Kingspan posts record revenues and profits but start to 2026 ‘sluggish’

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Cavan-based insulation specialist Kingspan generated record revenues and profits last year, its full year results show.

The company, which is led by chief executive Gene Murtagh, increased revenue by 7 per cent to €9.2 billion, while trading profit rose 5 per cent to hit €955 million. Profits after tax were up 4 per cent to €716 million.

There was a decrease of 10 basis points in the group’s trading profit margin to 10.4 per cent.

The increase in sales was driven by acquisitions, and a “modest increase” in underlying sales, partially offset by currency translation of 2 per cent.

Basic earnings per share for the year was 370 cent, representing an increase of 1.3 per cent. That increase was down from 4 per cent the previous year.

The growth in earnings per share was accounted for primarily by the 5 per cent increase in trading profit partially offset by the increase in interest payable and an increase in profit attributed to non-controlling interests.

Kingspan said the start to 2026 has been “sluggish”, impacted by “tough winter conditions” in many of its end markets, albeit at a seasonally low point in the year.

“We expect our activity to pick up considerably through the months ahead,” it said. “Whilst it is still early days we see a firm path to delivering trading profit in the region of €1.05 billion for 2026 which would represent an acceleration of the growth seen in recent years.

“We expect trading profit growth between now and the end of the decade to exceed that achieved in recent years.”

The company invested more than €500 million in its insulated building envelopes business in the year.

This included “substantial new plants” to support its expansion globally and to support its entry to the US roofing market, which Murtagh said has a “tremendously positive growth outlook”.

He said the performance of the group’s Advnsys unit, which specialises in data centres, has been “exceptionally strong”, with order intake in 2026 to date double that of the same period last year.

“To meet extraordinary demand we are rapidly ramping up manufacturing capacity in the US, Middle East and Asia,” he said.

“Similar to recent years, the general trading environment in global construction markets varies widely, with the tech sector performing strongly worldwide and general construction activity in Continental Europe low but steady.

“Strong tech and data activity is helping offset the impact of softer industrial and residential markets for a robust overall performance. We anticipate our foreseeable future growth to exceed that of recent years.”

Murtagh added the company has doubled revenues and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent since 2020.

Net debt increased by €310.6 million during 2025 to €1.9 billion.

The group said that increase reflected the increase in outstanding debt year-on-year largely as a consequence of acquisition activity.

The board has proposed a final dividend of 29.2 cent, up from 28.5 cent, per ordinary share payable on May 20th. An interim dividend of 26.3 cent per ordinary share was declared during the year.

“This payout is in line with our shareholder returns policy,” the company said. In addition, during the year, the group purchased almost 2.2 million of its own shares for an average price of €67.58 per share. These shares have been cancelled.

The company’s shares traded in the range of €62.85 to €86.15 during the year. The share price at December 31st was €74.15, up from €70.45 a year earlier giving a market capitalisation at €13.5 billion, up from €12.8 billion.

Total shareholder return for the year was up 6.1 per cent following a decline of 9.5 per cent in 2024.