Shares in building insulation specialist Kingspan closed 5.8% higher today as it posted higher revenues and profits for the 12 months to the end of December after what it called a record year overall in a testing environment and a tougher second half.
Kingspan said its revenue for the year rose by 28% to €8.3 billion from €6.5 billion, while its profit after tax increased by 8% to €616m from €571m in 2021.
The Kingspan board has proposed a final dividend of 23.8 cent, down from 26 cent in 2021.
An interim dividend of 25.6 cent per ordinary share was declared during the year, which brought the total dividend for 2022 to 49.4 cent, up from 45.9 cent for 2021.
The Co Cavan-based company also reported the "milestone" EBITDA of almost €1 billion for the year, up from €893.2m in 2021.
Kingspan said the performance of individual markets and economies varied significantly during the year with the Americas, Germany and Australasia the most stable for the company, with much of Europe weaker.
The company said that virtually all walks of life have been and will be further impacted by the prevailing energy cost and availability dynamics.
This has understandably led to broader and growing concerns which may weigh on demand in the year or so ahead, it said.
"Conversely it has also generated an unprecedented impetus amongst governments and society in general to ensure measures are taken to curtail reliance on fossil fuel," Kingspan said.
"Conservation in buildings is a key component of this given almost 40% of all global energy related carbon emissions emanate from buildings and construction. Our solutions can, and are, playing a meaningful long-term role in this process," it added.
Gene M Murtagh, the chief executive of Kingspan, said today's results were 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.
"Kingspan recorded another meaningful year in its contribution to lowering the CO2 emissions of buildings combined with record revenue and EBITDA touching €1 billion for the first time," Mr Murtagh said.
"Notwithstanding ongoing challenges in the global economy, we expect to see a continuation of the structural drive in favour of more sustainable buildings over the longer term," he 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," the CEO added.
Breaking down its divisions, Kingspan said turnover in its Insulated Panels jumped by 23% to €5.181 billion from €4.229 billion while trading profits were up 6% to €548.7m from €519.8m in 2021.
It said the division's trading result has demonstrated growth, albeit that volumes became more challenged during the second half.
Turnover in its Insulation division jumped by 40% to €1.658 billion from €1.183 billion, while trading profits rose by 13% to €165.2m from €146.7m. Much of the growth was delivered through pricing and the acquisitions added during 2022, it noted.
Meanwhile, turnover in its Light & Air division grew by 27% to €700.7m from €552.2m with trading profits surging by 45% to €52.3m from €36m with the company seeing "notable" growth in the Central European and Southern European businesses.
Turnover in Kingspan's new Roofing & Waterproofing business came in at €153.2m with operating profits hitting €8.5m. Kingspan said the maiden year for this new business was marked by two meaningful acquisitions, Ondura and Derbigum.
Its Data & Flooring division also reported higher turnover and operating profits as strong progress was again achieved in the data solutions activity as large scale cloud services infrastructure continued to expand globally.
Both turnover and operating profits at the division rose by 33% to €360m and €43.1m respectively.
Finally, turnover in its Water & Energy division expanded by 10% to €287.1m from €261.3, but trading profits were down 23% to €15.4m from €20m.
Kingspan today also said it was appointing Louise Phelan as an independent non-executive director with effect from 28 April.
Ms Phelan was formerly Vice President Global Operations EMEA of PayPal. She is also a senior independent non-executive director of Ryanair Holdings and was previously a non-executive director of Voxpro.
She is a member of the Government's Top-Level Appointments Committee and a member of the President's advisory group at Technological University Dublin. She is also a former President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland.
Shares in the company jumped in Dublin trade today.
