The Irish building materials group Kingspan does not attract the attention of analysts much in London, which is a shame. Its market capitalisation, in excess of €4 billion, would put it in striking distance of the FTSE 100 index were the primary listing in London rather than Dublin.
Other Irish businesses such as CRH, the building materials operator, and the distributors DCC and UDG have been strong performers. Kingspan is in growing markets such as energy-efficient insulation panels, while it has recently bought an Australian business that builds tanks to catch rainwater.
The company has side-stepped the collapse in the Irish property industry by diversifying outside that country and the UK — the Americas and mainland Europe, about half the total five years ago, now