Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

France: Saint-Gobain’s sales dropped by 6.4% year-on-year to €51bn in 2023. Meanwhile, the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 1.7% year-on-year to €7.12bn. Despite this, it achieved average organic growth of 6.4% across its markets, buoyed by sustainable solutions, which accounted for 75% of its sales. Throughout the year, Saint-Gobain invested €223m in capital expenditure and research and development, in line with rising internal carbon prices. This contributed to a 34% reduction in its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions compared to 2017 levels. The company used 57% renewable electricity in 2023, compared to 52% in 2022, and concluded eight new renewable energy supply deals. It aims to reach 66% renewables by 2025.

Bulgaria: Austrotherm Bulgaria plan to invest €1.53m in an expansion to a warehouse at its Sofia insulation plant. Local press has reported that the project is scheduled for completion in late 2024.

General manager Diana Chobanova said "The investment we are launching today will allow Austrotherm Bulgaria to strengthen its leadership position as the most sustainable producer of insulation on the Bulgarian market."

Mongolia: Mongol Basalt produced 2248t of stone wool insulation in 2024, which it says helped Mongolians to reduce their energy consumption by 78GW. Nonetheless, the producer’s sales fell by 20%, amid a 35% drop in its prices.

During 2023, Mongol Basalt commenced construction of a new production line at its Ulaanbaatar insulation plant. The UB Post newspaper has reported that the company expects the upgrade to double its capacity to 50,000t/yr, and to introduce new energy-efficient solutions.

Australia: France-based Saint-Gobain has submitted a non-binding indicative offer of US$5.44bn for building materials producer and land banking entity CSR. CSR’s businesses include insulation producer Bradford, fibre cement systems producer Cemintel, wallboard producer Gyprock, autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) block producer Hebel and roofing producer Monier. Together, CSR’s building materials units accounted for 72% of its sales in 2023.

Ireland: Kingspan’s sales declined by 3% to Euro8.09bn in 2023 from Euro8.34bn in 2022. Its insulation sales fell by 8% and its insulated panels sales by 9%. Meanwhile, roofing and waterproofing sales grew to reach Euro500m. The group’s profit after tax rose by 6% to Euro654m from Euro616m. It invested Euro248m in new acquisitions throughout the year. Kingspan plans to invest Euro750m up to 2028 in order to capture 15% of the flat roofing market in North America.

CEO Gene Murtagh "Beyond insulation, each of our climate-focussed business units across roofing and waterproofing, light, air and water and data and flooring are scaling at pace with every potential for each to exceed Euro1bn divisional revenue over the coming years.” Murtagh added “Given our robust balance sheet, strong development pipeline, strong structural demand for energy efficiency and the ever increasing and obvious impacts of climate change, we expect 2024 to be a year of continuing strategic and operational progress for Kingspan.”