Davy Morning Equity Briefing
Nov 10, 2025
Grafton Group
Latest share buyback completed
The completion of Grafton’s last share buyback programme (its seventh) takes the total amount repurchased since 2022 to approximately £430m. Despite the scale of the share buybacks, Grafton still has a very substantial net cash (ex-leases) position (£246m at end-June). This is testament to the group’s outstanding ability to generate high levels of free cash flow. The stock continues to offer good value, and a trading update on November 13th is awaited.
Kingspan Group
Reassuring update, positive outlook
Kingspan’s trading update is encouraging and reassuring. Full year trading profit guidance has been reiterated, and therefore the group remains firmly on track to record a 16th consecutive year of operating profit growth. The group’s order backlog is also up significantly (over 8% higher on a weighted basis compared to a year ago). Comments from Kingspan are also constructive and suggest further trading profit growth can be delivered in 2026, even with flat markets. In this context, we may look to push our trading profit forecast for next year to circa €1.05bn, circa 2% above the current estimate. This highlights Kingspan’s consistent ability to grow through the cycle. The update and outlook should be well-received and present a good platform to kick-start a well-deserved re-rating.
Economics weekly
A pivotal week ahead for Ireland's housing prospects
Weekend media reports point to a Thursday (November 13th) release for the Government's National Housing Plan. Having received a major allocation of €36bn in July's National Development Plan, this document will detail how the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) will spend this over the remainder of the decade. The amount includes funds for critical water infrastructure, while separate funds for energy and transport will also be essential to unlocking more housing supply. Elsewhere this week, release highlights include UK labour market data and GDP as well as Irish September monthly payrolls.
