Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Vietnam: Dat Viet Ceramics Company has reported that despite a sluggish building materials industry, it has met its eight-month target thanks to its spearhead products. In the first eight months of 2014, Dat Viet Ceramics earned a revenue of US$6.56m, 5% higher than in the first eight months of 2013.

Dat Viet Ceramics' main products are Cotto bricks, brick cladding and fish scale tiles, with applications in sound and thermal insulation, among others. Its products are sold in 30 foreign markets. In 2014 Dat Viet Ceramics plans to expand its export markets into 40 countries and increase its revenue to US$3m.

Russia: TechnoNicol Corporation is expanding its insulation materials capacity at an existing plant in Yurga in the Kemerovo Region of southern Russia with investments totalling Euro18.6m. This includes the launch, which is due in 2015, of a new 200,000m³/yr XPS line. The line cost around Euro7.45m and will produce the company's full range of TechnoNicol XPS products. Its installation is set to meet growing demand for insulation products associated with major regional infrastructure projects, including the 29th Winter Universiade being held in Krasnoyarsk in 2019, as well as road construction and oil and gas industry infrastructure schemes.

In September 2014 TechnoNocil is due to complete another Euro9.4m investment at Yurga plant with the upgrade of its basalt wool insulation, leading to a 29% increase in output. Products from the plant will be targeted at Russian regions including western and eastern Siberia and the central Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous region, as well as eastern Kazakhstan, north-western China and Mongolia, according to TechNicol's CEO Vladimir Markov.

Ireland: Kingspan has announced that its profit rose by 24% year-on-year to Euro69m in the first half of 2014 as revenues rose by 4% to Euro890m. The company said that the improvement came due to rising sales of its key products, despite conditions remaining tough in the European construction sector.

"Kingspan has delivered strong growth in profitability, notwithstanding a tougher EU construction sector in the second quarter and a global economic recovery that remains weak. Our order book carried good momentum into the second half of the year, driven by continued growth in the demand for low energy buildings," said Gene Murtagh, Chief Executive of Kingspan.

Insulated panel sales were up by 9% and trading profit was up by 30%, reflecting what the company called 'continuing penetration gains, a positive business mix and some improvement in end markets in certain regions". Insulation board sales were up 1% and trading profit was up by 32%, with a good performance in the UK in particular.

Russia: Germany's Knauf has launched a new insulation materials plant in the Tyumen Region of the Urals Federal District in Russia at a total investment cost of US$83m. The installed capacity of the enterprise is 45,000t/yr. It will create 200 jobs.

US: Ireland's Kingspan, the building materials and insulation group, has purchased the building insulation division of US company Pactiv for US$82m. The deal is Kingspan's first foray into the residential market in the US, where it already has an industrial business.

Pactiv had sales of US$84m in the twelve months that ended on 30 June 2014 and recorded an operating profit of US$10m. The enterprise value is US$82m, of which US$72m is payable in cash on completion plus US$10m of working capital. Gross assets being acquired are US$30m, according to Kingspan.

Gene Murtagh, Kingspan's CEO, said that the acquisition represents 'a new and exciting frontier' for the company's business in North America. "It is a tremendous opportunity to build upon the growing success of our existing insulated panel business throughout the region," he said.