Kingspan shareholders were told at Friday's AGM that sales in the first four months of the year have been ahead of sales the same time last year despite the mixed market conditions.
The building materials group warned that the weakness of the dollar and pound sterling against the euro will have some negative effect at the earnings level but the worst effects of this are offset through internal hedging.
Demand for insulated panels in the UK is showing growth overall, driven by a renewed increase in the conversion of the cladding market to insulated panels.
Insulated panel sales are also showing growth in Ireland and Central Europe, while more difficult market conditions persist in Western European markets. The need for additional capacity has been noted and a new insulated panel line will be commissioned by mid 2004.
The group's access floors remains weak in volume and margins in the group's main UK and US markets, but should be in line with market expectations.
'Overall, trading so far this year indicates a satisfactory outcome for 2003,' Kingspan Chairman, Eugene Murtagh, said.
Kingspan shares closed 16 cent higher at €2.50 in Dublin on Friday evening.
* Tom Mulcahy has been appointed as a non-Executive Director of Kingspan. Mr Mulcahy was Chief Executive of AIB until his retirement in 2001 and is currently Chairman of Aer Lingus.
