More than 160 new jobs are to be created at heating firm Kingspan's Northern Ireland plant.
The 163 new jobs will be created at Kingspan Renewables's Portadown site, which makes solar panels and solar water heating systems. The move is part of £47m expansion plans at the company.

The Kingspan group issued an interim management statement for January 1 up to May 13 reporting overall sales revenues for the period as 'relatively solid, down 6% on the year before'. It said it expected this recent and improving pattern of activity to continue for the coming months. 'In the UK, market conditions have been stable, aided by some improvement in residential construction and a solid outcome in non-office related commercial building activity.

In the first four months, Kingspan's Insulated Panel sales revenues globally were down 7% but order intake has been strong with gains posted in almost all markets. In the UK, volume intake was up 23% on the year before.

The group said its Insulation Board sales revenues were up 7% to the end of April, 'reflecting solid newbuild and refurbishment activity in the UK, continued growth in penetration of Kooltherm products across all markets'.

Kingspan's Hot Water Systems in the UK have improved in line with the mild recovery in residential construction.

The Kingspan group's interim statement stated: 'Looking ahead, the sense of nervousness that prevailed in all of the group's markets a year ago, is less evident at present. This growing stability, combined with encouraging order intake across Panels & Boards, further penetration growth in Western Europe and the US, and with the benefit of prior cost reduction programs, leads the Board to believe that there is scope for a degree of measured optimism through 2010'.