Revenues at Kingspan, whose insulation businesses are benefiting from new European regulations requiring homes to be more environmentally friendly, rose 34.4% to €908.4 million.

Gene Murtagh, chief executive officer, commented:
“Overall, with earnings growth in excess of 30%, the first half of 2007 represented an excellent outturn for Kingspan. This pattern of growth was underpinned by a product and geographic blend that will continue to deliver a superior performance for the Group in markets that are becoming increasingly alerted to the significance of high performance building solutions in reducing direct energy consumption and carbon emissions generally.”

The company, which in June had predicted that full year operating profit this year would rise "in the region of 20 per cent", said that it now expected an increase of "at least 20 per cent".