CHANGES in UK building regulations which come into force in April are likely to favour Kingspan, according to the company's latest trading statement.

The new rules, tightening regulations in favour of environmentally friendly materials and construction methods, should provide a boost to the building materials group in the midst of what the company refers to as "weaker conditions in the [UK] construction sector".

Chief executive Gene Murtagh said Kingspan had made a number of acquisitions during 2005 through which it hoped to take advantage of the move from "traditional" construction methods to more modern methods. Elsewhere Murtagh sees growth in Central and Eastern Europe, where the company has been expanding recently.

Ahead of the publication of its annual results in March, Murtagh said Kingspan expects profit and earnings growth for the year will both be significantly ahead of 2004 and "in line with current market expectations".

However, in the absence of any upgrade to earnings guidance Kingspan shares slipped back almost 5%, their biggest fall in a year.

The market appeared to be expecting a repeat of the 2005 New Year statement when the company reported a stronger-than-expected finish to the financial year and said it would beat forecasts.

At the same time, shareholders are unlikely to be too disappointed that Kingspan will achieve the 40% earnings growth analysts expect. Shares in the company have gained almost 50% in the last year and are currently trading at around 10.80.

KENMARE DIRECTORS POINT THE WAY

AS always, watch the directors. Charles and Michael Carvill, chairman and managing director respectively of Kenmare Resources, were busy exercising options in the company last week, forking out roughly 100,000 between them to buy a total of 560,000 shares.

While the percentage of shares acquired is small, management is no doubt keenly aware that once production at its Moma ilmenite and zircon mine in Mozambique comes on stream in the final quarter of this year, there is likely to be increased focus on the firm.

The mine contains roughly 72m tonnes of ilmenite, the ore used to make titanium, and potential reserves could add significant value to the project, and consequently to Kenmare's share price.

The mine has cost roughly 210m to develop and by the time it opens, all output for the following five years will have been pre-sold at fairly attractive prices.

Davy Stockbrokers, one of Kenmare's own brokers, recently said that it is maintaining a fair value on Kenmare stock of 38p per share, but noted that the price does not take into consideration Moma's additional reserves or deposits, which are "a source of potential upside". The stock was trading on Friday at 37.75p.

Kenmare has recently added Mirabaud Securities as its third broker in addition to Cannacord Capital.

Mirabaud said that it puts a fair value on Kenmare's stock of 46p per share.

CHRISTMAS BRINGS MAJESTIC CHEER

MAJESTIC WINES, the British retailer chaired by Superquinn boss Simon Burke, saw its Christmas sales increase by 5% last year.

The jump in sales means the company is on track to meet the market's expectations of £14.6m in profits for the full year. Majestic, which has 125 outlets in Britain, saw its champagne sales increase by 10% in the nine weeks to the start of January. Sales of more expensive fine wines also did well during the run-up to Christmas and the New Year.

Over the same period in 2004, Majestic saw a 10% jump in sales but 12 months on the British High Street is a very different place, and the performance was welcomed by the market.

Majestic, which was floated in 1996, has a market worth of just under £180m.

IAWS BROADENS ITS DOUGHNUTS CIRCLE

BAKERY group IAWS has extended the number of sites that are currently testing the Tim Hortons doughnuts range.

Doughnuts made by Hortons, which is a partner of IAWS subsidiary Cuisine de France in Canada and the US, have been available at a limited number of Irish outlets since last summer and a couple of new stores, including Tesco's giant Clare Hall store, have recently been added to the test programme. An IAWS spokesman said no decision had yet been taken to fully launch the brand but that the roster of stores had been expanded.

Cuisine has a ready made sales channel for Hortons products, which are prebaked and then finished instore, as it supplies more than 20,000 shops in Ireland and Britain.

Meanwhile US-based Panera Bread, which is a good barometer for IAWS' La Brea business in North America, saw a slight slowdown in growth last month, notes Davy's John O'Reilly.

But like-for-like growth at the company was still above the firm's own expectations as sales increased by just over 7% year-on-year. During the year as a whole, Panera's sale were up by almost 8%.

Panera's continued strong performance shows the health of the US speciality bread sector and the IAWS-owned La Brea is also recording very strong growth at present. IAWS is currently planning a 50m expansion at its La Brea plant in New Jersey.