Turnover up one third in first nine months of year
Products giant Kingspan said booming sales meant it is on track to beat last year’s trading profit by 10%, the firm said in a third quarter update this morning.
The Irish company said income in the nine months to September was up a third to €6.25bn (£5.45bn) with sales up 17% in the third quarter, adding that it was expecting a year-end trading profit of €830m (£725m), up from last year’s €755m (£659m).
It said sales from its biggest business, insulated panels, were up 29% in the first nine months with workloads in the US, Germany and UK holding up “reasonably well”.
It added: “A feature of the current environment is the lack of visibility beyond the next short period of months. Sentiment is cautious for the most part although not uniformly so. The sharp increases we have seen in raw material prices over the last eighteen months appear to have peaked, at least for now.”
Kingspan said it had spent €1bn (£870m) on acquisitions and racked up a further €200m (£175m) on organic investments which meant it expected net debt to be around €1.5bn (£1.3bn) at the end of the year. But it said year-end liquidity, representing cash balances and undrawn committed facilities, is expected to exceed €1.5bn. (£1.3bn).
The firm will release its 2022 results on 17 February next year.
No comments yet