Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Ireland: Kingspan’s sales for the first nine months of 2019 rose by 8% year-on-year to Euro3.43bn. However, its sales in the third quarter fell by 2% year-on-year due to slowing sales in the UK. Sales of insulated panels saw a ‘substantial’ reduction in order intake in the UK in the third quarter reducing by more than 15% in volume versus the same period in 2018. European and American markets were stable with the exception of Germany. Insulation board sales were affected by slowing sales in the UK, Ireland and Germany. The group expects these market trends to continue into the first quarter of 2020 at least.

UK: Superglass has completed a Euro43m upgrade to its glass wool plant in Stirling, Scotland. Production capacity at the unit has been doubled to 60,000t/yr, according to the Scotsman newspaper. A new furnace, curing oven and an automatic packing system were installed as part of the upgrade. The project was first announced in 2017 following the acquisition of the company by Russia’s TechnoNicol in 2016.

France: Hirsch France, a partnership consisting of 66% Hirsch and 34% BewiSynbra, has purchased six Saint-Gobain expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation plants and 49.9% of shares in Isossol from Saint-Gobain subsidiary Placoplâtre.

Saint Gobain’s nine-month sales fell by 4.1% year to Euro31.1bn to 30 September 2019 from Euro32.5bn. The group is targeting annual divestment equivalent to Euro3.0bn to cut losses.

Netherlands: Nine-month restated sales for Recitel fell by 7.3% year-on-year to Euro924m in September 2019 compared to Euro997m in the corresponding period of 2018. Despite ‘double-digit’ volume growth, insulation sales over the period fell by 4.5% to Euro193m from Euro202m due to pricing issues stemming from the loss of market share to fibre insulation as a lingering after-effect of the isocyanate shortage of 2017. The company noted the ‘ramping-up’ of production at its new plant in Finland, with all products now certified for sale in the Nordic countries. Recticel CEO Olivier Chapelle noted the continued substantial decrease in debt as a positive in the period.

UK: French-based Saint-Gobain has received vindication in its attempted deflection of liability for alleged harm done by flammable insulation products designed, manufactured and sold by its subsidiary Celotex with the revelation of systematic failures in the London Fire Brigade response to the Grenfell disaster on the night of 13 – 14 June 2017. BBC News reported that the Phase One Report, published on 29 October 2019, identified ‘serious shortcomings’ in large-scale incident management training for control room supervisors, with a ‘stay-put’ advisory strategy rescinded 60 to 80 minutes too late at 2:47AM.