Eugene Murtagh’s holding in building product supplier Kingspan is worth €530m, having soared 44% in value this year, and is now worth almost €70m more than Sir Anthony O’Reilly’s stake in Independent News & Media.
O’Reilly’s stake in Independent has consistently been the largest holding on the Dublin market for at least the past decade.
Murtagh also sold 5m shares last year to net more than €52m.
Murtagh’s public profile could hardly contrast more starkly with that of the statesmanlike media baron. An engineer, he began working in his father’s backyard making trailers for local farmers.
Kingspan now specialises in insulation panels, offsite prefabricated construction and raised flooring for offices. It is forecast to have sales of €1.4 billion this year and is growing rapidly in America, eastern and continental Europe. The stock rose 8.3% on the day of its interim results release last week, increasing Murtagh’s wealth by €40m. Davy described the firm as “one of construction’s hottest tickets”.
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In the past two years, Kingspan also purchased two Irish firms, Hytherm and Century Homes, creating millionaires of the respective founders Eoghan Hynes and Gerry McCaughey.