Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Denmark: Rockwool's profit rose by 34% year-on-year to Euro19m in the third quarter of 2015. Its operating profit fell from Euro51.5m to Euro31.9m and its turnover dropped from Euro580m to Euro571m. Rockwool has now downgraded its growth for 2015 to 1 – 2% and its profit to Euro147m.

CEO Jens Birgersson said that Rockwool's most important markets, Germany and France, were challenging, while there is positive development in the US and in Northern Europe. The company has invested Euro36.2m in a new ceiling board production plant in Mississippi, US. Rockwool is implementing a savings strategy aimed at making annual savings of Euro49.9m as of 2017.

US: The Rockfon unit of Denmark's Rockwool International will build a US$42m plant in Marshall, Indiana to make acoustic ceiling tiles. The 130,000ft² plant will employ at least 90 people. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2016, with the plant opening in the middle of 2017 on a 404,686m² site at the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park shared with corporate sibling Roxul.

The new plant will make ceiling tiles with stone wool insulation made at the neighbouring Roxul plant, which also owned by Rockwool. That US$160m plant opened in 2014 and employs 150 workers. It will be the fifth Rockfon plant worldwide and the first in North America. John Medio, Rockfon's President of the Americas, said that the plant is, "Extending global capacity and meeting the growing demand for Rockfon's stone wool acoustic ceiling products in North America."

The Mississippi Development Authority will give the company US$2.4m for infrastructure and worker training, with the Appalachian Region Commission providing US$300,000. The Tennessee Valley Authority and Marshall County are providing undisclosed assistance. Rockfon has been granted a 10-year tax exemption from non-school property taxes.

Australia: Fletcher Building is considering selling its insulation business, which could see the manufacturer of Pink Batts get a new owner. The company said that further asset sales were on the cards, although it did not specify insulation.

"Fletcher Building is undertaking an ongoing review of its business portfolio with a focus on lifting operational and financial performance and pursuing organic growth. The review process invariably leads to speculation on a range of possible outcomes. The company is aware of its continuous disclosure obligations and will promptly communicate to the market if or when there are substantive matters required to be disclosed," said a statement from Fletcher Building.

Fletcher holds its insulation assets, Tasman Insulation and Fletcher Insulation, in its light building products division. Fletcher Building has a market capitalisation of US$3.45bn and it is Australasia's biggest supplier of building and construction materials. These include laminates, cement, pipes and roofing. It has just won the New Zealand International Convention Centre contract in Auckland, as well as the contract to build Precinct Properties' US$396m, 38-level Downtown Tower at the foot of Queen St on the waterfront.

Fletcher Building's Chief Executive Mark Adamson made it clear at the 2015 annual meeting that he had not bought any new assets since starting in the job, but had instead been dealing with the difficult legacy of selling businesses that were either underperforming or not up to expectations. "In my time in the job, we have not made one single acquisition," said Adamson. "I have had to deal with what we have today. Profitability is improving, maybe not as fast as anyone would like."

UK: Superglass has reported a growing loss before taxation of Euro13.4m for its 2015 financial year that ended in 31 August 2015. Alongside this a fall in revenue of 11% year-on-year to Euro29.8m was noted. The drop was blamed on a planned reduction in Eastern European exports and a further deterioration in activity from government-sponsored schemes.

The UK-based glass wool manufacturer also confirmed Mark Cubitt as its chairman on a permanent basis. Cubitt was appointed interim chairman on 19 June 2015 following the resignation of John Colley.

Serbia: Masterplast, Hungarian trading company and manufacturer of thermal insulation materials, has launched the second phase of its Euro8.4m project in Subotica, Serbia.

The project, which received a Euro2m Serbian State grant, is expected to create 205 new jobs at the plant once the expansion is complete in 2016. The third phase is scheduled to be wound up in 2017. The company has received a bank loan of Euro4.3m for the expansion, while Euro2.1m will be used from the company's own resources.

Currently the plant produces 1Mm² of fibreglass insulation. This is expected to grow to 2.5Mm² in the summer of 2016 and to 4Mm² in the autumn of 2016.