Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: Superglass Holdings plc, an independent UK manufacturer of glass wool mineral fibre insulation products, has announced that sales in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended 29 February 2012, were significantly ahead of the first half of the preceding fiscal year. Despite the improvement the results were still behind the company's own forecast. The company said that it expects the second half of the fiscal year to be significantly better than the first half, with increased volumes, increased selling prices and the benefits of sales specification activity taking effect.

Superglass said that financial difficulties prior to its successful recapitalisation impacted trading adversely during the period under review, but that a shortfall in sales has been partially mitigated by lower costs. The board reviewed the progress achieved in the three months since the recapitalisation as 'satisfactory.'

On 21 February 2012 Superglass announced that its Finance Director, Tony Kirkbright, had resigned with immediate effect following the company's successful recapitalisation. The company board has started the process of recruiting his replacement. In the meantime David Wilton has been appointed as a consultant. He will report to board on the financial affairs of Superglass on an interim basis.

The company also said that it was still too early to assess the real impact of the transition the UK's new environmental policy, the Green Deal, which takes effect at the beginning of 2013.

France: Saint-Gobain has posted a net income of Euro1.3bn for 2011, a rise of 14% from Euro1.1bn in 2010. The group has attributed this to strong demand for its building materials in emerging markets combined with its ability to pass higher raw material costs to customers in the form of higher prices.

Recurring net income spiked to Euro1.7bn in 2011, a 30% rise from Euro1.3bn in 2010. Operating income rose to Euro3.4bn, a 10% rise compared to Euro3.1bn. Group sales increased to Euro42bn, a 5% rise from Euro40bn.

"We managed to limit the impact of the strong increase of raw material and energy thanks to the increase of the prices of our products," said chief executive Pierre-Andre de Chalendar.

De Chalendar added that he expects a moderated growth of revenues in 2012 as the company intends to continue transferring higher costs to its products' prices. He declined to give specific data, though he said the growth will be slower than the 5% in 2011.

In its Interior Solutions division (which includes insulation) the group recorded sales of Euro5.5bn for 2011, a rise of 6.1% from Euro5.2bn in 2010. Operating income met Euro450m in 2011, a rise of 19% from Euro380m. Notably capital expenditure increased to Euro330m, a rise of 70% from Euro190m. Overall the group doubled investment spending for 2011, in energy efficiency and energy markets, to almost Euro900m.

Sales volumes for Interior Solutions were up in all geographic areas, particularly in the US, Asia and emerging countries. In Western Europe and especially France, trading continued to be buoyed by stricter energy performance regulations.

Saint-Gobain's CEO has announced an ambitious expansion plan to boost total revenues to Euro55bn and net profit to Euro3bn by 2015, through acquisitions and organic growth. The company said the plan to spin off its unit Verallia is still being considered, but market conditions are not favourable in the short term.

US: Owens Corning (OC) has swung to a fourth-quarter profit due to prior-year acquisition-related costs as the company continued to see stronger sales in its building materials. OC saw sales improve for its roofing and insulation materials in 2011 despite the ongoing slump in the US housing market. A focus on costs has helped support its bottom line.

OC reported a profit of US$50m for the fourth quarter of 2011 from a year-earlier loss of US$110m. The year-earlier period included a net US$135m in asset-sales losses and acquisition and restructuring-related charges. Its revenue increased by 2.4% to US$1.2bn and its gross margin rose to 19.2% from 17.1%. The building materials segment, OC's biggest area, reported net sales growth of 8%, including an increase of 8.7% in insulation sales.

Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Thaman said that OC anticipates improved US housing starts and modest growth in the global economy in 2012. The company expects that a strong performance in its building materials business will more than offset impacts of near-term market challenges in its composites business.

Italy: A Swiss billionaire and a Belgian baron have been found guilty and sentenced to 16 years each in prison by an Italian court in a ground breaking trial over more than 3000 asbestos-related deaths.

Stephan Schmidheiny, 64, the former owner of a company making Eternit fibre cement, and Jean-Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier de Marchienne, 90, a major shareholder, were sentenced in absentia after being found guilty of causing an environmental disaster and failing to comply with safety regulations. They were also ordered to pay Euro30,000 in damages to relatives of people killed by asbestos-related diseases and Euro35,000 for every sick person, as well as other payouts expected to total tens of millions of Euros.

"It's a fair verdict which acknowledges their responsibility," said lawyer Sergio Bonetto. "The problem now is to see if the condemned men will face up to their obligations."

Prosecutors said Eternit failed to stop asbestos fibres left over from production of roof coverings and pipes at its northern Italian factories from spreading across the region. During the trial, which started in December 2009, some 2100 deaths or illnesses were blamed on the asbestos fibres. Such crimes usually carry a maximum 12-year sentence, but prosecutors had sought a harsher punishment because, they say, the fall-out continues to affect its victims. Defence lawyers denied that the accused had direct responsibility for the Italian company, and the pair have been absent from court throughout.

Italian health minister Renato Balduzzi hailed the verdict by the three-judge Turin court as 'without exaggeration, truly historic,' noting that it came after a long battle for justice.

UK: Jablite, the UK's leading manufacturer of expanded polystyrene insulation products, has appointed Silo, a new design studio, as 'designers-in-residence' at its Belvedere manufacturing site in east London. This unlikely relationship between an insulation manufacturer and the pair of designers, both MA graduates from the Royal College of Art, is taking both parties in unexpected and exciting directions.

"We were very impressed when we saw Silo's final degree show pieces made from EPS that we had given them," said Richard Lee, Managing Director at Jablite. "They were looking for sponsors to help them set up a studio. Instead of cash, we offered them studio space on our site." Jablite was keen to offer the pair a 'residency.'

"This is not something Jablite has ever done before but we are changing the way we work," said Lee. "Innovation of our products and operations is now central to our way of doing business and taking on Silo seemed an interesting step for us and them."

Through a process of trial and error, Silo has developed a new variant of EPS called 'Not So Expanded Polystyrene' (NSPS) and they have created some extraordinary and beautiful pieces with it, using handmade textile moulds.

"For us, the relationship with Jablite is a great opportunity. We can see how Jablite manufactures, the high standards it works to and the pressure of making quality products in large volumes to order and we can learn from that," said Oscar Wanless, one half of Silo. "Our aim is to use the same material and processes, but in an entirely new way, in a way that enables us to find new potential in a familiar material."

"Our challenge was to change the material properties to create a more durable, rigid and structural material that people will want to use and keep," added Silo's Attua Aparicio.