Irish insulation giant Kingspan is “committed” to its primary listing on the Irish stock exchange but plans to give up its London listing after consulting with shareholders over the coming weeks.
“The majority of [its] share trading takes place” in Dublin, the company said in a statement on Friday. It plans to cancel its listing on the London Stock Exchange, pending the approval of shareholders.
The group said its board had “reviewed the company’s listing arrangements and notes that current share trading on the London Stock Exchange [LSE] is negligible as a percentage of total trading. The board, therefore, proposes to delist from the LSE subject to shareholder approval and we will provide an update on the process and timing in the coming weeks.”
Kingspan’s move to double down on its presence on Euronext Dublin, as the Irish stock exchange is now known, contrasts with the slew of companies that have dropped their Dublin listing in recent years. Building materials giant CRH confirmed on Thursday it plans to quit the exchange here as it seeks inclusion on the influential S&P 500 Index in the US, while betting group Flutter is also looking at a US listing.
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It is also something of a blow to London, which has lost a raft of listings this year.
The decision came as the Kingscourt, Co Cavan-based firm reported a 4 per cent jump in group sales in the first three months of the year and said it expects half-year profits to top €400 million, ahead of analyst estimates.
Hailing a “good first quarter” with group sales approaching €2 billion despite a 3 per cent decline in underlying sales, Kingspan said that sales in the Americas were particularly strong while western Europe was “solid”. Central and eastern Europe, meanwhile, remained “tough” due to the impact of the war in Ukraine.
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Overall, sales of insulated panels were down 5 per cent, the group said, “with volumes behind year on year versus a strong comparative when we experienced an element of accelerated demand in a highly inflationary environment this time last year”.
Kingspan, which holds its annual general meeting on Friday, said that market activity has been “gyrating month on month” for the past 18 months.
Sales of insulation were stable in the first quarter while sales in Kingspan’s data and flooring division increased by 18 per cent with data centre construction continuing “to advance and ... offsetting the weakness in new office construction”.
The group said its trading outlook is “relatively short-dated” but that it expects to deliver a trading profit of “just over €400 million” for the first half of its 2023 financial year. This would be ahead of analysts’ expectations with Goodbody previously pencilling in profits of €375 million for the insulation group in the six months to the end of June.
