Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Ireland: Kingspan’s consolidated sales were Euro4.72bn in the first nine months of 2021, up by 22% year-on-year. Its insulated panel sales increased by 47% and its insulation boards sales increased by 51% over the same period. In the third quarter of 2021, the company’s sales rose by 50%, its insulated panels sales rose by 53% and its insulation boards sales rose by 78%.

The group said “Our backlog is strong, though it is reducing week-on-week as sales activity outpaces new order placement. Underlying panels order intake volume is down by 10% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2021. 2021 so far has been unusual and characterised by order placement earlier in the year than is typical, as customers sought to get ahead of on-going inflation and availability pressures. It is likely what we are experiencing now is a fallow period in order placement following that. Raw material prices have been somewhat stable in more recent weeks, albeit at record high levels and following a period of unparalleled increases. There are no signs yet of any meaningful raw materials deflation, although should that come the impact would be negative.” It added that its activity pipeline is ‘generally encouraging,’ saying “2021 has still to play out fully, with the seasonally important fourth quarter remaining and, accordingly, we expect to deliver a full year trading profit in the region of Euro750m, significantly ahead of the Euro508.2m recorded in 2020.”

UK: SIG recorded revenue growth of 17% year-on-year in 2021. In the third quarter of 2019, growth was 9%. It achieved the acceleration despite material and truck driver shortages.

The company said that its UK distribution division was a key driver in its effective response to strategic and operational changes introduced since July 2020 designed to return the business to its previous market position and performance. Additionally, its France, UK exteriors and Poland businesses performed ‘very strongly.’ In all regions, the group passed on cost inflation to improve profitability quarter-on-quarter during the quarter. It forecast full-year underlying operating profit in 2021 ahead of market forecasts.

UK: SIG’s first-half sales totalled Euro1.29bn in 2021, up by 32% year-on-year from Euro978m. It reduced its loss after tax by 85% to Euro9.45m from Euro62.7m. The company said that continued balance sheet strength enabled investment in its growth strategy. During the half, its net debt increased by 22% to Euro338m from Euro278m, in line with seasonal working capital increase expectations. It added that it has confidence in its ability to manage near-term supply challenges.

CEO Steve Francis said “The strong revenue growth across our broad product offering, together with disciplined margin management, has been key to delivering an earlier and stronger profit than previously anticipated. The achievements to date have only been possible because of our teams’ energy, resilience and commitment in the face of the continually challenging circumstances, both with the effects of Covid-19 and the more recent industry-wide supply challenges.” He added “Trading in July and August has continued to be solid and we expect continued profit improvement through the second half of 2021, despite the on-going impact of material shortages and cost price inflation. As a result, providing the disruption from these headwinds does not worsen, we now anticipate full year underlying operating profit will be ahead of our prior expectations. The momentum behind our Return to Growth strategy is positioning the Group well, and we have growing confidence in our ability to take advantage of both strong near-term demand and healthy long-term fundamentals, including market tailwinds from sustainability initiatives.”

Denmark: Rockwool recorded first-half consolidated sales of Euro1.45bn in 2021, up by 18% year-on-year from Euro1.23m in the first half of 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 31% to Euro299m from Euro229m. The group’s net profit was Euro152m, up by 50% from Euro101m. Its insulation segment’s sales were Euro1.07bn, up by 16% from Euro921m. The producer said that all markets and businesses contributed positively to the result.

Chief executive officer Jens Birgersson said, “Robust economic activity combined with productivity gains helped us achieve second-quarter and first-half sales and earnings above pre-pandemic levels. We secured double-digit growth across all major business areas and geographic regions, with both insulation and systems segments contributing substantially to the positive overall results. As we expect the high demand in key markets to continue, we have upgraded our sales and earnings forecast. We foresee input cost pressures to persist in the coming months as well as some industry risks involving material and manpower constraints that could impact building activity.”

US: Installed Building Products’ net revenue grew by 17% year-on-year to US$925m in the first half of 2021 from US$791m in the same period in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 18% to US$124m from US$105m.

Jeff Edwards, chairman and chief executive officer commented, “As expected, the building products supply chain remained constrained during the second quarter, which we believe will continue for the foreseeable future. These trends continue to impact our ability to purchase certain materials and, in some cases, affected our ability to complete work on behalf of certain customers primarily within our multi-family end market.”

