Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Denmark: Rockwool has announced its first half results for 2018. Sales for the half reached Euro1.27bn, 16.9% more in local currency terms. In the second quarter, sales were up by 17.3% to Euro667m. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) for the first half reached Euro161m, an increase of 47% year-on-year. EBIT in the second quarter was Euro91m, an increase of 43% year-on-year.

Investments in the first half of 2018 reached Euro89m, an increase of Euro26m compared to the first half of 2017, primarily due to ongoing capacity expansions in Poland and the United States.

The outlook for 2018 from the company is positive. It expects net sales to grow by 13-15% during 2018 in local currency terms, including around 2-3% from its acquisition of Flumroc.

Commenting on the Group’s performance, CEO Jens Birgersson said, “Our half-year results show solid improvement on both sales and profitability, underlining strengthened performance towards customers and growing market demand for our non-combustible insulation and other stone wool products. With sales up in all regions, Rockwool’s 11,000 highly dedicated and committed employees are the driving force behind these positive results.”

UK: Knauf Insulation has strengthened its strategic partnership with Siemens Energy. The next phase of the collaboration will focus on enhancing efficiency at Knauf Insulation’s glass mineral wool plant in Cwmbran, South Wales. This follows previous work started in 2015 at the insulation company’s St Helens plant. Across the two plants, the partnership is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 5000t/yr.

“We look forward to partnering with Knauf Insulation to deliver a comprehensive energy management programme that will use intelligent technologies not only to monitor where consumption is taking place and to what extent, but also implement a significant reduction in energy use across the company’s UK manufacturing plant asset base,” said Steve Martin, Head of Strategic Transformation at Siemens UK.

Denmark: Based on preliminary reporting, Rockwool Group is increasing its expected growth forecast for net sales for 2018 from 7-10% in local currencies to 13-15% in local currencies.

For the first half, the main preliminary highlights were a sales increase to Euro1.27bn, a 17% increase in local currency terms. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased by 47% to Euro161m. Rockwool Group will publish its full first half results on 24 August 2018.

Rockwool says that market conditions for the remainder of 2018 look promising across larger European stonewool markets, including Germany, Poland, France and the UK, as well as in North America.

Australia: The owners of potentially thousands of buildings in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) will have to replace their cladding after the government retrospectively banned aluminium panels with a core of more than 30% polyethylene. It is seeking to prevent fires such as those seen in Melbourne's Lacrosse building and Grenfell Tower in London, UK.
The ban, announced by Fair Trading Commissioner Rose Webb, goes further than previous announcements by state governments in Queensland and Victoria that banned the use of high-content polyethylene cladding, as it also affects existing buildings, rather than just those in planning or under construction.
"The building product is unsafe for use in any external cladding, external wall, external insulation, façade or rendered finish in buildings (as low as two storeys, depending on purpose), subject to specified exceptions," said Ms Webb in a communique. "I therefore decided to prohibit the use of the building product."

The number of buildings affected by the ban is unclear. In June 2018, the state government said Fire & Rescue NSW had assessed 2280 buildings and found 417 in need of closer scrutiny. A register of buildings with combustible cladding, drawn up in the wake of an audit conducted by the NSW Cladding Taskforce, is due to come into effect in 2018, but may not be made public.

Under the ban permitted under NSW cladding legislation passed in late 2017, local councils and other relevant authorities will be able to issue rectification orders for affected buildings.

US: Sixty protestors have met with the Charles Town City Council in West Virginia to complain about a new stone wool plant being built in Ranson, Jefferson County. They asked that the council do more research into the effects the plant would have on the local environment, according to the Martinsburg Journal. Rockwool broke ground on the project in late June 2018 and it is expected to open in early 2020.