Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Ireland: Kingspan Group’s sales fell by 3% year-on-year to Euro1.03bn in the first quarter of 2020. It said that the coronavirus-related lockdowns did not ‘significantly’ impact activity for most of the reporting period although the, “landscape changed markedly from the middle of March onward.” The UK and Germany reported improvements, the Americas did well and both Australasia and the Middle East saw rising orders. Insulation board sales were strongly impacted by falling prices. Looking forward the group said that its global sales fell by nearly 35% year-on-year as various construction markets were closed down.

Australia: The Green Building Council of Australia has awarded Kingspan’s Somerton phenolic foam insulation plant for ‘leadership in sustainability, innovation, and promotion of more energy efficient building stock across nine impact areas.’

Green Building Council of Australia CEO Davina Rooney said, “What sets this project apart is that it is the first manufacturer to pursue and deliver performance certification, representing world leadership in sustainable building practices.” Kingspan Insulation Australia managing director Scott Gibson said, “Our facility in Somerton proves that with some effort, and using the right products, we can build better manufacturing buildings in Australia, not just offices and residential. I hope that more manufacturers decide to take this challenge on in the future.”

Davy Stockbrokers has predicted that Kingspan’s profit will fall by 27% year-on-year to Euro365m in 2020, according to the Irish Independent newspaper.

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.

Ireland: Kingspan’s revenue rose by 12% year-on-year to Euro2.24bn in the first half of 2019 from Euro2.01bn in the same period in 2018. Its profit grew by 18% to Euro173m from Euro147m. Sales of its panel and boards products increased but panel sales growth was faster, supported by most territories with the exception of the Middle East.

“We have delivered a record first half with revenue growth in all our business units and a strong trading profit performance. We continue to expand our global production footprint with new facilities under construction in the US, Brazil and Sweden. The near-term outlook is solid although the political uncertainty in the UK, weakness in Serling, and weaker German economy are amongst risks we are monitoring closely,” said Gene Murtagh, the chief executive of Kingspan.

The building materials company is close to completing a new insulation panel plant at Modesto, California in the US. A new panel plant is also being considered in Pennsylvania, US and a new panel plant in Cambuí, Brazil is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2019. A new board plant in Sweden is scheduled to start production in mid-2020.

Ireland: Kingspan Group sales rose by 18% year-on-year to Euro1.06bn for the first quarter of 2019. It attributed this to ‘strong’ volumes across its key markets. Its insulated panel sales grew by 22% driven by growth in Europe. Its insulation board sales increased by 12% due to growth in Europe.

Belgium: Recticel says that Kingspan Group has made a non-binding offer to buy its insulation division and flexible foams division for Euro700m. Kingspan says it has entered into a back-to-back agreement with an unnamed third party for the disposal of all of the flexible foams business. Recticel’s board of directors will analyse the proposal in line with its fiduciary duty and update the market. Any purchase would be subject to regulatory approval.

Ireland: Kingspan’s revenue grew by 19% year-on-year to Euro4.37bn in 2018 from Euro3.67bn in 2017. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 18% to Euro521m from Euro442m. Insulated panels sales rose by 21% to Euro 2.82bn due to good sales in the Americas and Europe. Insulation boards sales grew by 12% to Euro 864m due to the group’s acquisition of Synthesia Insulation in Spain, on-going growth of its Kooltherm product and general market buoyancy.

“2018 was a year of strong growth for Kingspan, with the company delivering revenues of over Euro4bn for the first time. Performance has been robust in most of our major markets, and momentum has improved through the year,” said Gene M Murtagh, chief executive of Kingspan.

Ireland: Kingspan’s sales rose by 18% year-on-year to Euro3.18bn in the first nine months of 2018. Insulated panel sales increased by 20% due to mainland European sales and the acquisition of Synthesia and Balex. Despite an improvement in the third quarter the market in the UK as reported as subdued for smaller and medium projects. Insulation board sales grew by 13% driven by its Kooltherm product sales. European sales were reported as mixed, although improvements in Scandinavia, Southern Europe and North America were noted.

Ireland: Kingspan Group has highlighted its membership of Science Based Targets initiative (SBT) to set targets to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Kingspan has set a 10% reduction in emissions by 2025 from the base year of 2017. It also plans to reduce its absolute emissions from purchased goods and services, business travel, transport and distribution, and end-of-life treatment of sold products by 10%. It committed to its target in February 2018.

“At Kingspan, we are dedicated to sustainable business practise, from our products, to our processes and our people, which is why we are delighted to sign up to the Science Based Targets Initiative. This provides measurable targets for our business to achieve and will ensure that we continue to match our words with actions that make a real difference,” said Gene Murtagh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Kingspan.

The SBT initiative is the result of a partnership between the World Resource Institute, the World Wildlife Fund, CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) and the United Nations Global Compact, which looks to support companies across the world to do their part in tackling the worst impacts of climate change by supporting them to determine how much they must cut their emissions by. It provides participating companies with a clearly defined pathway to future-proof business growth by specifying how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. These targets are set in line with the level of decarbonisation required to keep global temperature increase below 2°C, consistent with the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, which 195 countries signed up to.

In 2017, 69% of the total energy used by Kingspan’s operations came from renewable sources, and the group says it is on target to achieve its goal of Net Zero Energy (NZE) status by 2020. As part of its journey to achieve NZE status, Kingspan Group has seen a 77% reduction in carbon intensity across its operations, and is benefitting from 34.5GWh of on-site energy it is generating.

UK: SIG’s sales revenue for the first half of 2018 has remained stagnant due to poor weather earlier in 2018. Revenue in the UK and Ireland fell by 3.1% year-on-year in the period whilst in Mainland Europe grew by 2.9%.

The Sheffield headquartered building materials producer also said in a trading update that it had appointed Ernst & Young as its external auditor. Shareholders previously voted against a bid to reappoint of Deloitte following an overstatement of the company’s profits in 2016. The company has also appointed Alan Lovell and Cyrille Ragoucy as non-executive directors with effect from 1 August 2018.