Results show turnover down a third as sales of insulation boards drops 23% at building materials group

Kingspan Group has announced a 17% drop in pre-tax profits compared with its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2009.

Profit dropped from £60.7m (68.1m euro) the previous year to £50.5m (56.7m euro), while turnover dropped by a third from £1,491.07m (1,672.7m euro) to £1,003.29m (1,125.5m euros).

The building materials group reported insulation boards total sales volumes were down 23%, while insulated panel sales volumes in the UK, Ireland and Western Europe were down 33%, with particular weakness in the speculative development segment.

Gene Murtagh, chief executive of Kingspan, said: "In 2009 we experienced a set of global challenges never encountered before by the business.

In the circumstances, the company delivered a robust and resilient performance

Gene Murtagh, chief executive of Kingspan

"In the circumstances, the company delivered a robust and resilient performance having responded to the challenges by overhauling our cost structure and focusing on cash generation. Excellent progress has been made in debt reduction which positions the company with one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry”.

Commenting on the year ahead he said there is now tangible evidence of stability emerging with conditions becoming more predictable than in the recent past.

He said: “Globally, energy conservation initiatives continue to gather pace which will play to the group's strengths”.

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