Chairman’s Statement

We also continued to deliver on our four strategic pillars: Innovation, Planet Passionate, Completing the Envelope, and Global. Kingspan differentiates itself from its peers by continuous innovation, particularly in new sustainable technologies such as our new energy saving solar PV PowerPanel^TM due to be launched later this year, and the incorporation of upcycled and organic materials in our high-performance insulation. We have also continued to progress our global footprint through acquisitions in Europe including the Logstor Group in Denmark and TeraSteel in Romania, and in the Americas including Bromyros in Uruguay and Diversifoam Products and Solatube International in the US. We are also delighted to be publishing shortly our second annual Planet Passionate Sustainability Report, which will detail all the progress made to date against our ambitious science-based targets to reduce our carbon and energy footprint, improve circularity and increase rainwater harvesting in our business.

Dividend

The Board is pleased to recommend a final dividend of 26.0 cent per share, which if approved at the Annual General Meeting, will give a total dividend for the year of 45.9 cent, compared to 20.6 cent in 2020. This is in line with the Company’s previously announced shareholder returns policy. If approved, the final dividend will be paid (subject to Irish withholding tax rules) on 6 May 2022 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 25 March 2022.

Management and employees

This performance is thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Kingspan Team of over 19,000 employees globally. On behalf of the Board, I want to thank management and all the employees for their contribution to Kingspan’s success in 2021. I hope to have the opportunity to meet with some of the local teams in person and hear their plans for the future, as the Board once again resumes visits to Kingspan sites later this year.

Board governance and focus

It is appropriate that in this, my first report as Chairman of Kingspan, I set out the Board’s key areas of focus:

• The Board will continue to support management to develop and implement the Company’s strategy and deliver long-term value to shareholders, in line with our mission to accelerate a net zero emissions future built environment with the wellbeing of people and planet at its heart.
• The Board is committed to high standards of corporate governance which reflects our core values of honesty, integrity and compliance in everything we do, and I was pleased to virtually meet with some of our top shareholders during the year to discuss Board governance matters with them. Full details of how we have aligned this commitment with the principles of the UK Corporate Governance Code are set out in the Directors’ Report of this Annual Report.
• The Nominations & Governance Committee continues to ensure the effectiveness of the Board through an appropriate balance of skill sets and backgrounds to reflect Kingspan’s global business and culture.
• The Report of the Remuneration Committee details how the Company’s remuneration policy aligns pay for performance with the delivery of the Group strategy, and how the remuneration policy has evolved in response to shareholder feedback and changes in scale of the business.
• The Board, through the Audit & Compliance Committee, carefully monitors and manages compliance and risk across our business. The expansion of the Audit & Compliance Committee’s remit to include product certification and compliance was an important step introduced last year, and progress against this and how it was implemented is set out in that committee’s report on pages 96 to 103 of the Annual Report.
• We are committed to fully implementing the recommendations of the Eversheds Sutherland’s review. A summary of how these have been implemented to date is included in the Report of the Nominations & Governance Committee with further details on our website at inquiry.kingspan.com.

Board changes

At last year’s Annual General Meeting, the Company’s founder and my predecessor as Chairman, Eugene Murtagh, retired as a non-executive director after 55-years with Kingspan. During that time, Kingspan grew to become the global leader that it is today based on the entrepreneurial culture that he set from the top. He leaves a tremendous legacy and a Kingspan spirit that we are all proud to be a part of. On behalf of myself and the Board, I would like to pay thanks to Eugene and look forward to his staying in contact with the Company as President Emeritus. At the same time, Bruce McLennan also retired from the Board after six years and I would like to thank Bruce for his contribution to Kingspan during that period.

As part of the continuing process of refreshing the Board, we were pleased to announce the appointments of Éimear Maloney and Paul Murtagh as non-executive directors last April. Éimear has extensive knowledge and experience of capital markets and manufacturing compliance, and Paul of US markets and entrepreneurial value creation. We were delighted to welcome them both to the Board.

Looking ahead

Whilst recognising that challenges remain in the near-term, I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead, and I’m confident that management are focused on progressing Kingspan’s proven strategy of Innovation, Planet Passionate, Completing the Envelope, and Global to deliver long-term sustainable success for the benefit of our stakeholders.

JOST MASSEBBERG

Chairman

22 February 2022