Last year provided fresh records for Irish building materials business Kingspan (KGP), both in terms of revenue and trading profit. The latter grew by nearly three-quarters to €256m. The group also invested a record €570m in acquisitions and capital investment across multiple geographies.
This is an approach that is bearing fruit. Acquisitions added €654m (roughly 35 per cent) to group sales. Insulated panel manufacturer Joris Ide was Kingspan's largest purchase to date, bulking up its operations across western and south-eastern Europe, as well as Russia. This complemented good underlying sales growth in the group's core insulation business.
In terms of trading profits, however, it was the environmental segment - which is focused on energy storage solutions and has undergone significant restructuring in recent years - that was the star performer, growing profits from €1.2m to €8.1m.
Kingspan has shown just how cash-generative it is, too. A surge in cash profits resulted in a 144 per cent improvement in free cash flow to €267m.
Analysts at Investec expect pre-tax profits of €266m in 2016, giving EPS of 121ȼ, compared with €241m and 111ȼ in 2015.
KINGSPAN (KGP) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
ORD PRICE: | 2,382ȼ | MARKET VALUE: | €4.22bn | |
TOUCH: | 2,379-2,383ȼ | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 2,607ȼ | LOW: 1,668ȼ |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.0% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 725ȼ* | NET DEBT: | 28% |
Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (ȼ) | Dividend per share (ȼ) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | 1.60 | 78.0 | 37.1 | 11.00 |
2012 | 1.60 | 90.0 | 43.8 | 12.25 |
2013 | 1.80 | 102 | 51.7 | 14.00 |
2014 | 1.89 | 128 | 62.6 | 16.25 |
2015 | 2.77 | 232 | 107 | 25.00 |
% change | +47 | +82 | +70 | +54 |
Ex-div: 21 Apr Payment: 13 May *Includes intangible assets of €900m, or 508ȼ a share £1 = €1.28 |