Kingspan's pretax profits increase

Kingspan this morning reported higher full-year pretax profit.

Kingspan this morning reported higher full-year pretax profit.

The manufacturer of sustainable products for the construction industry posted a pretax profit of €224.2 million for the year to December 31st last year, up from €185.2 million a year ago, on a 27.5 per cent rise in turnover to €1.863 billion.

Kingspan shares fell at the open in Dublin and at 8.30am were trading down 37 cents at €8.61, a fall of over 4 per cent.

Kingspan increased its full-year dividend by 31.5 per cent to 25 cents per share from 19 cents.

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But the company said its 2008 earnings are likely to be "appreciably behind" the 2007 outcome if current market conditions persist.

The Cavan-based firm noted that the "the buoyancy of the first half [of the year] was not evident in the second half."