Kingspan says there is now room for measured optimism for the business this year.
In a statement issued ahead of its AGM today, it said that bad weather led to a slow start to the year, followed by a noticeable pick-up in the following six weeks.
The company said its sales revenue is down about 6% on last year, and that pattern is anticipated to continue for coming months.
It says its first half operating profit is expected to fall by approximately 10% over the year, but that things are stabilising.
The Co-Cavan based company said that conditions in the Irish new building market have weakened further, but that market conditions in the UK have been stable due to some improvement in residential construction.
It said that mainland Europe had a slow start to the year, but that has improved in recent months, especially in Germany. In the US, it saw solid demand for low rise non-residential business but its office activity weakened.
Kingspan said that raw material costs, especially steel, have seen big increases in the early part of the year. It said the lag effect of this will pressure margins in the second quarter of 2010. While difficult to predict, the company said that steel prices could rise higher during the year.
'The sense of nervousness that prevailed in all of the group's markets a year ago is less evident at present,' the statement said.
'This growing stability leads the board to believe that there is scope for a degree of measured optimism through 2010,' it added.
Kingspan shares closed 4.5% higher at €7.45 in Dublin.
