Building materials group Kingspan fell in trading today following a new report from Goodbody Stockbrokers that reduced its earnings forecast for 2009 and 2010.
The report blamed deteriorating economic conditions for the revisions, which cut 22 per cent from next year's earnings per share estimate and 28 per cent for 2010 to 62 and 64.2 cent respectively.
A worsening outlook for construction in the UK is one of the reasons behind the new forecasts. Goodbody analysts also factored in the recently revised forecasts for Irish GDP.
Shares in the company slipped as much as 8 per cent in trade on the Iseq this moring, dipping as low as €6.99, and were trading at €7.10 at 10.30am.
However, Goodbody said forecasts for 2008 remain "largely unchanged", although the report warned that shares in Kingspan are expected to come under considerable pressure in the next two years.
"At a sectoral level, we still see significant headwinds for the European building materials sector due to slowing end markets and margin pressures from higher input costs," Goodbody said.
"Therefore, there is still significant downside risk to sector forecasts and, as a result, it is likely to continue to trade towards the lower end of its historical range. As such, we continue to take a low conviction stance on the sector."
Additional reporting: Bloomberg