Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Belgium: Europur, the European association for polyurethane (PU) foam producers, has welcomed six new members to its organisation so far in 2018. Flexible PU foam producers Yataş from Turkey and Lusocolchao from Portugal have joined the association. Suppliers to the industry Mol Group, Lonza, Schill and Seilacher and Chemfoam have also become members.

Denmark: Rockwool’s sales have been driven by its insulation markets in Europe and North America. Its sales revenue grew by 17.3% year-on-year to Euro468m in the first quarter of 2018 from Euro399m in the same period in 2017. Earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) for its insulation business rose by 98% to Euro55m from Euro28m. Overall sales and earnings for the company across all business lines rose at a slower rate.

“The strong first quarter performance is primarily driven by growing demand for our non-combustible insulation as well as our focus on productivity improvements and pricing. Owing to our broad-based manufacturing footprint, particularly in Europe, we are able to flexibly service growing customer demand, even if this results in somewhat increased logistics costs,” the company said in a statement.

UK: A review by the government into building regulations and fire safety has found that the local buildings regulation system is broken, However, it has not recommended a ban on combustible cladding, according to Reuters. The independent review followed a fire at a residential tower block in June 2017 that killed 71 people. An aluminium cladding with a flammable plastic core is thought to have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

Judith Hackitt, the engineer and former Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive presiding over the review, defended existing regulations and blamed poor implementation of the rules by builders and contractors. She has recommended that the building regulations system be changed to focus on high-rise residential buildings first and then to improve building safety during design, constriction and refurbishment. She also called for greater enforcement powers with ‘serious’ penalties for individuals who infringe the rules.

Organisations including Kingspan Insulation, Knauf Insulation, the Mineral Wool Insulation Manufacturers Association and the Constructions Products Association provided written evidence to the review.

A separate public inquiry is examining the causes of the Grenfell Tower fire and a police investigation is also looking at the incident.

Australia: Kingspan Australia has complained that its can’t compete against foreign competitors due to shipping charges at the Port of Melbourne. Charges at the port have led to the state government to consider taking action. Kingspan says it has conducted an international benchmarking survey across ports it uses, including those in the UK, the UAE, China and South Korea. It found that Melbourne was the most expensive and one of the most expensive ports in the world for terminal handling and port service charges.

Exports comprise a third of the output of Kingspan’s plant at Somerton. Further plans to upgrade the plan depend on its export market. The US$30m plant opened in mid-2017.

UK: The shareholders of SIG have voted against the reappointment of Deloitte as auditor for the insulation materials producer. The board said that it took its shareholders’ views ‘extremely seriously’ and that it will find a new auditor as soon as practically possible. The shareholder discontent follows the discovery that the company’s profits were overstated in 2016.

In a trading statement covering the first four months of 2018, the company revealed that its sales fell slightly by 0.3%. Sales revenue fell by 4.4% year-on-year in the UK and Ireland due to poor weather in February and March. European sales rose by 3.8% due to good performance in Germany, the Benelux region and Poland.