On Monday, Ireland-based building materials company Kingspan Group (IR:KSP) reported rising sales in Q3 despite an inflation-linked volume slow. Reportedly, revenue during the quarter grew by 17 per cent to €6.25 billion.

The Irish company said sales of its vital insulation panels rose by 7 per cent in the quarter, buoyed by trading holding up reasonably well in America, the United Kingdom and Germany.

However, the company still described quarterly sales as sluggish, with order placement for the panels flagging in the middle of the year due to buyer concerns that the company would pass on elevated raw material prices. Kingspan flagged that it would retain higher sales prices in August, even if it hit volumes.

Kingspan added that inventories were also at higher-than-normal levels, which has led to a short-term impact on margins.
The sentiment is cautious for the most part, although not uniformly so. The sharp increases in raw material prices over the last eighteen months appear to have peaked, at least for now.

London-listed shares in the group were slightly higher in mid-morning trading on Monday.