Kingspan raises profit forecast on booming data centre demand (updated)

Kingspan

07/08/2026 08:49

Adds share price reaction, CEO on 2027 profit and M&A
DUBLIN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Ireland's Kingspan KSP.I raised full-year profit guidance on Friday, citing data centre construction operations that the building materials company says are benefiting from a burgeoning tech sector it says is detached from the regular economy.
Shares in the company were up 13% in early trading.
Kingspan expects full-year trading profit to jump by about 18% to €1.13 billion ($1.30 billion), up from a forecast of €1.05 billion in late April.
CEO Gene Murtagh told analysts that further trading profit growth to €1.3 billion should be achievable in 2027.
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 €487 million, including a currency hit of €8.4 million and €4.5 million 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 has paused its previously announced €650 million share buyback programme, it said. It had returned €149 million to shareholders by the end of 2025.
Murtagh said Kingspan will look at larger potential acquisitions but not stretch its net debt beyond two times earnings, against the current ratio of 1.56 times.
The group invested a total of €233.6 million in the first six months, two thirds of which was on capital expenditure, with new facilities built or commissioned in the United States, Vietnam and Australia.
($1 = 0.8680 euros)

 (Reporting by Padraic Halpin
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((padraic.halpin@thomsonreuters.com; +353 1 500 1504; Reuters Messaging: padraic.halpin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))