Kingspan raises profit forecast on data centre demand

Shares in insulation and building materials group Kingspan jumped almost 20% in Dublin trade today after it raised its full-year profit guidance.

Kingspan said it was raising its guidance due to its data centre construction operations that it says are benefiting from a burgeoning tech sector which is detached from the regular economy.

Co Cavan-based Kingspan expects full-year trading profit to jump by about 18% to €1.13 billion, up from a forecast of €1.05 billion in late April.

The company said it can also reasonably expect to break through €10 billion in annual revenue for the first time.

The insulation specialist’s trading profit rose 10% year on year in the first half to €487m, including a currency hit of €8.4m and €4.5m of costs from an abandoned IPO of its ADVNSYS data centre business.

ADVNSYS, which produces infrastructure such as liquid cooling and air-handling technologies for data centres, increased first half sales by 34%, with its order intake and backlog up more than 100% year on year.

Kingspan said it has paused its previously announced €650m share buyback programme due as it appraises potential opportunities within the development pipeline. It had returned €149m to shareholders by the end of 2025.

The group invested a total of €233.6m in the first six months, two thirds of which was on capital expenditure, with new facilities built or commissioned in the US, Vietnam and Australia.

Kingspan said its half year revenues rose by 8% to €4.858 billion from €4.516 billion the same time last year, while its profit after tax rose to €352.6m from €334.2m last year.

The company said it saw a strong performance overall with increased momentum in the second quarter following a seasonally slow start. Further acceleration of growth is anticipated for the second half, it added.

Kingspan announced an interim dividend of 27.1 cent per share, up from 26.3 cent per share in the first half of last year.

Gene Murtagh, Kingspan’s chief executive, said the company saw momentum picking up considerably in the second quarter of the year, a trend it expects will continue to accelerate in the second half.

“Advnsys, our data infrastructure business is growing extremely well, whilst our Insulated Building Envelopes business, despite market headwinds, also delivered a very strong performance, with sales, profit and order intake all growing,” the CEO said.

Gene Murtagh said the company was pleased to be consistently delivering on its Planet Passionate commitments, and it expects its total emissions in 2026 to be 70% below 2020 levels.

“Overall we continue to trade well with structural growth setting us apart from the general movements in end markets. Across markets, Europe is generally stronger, the US is somewhat subdued save for the soaring tech sector and LATAM is progressing well,” Mr Murtagh said.

“At Advnsys our expanding product suite and converging solutions are driving demand, market share and share of wallet and multiplying our growth opportunity for the foreseeable future,” he said.

“Across the group our order backlog is considerably higher than at the same point last year and on that basis we can reasonably expect to break through €10 billion in full year revenue for the first time,” he said.

“We expect revenue growth will translate to full year trading profit of €1.125 billion, an increase of approximately 18% on 2025,” he added.

Kingspan shares were close to 18% higher in Dublin trade today.