Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Netherlands: Recticel reported earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of Euro17.4m in the first half of 2020, down by 43% year-on-year from Euro30.4m in the first half of 2019. Net sales fell by 18% to Euro374m from Euro454m. Insulation sales during the period were Euro113m, down by 13% from Euro130m.

Chief executive officer (CEO) Olivier Chapelle said that, “volumes were heavily affected by the Covid-19 lockdown measures from mid-March until May 2020. Accelerating activity levels in the building markets led to June volumes exceeding the level of 2019. Selling prices remained under pressure as a consequence of lower raw material costs.”

UK: Recticel Insulation says that its production plant in Stoke-on-Trent is ‘Covid-19 Secure Certified.’ This confirmation is defined by the UK government and is designed to enhance safety and provide our staff with confidence in their workplace. Measures taken to meet this standard include conducting a risk assessment, implementing cleaning, handwashing and hygiene procedures in line with national guidance, encouraging remote working, maintaining social distancing in the workplace and minimising transmission risks where distancing is not possible.

The company also contracted an independent business risk management company to carry out an independent validation audit of its COVID-19 secure risk assessment. The insulation producer says it will, “continue to monitor the government’s advice, and will update measures as required to ensure safety is maintained for staff and visitors alike.”

Belgium: Recticel has recorded sales of Euro298m in the first quarter of 2020, down by 6.2% year-on-year from Euro318m in the corresponding period of 2019. Recticel said that sales in the first two months of 2020, “remained in line with the previous year despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis on sales and operations in China.” Sales in March 2020 fell by 17% month-on-month, “due to the outbreak and the resulting governmental lockdown measures in most countries.” Insulation sales fell by 2.9% to Euro60.7m Euro62.5m. Recticel said, “Lockdown measures led to a reduction of construction activities as of mid-March 2020. Our insulation plants continued (reduced) operations in all countries except in France where construction activity was halted since mid-March 2020.”

UK: The Insulation Manufacturers Association (IMA) has appointed Simon Blackham as its new Technical Committee Chair. He will take up the role in mid-March 2020. Blackham works as Recticel Insulation’s technical manager. He started working for the company in 2019. He holds over 15 years’ experience in the construction industry, with a focus on the insulation sector. IMA is a representative body for the rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) and polyurethane (PUR) insulation industry in the UK.

Belgium: Recticel’s insulation division’s sales rose by 4% year-on-year to Euro62.5m in the first quarter of 2019 from Euro60.1m in the same period in 2018. It said that volume growth had overcome falling sales prices due to falling methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) costs. Polyurethane (PUR) and polyisocyanurate (PIR) have continued to gain market share following MDI shortages in mid-2017.

Belgium: Recticel has rejected an offer from Kingspan to buy its insulation division and flexible foams division for Euro700m. The board said that it did not believe that the offer was not in the interest of its stakeholders. It added that the sale of these divisions was not in line with its strategy and that the offer ‘significantly’ underestimated the value of the divisions.

Belgium: Recticel says that Kingspan Group has made a non-binding offer to buy its insulation division and flexible foams division for Euro700m. Kingspan says it has entered into a back-to-back agreement with an unnamed third party for the disposal of all of the flexible foams business. Recticel’s board of directors will analyse the proposal in line with its fiduciary duty and update the market. Any purchase would be subject to regulatory approval.

Belgium: Record earnings from Recticel’s insulation business have lifted the company’s financial performance in 2018. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 13.2% year-on-year to Euro38.1m in 2018 from Euro33.7m in 2017. Overall, its adjusted EBIT fell by 4.8% from Euro63.3 from Euro66.5. Sales from its insulation division fell slightly to Euro244m.

“2018 has been a challenging year for Recticel, in a context of very soft European bedding and furniture demand since the spring, and of declining automotive demand in Europe and Asia since the summer. Thanks to the all-time high results of our Insulation division, the company has managed to hold the Adjusted EBITDA (-1.6%) in line with the level of last year,” said chief executive officer (CEO) Olivier Chapelle.

The foam products producer said that it had increased its stake in Turvac, a Slovenian producer of vacuum insulation panels, to 74% from 50% in early 2019. The company operates a plant in Šoštanj.

Belgium: Recticel is coordinating the four-year PUReSmart project that was launched on 1 January 2019. The project will look at ways of recycling polyurethane (PU) and turning it into a circular material. It is supported by Euro6m in funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.

PUReSmart plans to recover over 90% of end-of-life PU with the goal of converting it into inputs for new and known products. The project consortium will develop sorting technologies to separate a diverse range of PU materials into dedicated feedstocks. These feedstocks will be broken down into their basic components as inputs for existing PU products, and as raw materials for a newly designed polymer that merges the durability of thermosets with the circularity of thermoplastics.

The PUReSmart consortium is an end-to-end collaboration spanning the entire polyurethane reprocessing value chain, and comprises both industrial players and dedicated research partners. As well as Recticel the other partners on the project include Covestro Deutschland, BT-Wolfgang Binder, WeylChem InnoTec, Ecoinnovazione, Ghent University, KU Leuven, Universidad De Castilla – La Mancha and Ayming.

UK: Recticel has appointed Laura Katon as its House Building Manager for the southern region and Kevin Lee as Area Sales Manager for East Anglia.

Katon holds over 20 years’ experience in sales and account management, liaising with house builders, local developers and building contractors. She started the new role in early December 2018.

Lee is responsible for distribution, merchant, contractor and sales relating to Recticel’s tapered-roofing sister company, Gradient. Based in Norwich, he reports to the area’s Regional Director, Paul Griffiths.