22nd Feb 2019 08:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Kingspan Group PLC on Friday said its profit rose in 2018 with its largest division, Insulated Panels, performing especially well despite a difficult UK climate.
The Irish insulation firm posted a pretax profit of EUR404.9 million for the year to December 31, rising 17% from EUR346.5 million in 2017.
Revenue grew 19% to EUR4.37 billion from EUR3.67 billion the year before, with Insulated Panels revenue up an impressive 21% to EUR2.82 billion from EUR2.33 billion.
Kingspan's Light & Air business posted the strongest improvement to revenue, up 43% at EUR291.8 million from EUR204.7 million.
Insulation board revenue was up 12% at EUR864.1 million from EUR769.4 million and Water & Energy was up 13% at EUR202.9 million from EUR179.8 million.
The performance from Data & Flooring Technology was more modest, up just 3% at EUR190.6 million from EUR185.7 million.
In terms of regions, the UK stood out as a weak performer due to Brexit uncertainty.
"Momentum in activity generally improved for us as the year evolved, and with the notable exception of the politically hamstrung UK, most of our major markets ended the year strongly with order banks well positioned for the start of 2019. The majority of Western Europe performed robustly, North America advanced well, as did Latin America. Conversely, the UK eased back considerably towards year-end although it is relatively stable for Kingspan despite the backdrop," the company said.
Kingspan has declared a final dividend of 30.0 EUR cents per share, increasing the total dividend for the year by 14% to 42.0 cents from 37.0 cents.
"2018 was a year of strong growth for Kingspan, with the company delivering revenues of over EUR4 billion for the first time. Performance has been robust in most of our major markets, and momentum has improved through the year. With the order book going into the new financial year ahead of the prior year period, we are confident in our near-term outlook," said Kingspan Chief Executive Gene Murtagh.
"Notwithstanding this we remain mindful of challenges to growth, particularly the continuing uncertainty in the UK. However, the geographical diversification of the business, helped by our acquisitions last year to expand our footprint in Latin America, Southern Europe and India, means we are well placed to continue to deliver long-term returns to shareholders," Murtagh added.
Shares in Kingspan were down 2.2% at EUR38.14 on Friday morning in London. The company has a market capitalisation of GBP6.88 billion.
Related Shares:
KGP.L