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Kingspan Group PLC on Friday posted higher revenue and profit in 2022, despite experiencing a ‘bumpy’ year. The Kingscourt, Ireland-based building materials company said pretax profit rose 8.4% to €746.6 million last year from €689.0 million in 2021. Revenue was €8.34 billion, up 28% from €6.50 billion a year ago. In Insulated Panels, revenue rose 23% to €5.18 billion from €4.23 billion. Kingspan said that ‘global and diverse’ nature of this arm allowed growth despite volumes suffering during the second half of 2022. Insulation revenue surged 40% to €1.66 billion from €1.18 billion. Kingspan said that much of this growth was delivered through pricing. Chief Executive Officer Gene Murtagh said: ‘The 2022 outturn was very satisfactory in the context of accumulating uncertainty over the course of a bumpy year that saw a strong first half performance giving way to a more subdued environment in the second half of the year.’ The company noted a combination of the war in Ukraine, steep energy prices, consumer inflation, and an industry overstocked due to supply chain concerns as factors that weighted on second half demand and performance. Kingspan declared a final dividend per share of 23.8 cent, which is lower compared to last year’s final dividend of 26.0 cent. However, the total dividend for the year rose 7.6% to 49.4 cent from 45.9 cent and is in line with Kingspan’s shareholder returns policy, it said. Looking ahead, Kingspan said it is ‘difficult’ to predict in the current environment. It expects a ‘broadly similar’ trading profit in the first quarter of 2023 to that of 2022. The company added that it is mindful of a more demanding comparative to come in the second quarter. CEO Murtagh said: ‘Given the powerful combination of our global scale, the diversity of our end markets, our ability to grow organically and through acquisition, alongside our strong innovation pipeline and an ongoing societal drive for energy efficiency, we believe Kingspan is very well placed for continuing progress for the benefit of all stakeholders.’ Shares in Kingspan were up 5.8% to €63.22 in London on Friday morning. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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