Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Growth in insulation sales revenue and earnings have contributed to Owens Corning’s overall growth so far in 2017. Net sales from its insulation business grew by 10% year-on-year to US$1.41bn in the first nine months of 2017 from US$1.28bn in the same period in 2016. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) grew by 7% to US$98m. The group’s overall net sales rose by 11% to US$4.78bn.

“Owens Corning delivered another strong quarter, despite some isolated market challenges. We remain confident in our ability to finish the year with strong financial performance,” said chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Thaman. He added that the company was ‘particularly’ pleased with the contribution of the newly acquired Foamglas business within its insulation business.

In its insulation business, EBIT grew due to higher prices and sales volumes. US volume growth slowed in September 2017 but the company said the segment was experiencing a recovery so far in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Norway: Saint-Gobain has completed its acquisition of insulation producer Glava following the approval of the local competition authority. The deal was first announced in June 2017. The two companies have a long history together through a licence agreement for Isover. Prior to the acquisition, Saint-Gobain owned 17% of Glava’s shares and it was represented on the board of directors.

In conjunction with the purchase Jon Karlsen, the managing director of Glava, has also been appointed as the managing director of Saint-Gobain Byggevarer, a company consisting of the brands Weber and Gyproc.

UK: SIG has appointed Andrew Allner as its chairman with effect from 1 November 2017. He will also take the role as a non-executive director. He succeeds Leslie Van De Walle who first announced his intention to retire in March 2017. Van De Walle will now step down as chairman and retire as a director on 31 October 2017.

Allner is currently the chairman of Marshalls, the Go-Ahead Group and Fox Marble Holdings, and a non-executive director at Northgate. Marshalls has announced that it will now start the process to recruit a successor to Allner and
that he will resign from the Marshall's board, once the new chairman is established in position. He was previously Non-Executive Director of AZ Electronic Materials, until 2014, and CSR, until 2013. Previous executive roles include Group Finance Director of RHM and chief executive officer (CEO) of Enodis. He also held senior executive positions with Dalgety, Amersham International and Guinness. Allner is a chartered accountant, former partner of Price Waterhouse and graduate of the University of Oxford.

Poland: Finland’s Paroc is spending around Euro60m on an expansion project at its Trzemeszno mineral wool plant. A new 70,000t/yr stone wool production line will be built at the site. The upgrade is expected to be completed in 2019.

"This is an important step for Paroc to continue the profitable growth. Demand for insulation has been increasing, especially in the Central and Eastern Europe. With increased production capacity we are able to grow together with our customers and improve our competitiveness and efficiency," said Kari Lehtinen, chief executive officer (CEO) of Paroc.

Europe/Spain: The European Commission has approved, under the European Union (EU) merger regulation, the acquisition of Spanish insulation producer URSA by Germany’s Xella. The commission concluded that the acquisition would raise no competition concerns because of the limited overlaps between the activities of the companies. The deal was first announced in August 2017 and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.