering customers with high performance solutions that deliver best-in-class thermal performance."
By Scarlett Butler; [email protected]
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