Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Denmark: Rockwool’s nine-month sales rose by 18% year-on-year in 2021 to Euro2.25bn. Its earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA) were Euro456m over the same period. The company said that strong demand for non-combustible insulation and our other stone wool products resulted in double-digit growth in all of its business areas in the third quarter of 2021.

Chief executive officer Jens Birgersson “With construction activity booming in many markets, we achieved double-digit sales growth in all business areas and good profitability despite soaring energy and input costs, a tight labour market and material shortages. We are working hard to meet customer demand and overall managing supply chain and logistics challenges well.” He added “Nevertheless, the high cost increases we are seeing on energy, production material and logistics are negatively affecting margins, necessitating additional and more rapid price increases, which are likely to continue in the coming months.”

Ireland: Kingspan’s consolidated sales were Euro4.72bn in the first nine months of 2021, up by 22% year-on-year. Its insulated panel sales increased by 47% and its insulation boards sales increased by 51% over the same period. In the third quarter of 2021, the company’s sales rose by 50%, its insulated panels sales rose by 53% and its insulation boards sales rose by 78%.

The group said “Our backlog is strong, though it is reducing week-on-week as sales activity outpaces new order placement. Underlying panels order intake volume is down by 10% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021. 2021 so far has been unusual and characterised by order placement earlier in the year than is typical, as customers sought to get ahead of on-going inflation and availability pressures. It is likely what we are experiencing now is a fallow period in order placement following that. Raw material prices have been somewhat stable in more recent weeks, albeit at record high levels and following a period of unparalleled increases. There are no signs yet of any meaningful raw materials deflation, although should that come the impact would be negative.” It added that its activity pipeline is ‘generally encouraging,’ saying “2021 has still to play out fully, with the seasonally important fourth quarter remaining and, accordingly, we expect to deliver a full year trading profit in the region of Euro750m, significantly ahead of the Euro508.2m recorded in 2020.”

Germany: Cemex Zement has launched Insularis cement-free concretes, a product range suitable for use in building insulating components. The range includes lightweight concretes Insularis Supra and Insularis Infra. Due to its low bulk density, Insularis Infra currently requires special case-by-case or project-related approval for use in Germany. The company said that it produces Insularis concretes from a mix of recycled and natural raw materials. It added that Insularis is itself 100% recyclable.