Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

North America: France's Saint-Gobain has announced the appointment of John Crowe as President and CEO of both the Saint-Gobain Corporation, Saint-Gobain's North American holding company, and CertainTeed Corporation, which is Saint-Gobain's largest North American subsidiary.

Crowe will take on these two new roles effective from 1 September 2011. As President and CEO of Saint-Gobain Corporation, he will act as Saint-Gobain's representative in North America, overseeing the company's North American businesses and chairing the company's Executive Committee. In this role, he succeeds Gilles Colas, who will return to Saint-Gobain's Paris headquarters as Senior Vice President in charge of global strategic developments.

In addition, Crowe will assume operational responsibility for CertainTeed, following in the footsteps of Peter Dachowski, who retires today after 35 years of service in a wide variety of senior leadership roles at Saint-Gobain and CertainTeed.

"With more than 30 years of experience in Saint-Gobain's innovative materials businesses, John is an exceptional leader with strong operational skills," said Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, Chairman and CEO of Saint-Gobain. "His appointment underscores Saint-Gobain's focus on leveraging its innovation and technical expertise to develop products and solutions that change the way we think about built environments. John will help CertainTeed and other Saint-Gobain businesses in North America to develop innovative materials that advance the way we build today in order to meet the challenges of tomorrow."

Crowe sees his main role as continuing to drive innovation throughout the company. "CertainTeed has been a leader in the construction industry for over one hundred years, Saint-Gobain for over three centuries, but we have never seen such a rapid pace of change or so many exciting new building technologies," he said.

Denmark: Rockwool International A/S saw its net profit decline slightly to Euro16.5m in the three months to 30 June 2011 from Euro17.2m in the corresponding period of 2010.

Recovery in the company's main European insulation markets, driven by Germany and France, continued and considerable growth was marked in Poland and Russia as well.

Net sales went up to Euro845m from Euro452m. Operating costs expanded by 18% to Euro434m, which led to a reduction in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to Euro57.9m from Euro64.8m in the quarter.

Rockwool foresees that further sales growth will come in the coming quarters. Rockwool anticipates that its net profit after minority interests will be Euro73.8m for 2011.

UK: It has been claimed that victims of asbestos poisoning in the west of England have been 'betrayed' after the government quietly dumped plans for a compensation fund. According to the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), a proposal for a fund of up to Euro456m that was intended to help former workers who are unable to trace the employers that exposed them to asbestos dust has been dropped. UCATT also claims that a separate plan for a national research centre for mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases has also been abandoned. Both proposals were put forward in a consultation that finished in May 2010, but ministers have said nothing since.

Jim Kennedy, the political officer of the UCATT union of construction workers, said, "The Government is betraying people with mesothelioma. There is a deafening silence about this. Ministers won't formally say that this scheme has bitten the dust but we are confident it has." A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman has denied that the 'fund of last resort' had been scrapped.

Cancer-causing asbestos fibres were used extensively in the past in building and industrial insulation. The industry is still subject to frequent claims from workers with conditions that they claim to be caused by the material.

UK: The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published figures that map the UK's performance in installing energy-saving residential insulation. In a local, council-by-council energy breakdown in conjunction with the Energy Saving Trust (EST), the department's figures showed that five of the country's worst performing local councils for installing home insulation were in London.

The London councils contrasted sharply with Kirklees, Yorkshire and Anglesey, Wales, which were revealed as the nation's top performing local authorities with 24.8% and 22.5% of their respective stock insulated. The largest number of insulation fittings that were carried out in 2010 were in Birmingham with a total of 12,079. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said, "For those who haven't yet insulated their home, I'd really recommend them to pick up the phone, call the EST and check out the help available to cut bills."

Installing insulation forms part of the government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme and supplements schemes in the forthcoming Green Deal from 2012. As part of the initiative, fuel companies have been told by the coalition government to help homeowners improve their energy efficiency. British Gas, which has a 20% market share in UK gas supply, has recently announced a free insulation installation deal for its customers as part of the plans.

Ireland: On 11 August 2011 Kingspan Group plc said that it had raised USD200m from a private placement of loan notes, which it will use to pay down bank debt.

The company, which specialises in insulation and energy conservation, said that the notes carry a fixed interest rate of 5.25%. The placement, which was arranged by Royal Bank of Scotland plc, was oversubscribed and increased from USD125m to USD200m, according to Kingspan.

"(The placement) improves our capital structure by lengthening our debt maturity profile at very competitive interest rates and it affords Kingspan significant financing headroom as we seek to develop our business globally," said the group's finance director Geoff Doherty.