UK market has weakened this year, says materials firm

Kingspan expects to deliver a record full year profit of roughly 鈧�875m (拢757m), the firm said this morning. 

In a trading update, the Irish materials firm said sales in the nine months to September were 鈧�6.14bn (拢5.31bn), down slightly from the same period in the previous year. 

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Source: Shutterstock

Kingspan said the UK market had 鈥渨eakened considerably鈥� since the middle of the year

But it said the 鈥渟easonally important fourth quarter鈥� would help bolster its full-year results. 

It said activity in the Americas and France was strong but that the UK market had 鈥渨eakened considerably since mid-year鈥�. 

The company added: 鈥淚t is difficult to look too far ahead in this environment. Whilst end markets have their obvious challenges the global backlog of orders has remained reasonably stable over the last number of months.鈥� 

Sales in Kingspan鈥檚 insulation division were down 7% in the first nine months, while sales volumes recorded high single digit volume growth in the third quarter. 

Net debt at the end of December is expected to reduce by a third against last year, to stand at approximately 鈧�1.05bn (拢910m). 

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