KINGSPAN'S plans to buy Rugby Group's building materials subsidiary Ward Building Systems are now back on track and an announcement on the acquisition is expected in the near future.

At one stage, it was thought that Kingspan's interest in Ward - which first emerged six months ago - might be beaten by a rival buy out by Ward management.

It now seems, however, that Kingspan has regained pole position and an announcement is expected in the near future.

Kingspan directors Mr Eugene Murtagh and Mr Brendan Murtagh were out of the country yesterday and could not be contacted for comment.

There were suggestions yesterday that Ward may fetch a price tag of between £20 million and £25 million sterling, and it is understood that Rugby - the parent company - will push for a premium price. The company has three operating divisions - structural steel, steel buildings and building components.

Rugby announced earlier this year that it planned to sell off its metal products division to allow it to concentrate on its core activities. This division had an operating profit of £7.1 million sterling on sales of £170.1 million sterling and Ward is thought to have accounted for a little over half the division's sales and operating profits.

With Kingspan's own broker, Riada, forecasting end 1996 debt of £18.6 million and gearing of more than 100 per cent, market sources believe Kingspan may have to look to the market for funding for an acquisition of this size. With its shares trading at an all time high of 517p, raising funds from the market should present no problem.

Since the beginning of the year, Kingspan has expanded with the acquisition of the Welsh manufacturer of insulation products, Kooltherm Holdings for £9.5 million sterling.

Full year profits of around £12.5 million are expected for the year to the end of December.