As expected, Kingspan produced a sound set of results this week - results which hardly justify the recent fall in the share price, whatever about the overall dismal performance of Irish second-line shares during the recent downturn in the market.

The Murtagh brothers who have been the driving force behind Kingspan's growth in the past few years enjoy a justifiably high reputation among investors, but now they can be admired for the timing of their recent sale of 5 per cent of the company to institutions.

The timing of that sale - dictated by the open period when directors are allowed buy and sell shares in their company - has meant that the Murtaghs and two other Kingspan directors are about £7 million better off as a result of the fall in the Kingspan share since the shares were sold in early June.

ABN-AMRO sold the shares at 310p each in June and they are now trading at 235p - excellent for the Murtaghs but not such good news for the institutions which are looking at a £7 million paper loss. For the record, Mr Gene Murtagh is £3.5 million better off, brother Brendan has saved £1.9 million while two other directors, Mr Eoin McCarthy and Mr Dermot Mulvihill, are also looking at sizeable savings as a result of the sale of some of their shares.