France: Saint-Gobain’s sales grew by 24.6% year-on-year to Euro22.1bn in the first half of 2021 from Euro17.8m in the same period in 2020. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly doubled to Euro3.25bn from Euro1.64bn. Both sales and earnings were also higher than the comparable period in 2019.

“These first-half 2021 record results surpass even our second-half 2020 performance. This success reflects the profound positive changes in our organisation from Transform & Grow,” said Benoit Bazin, chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain. “It also reflects structural changes in our markets, which should show an acceleration in growth over the coming years.”

The group added that it had integrated its Strikolith subsidiary into the main business. It acquired the Netherlands-based exterior insulation systems producer in late 2020.

Ireland: Kingspan has forecast first-half consolidated net sales growth of 40% year-on-year in 2021 to Euro2.90bn from Euro2.07bn in the first half of 2020. It predicted a rise in operating profit of 57% to Euro315m from Euro200m. The company concluded its acquisition of Denmark-based pipe insulation producer Logstor International Holding on 22 June 2021 for Euro253m.

Denmark: Rockwool recorded consolidated net sales of Euro671m in the first quarter of 2021, up by 3% year-on-year from Euro649m in the first quarter of 2020. The group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 11% to Euro139m from Euro125m, while net profit rose by 11% to Euro68.0m from Euro61.0m. Its insulation segment’s net sales were Euro498m, up by 3% from Euro483m.

The producer said that increased construction activity and strong stone wool insulation demand drove its overall sales development. It forecast strong market conditions for the full year in 2021, resulting in sales growth of 10 – 12%. It added that productivity improvements and a moderate price increase would likely offset an expected rise in input costs.

Ireland: Kingspan’s consolidated net sales increased by 24% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021 to Euro1.28bn. Insulated panels sales grew by 25% having started the year with a strong order backlog and insulation boards grew 12%. Communications company Edison Group said that growth was most pronounced in Germany, France and Benelux and Latin America, with a strong order intake in North America and the UK. Net debt at 31 March 2021 was Euro352m.

The company noted increasing inflationary pressure and challenges regarding availability despite strong demand and a strong backlog. As such, it has given no guidance for the year.

Kingspan highlighted its inaugural Planet Passionate sustainability report. The report details the company’s achievements in the first year of its 2019 10-year sustainability strategy. In 2020, the producer achieved net-zero energy and cut CO2 emissions by 5% year-on-year. It issued a Euro750m green private placement in September 2020. The company called the major achievements the ‘first leg’ of its decarbonisation journey. In its latest report, it set the target of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2030. Additionally, it is aiming to halve CO2 intensity over the same period. Altogether, Planet Passionate covers 12 sustainability targets across the key areas of energy, circularity, CO2 and water.

Chief executive officer Gene Murtagh said “Our Planet Passionate targets demand radical thinking and action. Our aim is to get as close to zero emissions in our manufacturing as technically possible by transforming our processes. Industry has a vital role to play in addressing the threat of climate change.” He added that the group target of 50% primary raw materials CO2 intensity reduction “will also lower the embodied carbon in our products, and consequently the whole life carbon of buildings.”

Luxembourg: Armacell recorded consolidated net sales of Euro591m in 2020, down by 8% year-on-year from Euro644m in 2019. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell by 10% to Euro120m from Euro134m. During the year, the company completed a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foaming line expansion in Suzhou, China, built an elastometric foams plant in Cheonan, South Korea and consolidated its Italian insulation activities at a new facility in Turin. It also made strategic investments in diversified areas.

President and chief executive officer Patrick Mathieu said, “In a complex and challenging environment our business model again proved resilient. With our global reach and multi-segment activity, we ended the year in relatively good shape. We took the appropriate measures to navigate changing circumstances and ensure we come out of the pandemic stronger than before. Our utmost priority was always to safeguard the health of our employees, maintain operations and continuously support our customers.” He added, “After the successful closure of our capital market refinancing in February 2020, our shareholders PAI Partners and KIRKBI expressed their commitment to our on-going growth strategy. In 2021, we look forward to partnering with our customers in adding value to their businesses.”