Kingspan is likely to face questions from the Irish Stock Exchange after failing to report a director's share dealing for almost two months.
Mr Peter Wilson, managing director of Kingspan's UK insulation business, raised €508,325 on October 20th after exercising options on 208,330 shares and selling them on at a higher price on the same day.
The company was told about the transaction immediately and should, under market rules, have reported it to the stock exchange before the end of the next trading day. This would also be seen as good practice under corporate governance guidelines.
However, the exchange was not informed until yesterday afternoon. A spokesman for Kingspan last night attributed the delay to "an administrative error in informing the market".
He said that Mr Wilson had passed through all necessary approvals in relation to the sale.
The development came as Kingspan said it was on track to meet market expectations with its headline 2003 results.
In a trading statement, the building materials firm said its performance would be in line with forecasts after a "currency translation impact" of some €2 million.
It also signalled "rationalisation costs" of about €1.6 million in relation to its raised-access floors business. This operation, which spans the US and the UK, has experienced trading difficulties over the past couple of years as the pace of office development slowed in line with the global economy.
Analysts' forecasts for pre-tax profits at Kingspan range from €62-€65 million.
The company said that its net debt would stand at €130-€135 million at the end of the year, compared with €117 million at the end of 2002. It said the increase was reflective of a special dividend of €19.8 million paid after last year's results and about €40 million in capital expenditure.
Looking to 2004, the company said it did not expect trading conditions to change materially but said cost-cutting efforts, when combined with capital expenditure, should help results going forward.
Shares in Kingspan rose two cents to €4.00 yesterday.
