Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

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.”

UK: The Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG), a coalition of businesses and charities has published a report into the creation of jobs post-coronavirus lockdown, in which it concluded that 40,000 insulation jobs lie in modernising the UK’s energy-inefficient housing stock before mid-2022, and a further 110,000 jobs before 2030. BBC News has reported that each job will cost Euro65,800 to create, compared to Euro279,000 per job in road repairs, and will be evenly spread across all UK regions. Besides generating wealth, the EEIG says that the work will cut pollution, improve health and cut energy bills by Euro558/yr per household. EEIG chair Sarah Kostense-Winterton said, "Our country is in dire need of a green stimulus recovery. There could be no better time to future-proof our homes while providing buoyancy to our drained economy."

UK: SIG’s group revenue fell by 37% year-on-year to Euro154m during March and April 2020 due to disruption caused by the coronavirus outbreak. In its annual report for 2019 the insulation producer said that trading had returned to pre Covid-19 levels in most of its companies as it adapted social distancing measures. It also reported cash reserves of around Euro150m following the sale of its Air Handling division.

In 2019 the group‘s statutory revenue fell by 13% year-on-year to Euro2.4bn in 2019 from Euro2.7bn in 2018. It made an operating loss of Euro97m. This was blamed on loss of market share in the UK and Germany. In response the company’s board says it taken ‘decisive’ action including appointing a new leadership team and developing a new customer-centric strategy that reprioritises sales.

UK: SIG has appointed Ian Ashton as permanent group financial officer with effect from July 2020. He succeeds Kath Kearney‐Croft, who assumed the role of Interim chief financial officer (CFO) in late February 2020.

Ashton joins SIG from Low & Bonar, where he has served as group financial officer. Prior to that, he was CFO of Labviva, a US‐based technology company. He worked for 20 years at Smith & Nephew until late 2017, undertaking various financial roles of increasing seniority in the UK, the US and Asia. His last role was CFO, Global Operations, and prior to that Ashton served as CFO of their Advanced Surgical Devices Division. He is a qualified chartered accountant and began his career at Ernst & Young.

The building materials supplier has announced the appointment of Simon King as a non‐executive director. Recently King served on the Travis Perkins executive board and held the position of chief operating officer of Wickes. Prior to that he held various operational roles at Walmart, Savola Group and Tesco.

UK: SIG and Kingspan have agreed to terminate the sale of SIG subsidiary Building Solutions (National) to Kingspan for Euro42.1m. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had referred the deal for a Phase 2 Investigation on 21 April 2020. SIG said that it anticipated the investigation to conclude in October 2020. The deal will expire on 7 July 2020. Due to ‘prevailing market conditions,’ the parties terminated the agreement.

SIG said, “It has not been possible for the company and Kingspan to agree commercial terms for the extension of the agreement.”

Ireland: Kingspan Group’s sales fell by 3% year-on-year to Euro1.03bn in the first quarter of 2020. It said that the coronavirus-related lockdowns did not ‘significantly’ impact activity for most of the reporting period although the, “landscape changed markedly from the middle of March onward.” The UK and Germany reported improvements, the Americas did well and both Australasia and the Middle East saw rising orders. Insulation board sales were strongly impacted by falling prices. Looking forward the group said that its global sales fell by nearly 35% year-on-year as various construction markets were closed down.

UK: Celotex has temporarily suspends operations in the UK due to coronavirus. It said that it continued to support the country’s National Health Service (NHS) and other essential infrastructure and building projects. The subsidiary of Saint-Gobain plans to provisionally reopen in late April 2020, although this will be reviewed.

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.

UK: Global not-for-profit organisation CDP has included Owens Corning on its Climate Change A-List 2019 for environmental transparency and performance aimed at facilitating a zero-net carbon economy. Only a handful of industrial producers achieved inclusion on the list, including France-based Saint-Gobain and Germany-based HeidelbergCement and steel producer Thyssenkrupp.

UK: SIG has reported a fall in 2019 sales of 6.1% year-on-year to Euro2.95bn from Euro3.13bn in 2018. Total UK and Ireland sales fell by 16%, with a drop of 21% by its distribution division and of 8.6% by SIG Exteriors. Sales in Germany and the Benelux fell by 2.6% and 3.3% respectively, while in France they grew by 2.2% and in Poland by 2.1%. The largest proportional growth came from SIG Air Handling, whose sales grew by 5.6%.