At the time building materials giant Boral acquired US company Headwaters, Donald Trump had just become the president.

The acquisition cost Boral a cool $3.5 billion, a deal that has done wonders to their full-year profit and their share price.

Boral’s boss Mike Kane reveals President Trump’s win wasn’t viewed positively at first, but the administration’s economic decisions have proved to be a major factor in their success.

“We delayed the acquisition until we knew the outcome of the election and frankly it wasn’t viewed initially as very positive,” he tells Ross Greenwood.

“But clearly since then, when you start with an economy that has a very good control over energy costs, low unemployment… GDP growth of over 4.5 per cent and a massive tax cut and repatriation of foreign earnings that has boosted the US economy, it looks like the timing of the Headwaters acquisition was significant for us.”

Mr Kane says moving overseas has boosted their strong returns and the company couldn’t afford to stick to an “Australian story”.

“If we were just an Australian story, we’d be gobbled up.

“So it’s been a real defensive move to expand out into Asia, expand out into North America.”

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When it comes to Australia’s political environment and contending with changes under a potential Labor government, Mr Kane says any “instability in government is a concern” to industry.

“I’m probably more concerned about energy policy in this country than anything else because that’s where the hollowing out of manufacturing can continue if we can’t get that right.

“At the end of the day, companies need to be able to have predictable outcomes, particularly in the legal environment and in dealings with government.”