Kingspan Group PLC
30 May 2003
Kingspan Group plc
Chairman's Statement at Annual General Meeting
Friday 30th May 2003
The Board is pleased to report that sales in the first four months of 2003 have
been ahead of the corresponding period in 2002 in mixed market conditions.
In Britain demand for insulated panels is showing growth overall, driven by a
renewed increase in the conversion of the cladding market to insulated panels.
Insulated panel sales are also showing growth in Ireland and Central Europe
while more difficult market conditions pertain in our Western European markets.
The need for additional capacity has been identified and a new insulated panel
line will be commissioned by mid 2004.
The Group is experiencing strong demand for its insulation boards in all of its
markets, putting pressure on capacity in the short term. This, however, had
been anticipated and substantive new capacity is currently being installed and
will be commissioned in quarter 3 this year.
The Environmental Containers business continues to put in a good performance in
its main product sectors.
Access floors remain weak in volume and margins in the Group's main UK and US
markets, but should be in line with market expectations.
There is also some pressure on operating margins, particularly in the area of
structural products in the UK and insulated panels in Western Europe.
The weakness of the dollar and pound sterling against the Group's reporting
currency, the Euro will have some negative effect at the earnings level but the
worst effects of this are offset through internal hedging.
Overall, trading so far this year indicates a satisfactory outcome for 2003.
This announcement has been issued through the Companies Announcement Service of
The Irish Stock Exchange
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
*A Private Investor is a recipient of the information who meets all of the conditions set out below, the recipient:
Obtains access to the information in a personal capacity;
Is not required to be regulated or supervised by a body concerned with the regulation or supervision of investment or financial services;
Is not currently registered or qualified as a professional securities trader or investment adviser with any national or state exchange, regulatory authority, professional association or recognised professional body;
Does not currently act in any capacity as an investment adviser, whether or not they have at some time been qualified to do so;
Uses the information solely in relation to the management of their personal funds and not as a trader to the public or for the investment of corporate funds;
Does not distribute, republish or otherwise provide any information or derived works to any third party in any manner or use or process information or derived works for any commercial purposes.
Please note, this site uses cookies. Some of the cookies are essential for parts of the site to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but if you do, parts of the site may not work. To find out more about the cookies used on Investegate and how you can manage them, see our Privacy and Cookie Policy
To continue using Investegate, please confirm that you are a private investor as well as agreeing to our Privacy and Cookie Policy & Terms.