Ireland: Kingspan Group’s revenue grew in 2017 due to strong European sales despite a ‘weakening’ UK market. Its revenue rose by 18% year-on-year to 3.67bn in 2017 from Euro3.12bn in 2016. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 9.3% to Euro442m from Euro404m. Sales of both insulation boards and panels grew.

“We have continued our globalisation strategy with several significant acquisitions, including establishing a market leading presence in Latin America. Our new Light & Air division is performing ahead of expectations and expanding the range of product solutions the business offers. The challenge of increased input costs has been effectively managed to minimise the impact on profit margins. Notwithstanding the weakening UK market our well diversified business is well placed for the longer term,” said Gene M Murtagh, the chief executive of Kingspan.

Denmark: Rockwool has appointed Bjørn Rici Andersen as Senior Vice President for Group Operations and Technology. Andersen, currently working as Vice President, Group Operations, will join the Group Management role on 1 March 2018. Bernard Plancade, who has previously held this role in Group Management since 2015, will become Managing Director for Rockwool Core Solutions, based in Paris.

US: Owens Corning’s net sales rose by 12.5% year-on-year to US$6.38bn in 2017 from US$5.68bn in 2016. Its earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 5.4% to US$737m from US$699m. The building materials producer’s sales from its insulation division rose by 14.5% to US$2.00bn from US$1.75bn and its EBIT rose by 40.5% to US$177m from US$126m.

“Owens Corning had another great year. We were pleased by the continued momentum in our three businesses and the addition of Paroc and Foamglas to our portfolio,” said chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Thaman.

US: Johns Manville (JM) has appointed Eric Cremer is the company’s new Chief Human Resources Officer with immediate effect. Cremer has worked for the past two years as Director of Human Resources for JM’s Engineered Products business. In his new role, Cremer will be responsible for all aspects of JM’s global human resources and communications organisation.

Cremer worked at Merck & Co, Agilent Technologies and Kraft Foods before joining Johns Manville in 2004. Over the next eight years he held a variety of human resource (HR) positions, including North America Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Senior HR Manager and Regional HR Manager in McPherson, Kansas. Cremer left JM in 2012 to work as Vice President of Human Resources at Vistar in Centennial, Colo. He returned to JM in 2016 and became a member of the Engineered Products leadership team. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Labour and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.