Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Germany: Measurement systems supplier Fagus-GreCon has announced the appointment of Mario Haas to its management team. Haas has served as head of the company’s fire protection unit since December 2019 and its head of information technology since December 2020. Haas joined Fagus-GreCon from glass producer SCHOTT in 2019. He has worked in industry since 2005, after gaining his engineering degree from Dortmund University and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology. Mario Haas takes the place of former technical managing director Michael Gawronski on the management team, who has left the company with immediate effect. Uwe Kahmann will remain responsible for commercial management, while Alexander Kuppe continues to head the company’s marketing, sales, after sales and service departments.

Chair Stephan Weber said "The shareholders would like to thank Dr Gawronski for his important achievements and contributions and wish him all the best for the future. At the same time, with the appointment of Mr Haas as the third managing director, we are emphasising the growing importance of the fire prevention business unit in our company."

Romania: Switzerland-based Swisspor Group has concluded a deal to acquire extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation producer BriothermXPS. BriothermXPS sells its insulation across Central and Southeast Europe. Swisspor Group thanked its deal coordinator Concilium Consulting for helping it to conclude the agreement ‘despite a challenging market environment and complex transaction structure.’

US: Owens Corning was named among the Top 10 companies on the Best Corporate Citizen list 2023. The list ranks all companies on the Russell 1000 Index by transparency and performance across 184 environmental, social and governance factors. The result represents Owens Corning’s sixth consecutive year as a Top 10 company.

Senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said “This achievement is particularly meaningful as it reinforces the importance of our work and how we do it. This directly speaks to the commitment of our 19,000 employees in support of our mission to build a sustainable future through material innovation.”

Ireland/US: Kingspan says that it recently opened informal talks about combining its business in North America with building products company Carlisle Companies. However, discussions came to an end when Carlisle Companies ‘rebuffed’ Kingspan, Bloomberg News has reported. Carlisle Companies’ products include its Hunter brand polyisocyanurate (PIR) insulation panel.

Kingspan said "Kingspan has admired Carlisle for many years and, recognising the clear strategic fit, had recent and informal discussions on a potential transaction.” It added "At present, there is no active engagement."

UK: Testing provider the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has informed Kingspan and Saint-Gobain subsidiary Celotex of its decision to break off its relationship with them due to perceived 'reputational risk.' Insulation supplied by Kingspan (Kooltherm K15 phenolic insulation) and Celotex (RS5000 polyisocyanurate insulation) was present in Grenfell Tower, London, when it burned down in June 2017. 72 people died in the fire. Both producers deny having contributed to the disaster. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry investigated the relationship between each company and the BRE during its inquest into the fire. A final report is currently in preparation following the conclusion of Phase 2 hearings in 2022.

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry heard that Kingspan had marketed its Kooltherm K15 panels for general use in high rise construction, relying on tests carried out at a BRE facility with a system involving external fibre cement panels, of a sort not used in Grenfell Tower. Subsequent tests of the product, carried out by Kingspan, included one which resulted in a 'raging inferno.' Meanwhile, Celotex added fire-resistant board to a rig used in testing in 2014, reportedly to increase its products' chances of passing.

Inside Housing News has reported that BRE said “BRE no longer accepts any new work on behalf of Kingspan or Celotex following evidence heard during the course of this inquiry.”

Kingspan clarified that "There is no product performance basis for [BRE's] decision,” adding that its panels had shown zero non-conformities in their most recent audit in December 2022. It said “Independently of BRE, whose certification is regionally focused on the UK and Ireland, Kingspan is certified by the globally recognised insurer testing regime FM Approvals, which carries out annual factory surveillance audits to verify our products comply with its global approval standards."

US: Owens Corning has achieved inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index 2022, topping the Building Materials category. The producer scored 88 out of 100 for sustainable performance across multiple indices. It recorded full marks for environmental reporting, materiality, recycling strategy, risk and crisis management and social reporting.

Owens Corning's senior vice president and chief sustainability officer David Rabuano said, "Earning placement on this index for the 13th consecutive year is a validation of the daily efforts of our colleagues across our operations globally. I am proud that their hard work and diligence in our sustainability efforts continues to be the driver of our leadership on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index - and an ongoing contributor to achieving our goals for 2030 and beyond."

Russia: Denmark-based Rockwool says that it is entirely out of contact with its Russian business, under on-going EU trade sanctions against the country. As such, the group now views its relationship to its Russian plants merely as an ownership of shares.

EnergiWatch has reported that Saint-Gobain has described a similar situation in relation to its operations in the sanctioned nation. The France-based producer said "The Russian part of our business has lived a self-governing and strangled existence since the start of the invasion. This happened to secure jobs for our employees." It added "We have stopped all investment projects."

Russia: Denmark-based Rockwool says that it is running its four plants in Russia as a standalone operation. However, it is continuing conducting business to avoid the nationalisation of its assets and the loss of its intellectual property. The insulation producer previously said that it had cancelled all investments in the country since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Belgium: Recticel’s insulation business has used price rises to compensate for a steep rise in the price of raw chemical input materials. The division’s sales grew by 57% year-on-year to Euro391m in 2021 from Euro249m in 2020. Its adjusted earnings before taxation, interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) more than doubled to Euro62.4m from Euro27.5m. It said that its Insulation and Engineered Foams businesses performed well in a volatile environment. Chemical raw materials supply reportedly remain tight and prices are showing little signs of stabilisation. Transportation and labour costs are increasing at an “unprecedented” rate. However it added that energy cost inflation has a minor impact given the “very low energy intensity of our business.” Overall the group’s sales and adjusted EBITDA rose by 67.4% to Euro1.03bn and by 134% to Euro89.7m.

“We are happy with the very positive sales and profitability development in 2021, a year marked by deep changes in our company. Changes which were planned and announced, such as the acquisition and integration of FoamPartner and the divestment of the Bedding activities. Changes which came as a consequence of the unsolicited takeover bid by Greiner, such as the divestment of our newly created Engineered Foams business segment,” said chief executive officer Olivier Chapelle.

Denmark: Rockwool has signed a new revolving credit facility worth Euro600m. The facility replaced its existing facilities and has a built-in pricing mechanism connecting its costs to three externally-assured sustainability goals. The goals are CO₂ emission reduction, increasing the number of countries in which it offers its recycling schemes and reducing factory waste. The purposes of the facility are to strengthen capital structure and support long-term growth.

Chief Financial Officer Kim Junge Andersen said, “While we already are a net-carbon-negative company, we have committed ourselves to ambitious sustainability targets to reduce our carbon footprint and waste from operations and to expand our recycling offerings. To measure our progress, it is important for us to have a fact-based and auditable approach to how we maximise our products’ positive impact while minimising the environmental impact of our operations.”