Kingspan reports trading profit of €329M for first half of 2021

Construction recovery drives 64% increase in profits at Kingscourt based firm

Kingspan, a global leader in high performance insulation and building envelope solutions, has published its half-yearly financial report up to June 30, 2021.

It shows that revenue has increased by 41% to €2.9bn compared to the same period last year.

Trading profit grew by 64% to €329m; while its group trading margin is reported at 11.3%, an increase of 160bps versus the same period in 2020.

The strong performance has driven the company's share prices. The basic EPS is up 65.9 % to 132.4 cent (H1 2020: 79.8 cent).

This translates to an interim dividend of 19.9 cent per share (H1 2020: nil) in line with policy guidance.

Gene Murtagh, Chief Executive of Kingspan commented:

“Growth in the first half of the year has been remarkably strong with revenue and trading profit at record levels driven by high levels of demand and a global recovery in the construction sector.

"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.”

The results show strong underlying volume growth of 30% and 27% in insulated panels and insulation boards respectively.

The company has continued its strategy of expansion through acquisition and diversifying geographically with 10 acquisitions made during the period across four continents.

Kingspan invested a total of €496m in acquisitions, capex and financial investments in the first six months of this year.

Acquisitions contributed eight per cent to sales growth and seven per cent to trading profit growth in the period.

"We also continue to invest in organic expansion, product innovation, digitalisation, enhanced compliance and executing on our ambitious Planet Passionate sustainability targets.

"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,” added Mr Murtagh.