Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Russia: TechnoNicol Corp, a manufacturer of roofing, waterproofing and thermal insulation materials, has agreed to acquire an additional 54.1% stake in Russia’s Krovlya Ooo, a building materials company. After the transaction, TechnoNicol will own a 98.25% stake in Krovlya.

US: Installed Building Products has acquired Installed Building Solutions (IBS), an installer of fibreglass insulation, spray foam insulation and waterproofing products. IBS primarily serves select markets across Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Its sales for the 12 months that ended 30 September 2014 were approximately US$17.4m.

UK: Kingspan has reported 7% year-on-year growth in its third-quarter 2014 revenue, partly due to an upturn in the UK property market. It now expects to deliver a full-year trading profit in the region of Euro144m, up by 17% from the year ago period. Net debt at the end of September 2014 was Euro39.1m lower than at the same point in 2013, at Euro108m.

Australia: Boral CEO Mike Kane has said that Australia's brick industry will pay the price if the competition regulator sticks to its ‘narrow view’ of the brick market. He warned that plant closures and land sales were likely if the merger of Boral and CSR's brick businesses was blocked.

Boral announced plans to merge its east coast brick business with rival CSR in April 2014 in a bid to boost profitability. In its statement of issues in October 2014, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) rejected Boral and CSR's definition of bricks as part of a broader cladding market and gave the preliminary conclusion that the deal would increase the price of bricks and reduce consumer choice.

Kane said that the ACCC's issues paper was ‘concerning.’ "We are in the fortunate position where the high price of land in Australian eastern metropolitan markets means that value will eventually be delivered for Boral shareholders if an ultimate exit over time is the only remaining option," said Kane. About 550 people work in Boral's brick business. Boral has cut more than 1000 jobs in the last two years. "Sadly for Australia, a narrow view by regulators will see the brick industry on the same trajectory as the auto, oil, refining, steel, aluminium and cement industries," said Kane.

ACCC chairman Rod Sims stressed that the issues paper was a preliminary view and the regulator was seeking more information. "Every time we assess a merger, the merger parties argue that our view is too narrow. Our preliminary view is that most residential houses use bricks, as distinct from other cladding,” he said. The ACCC plans to make its final decision on 18 December 2014.

Bulgaria: Bulgarian insulation materials producer Hydroizomat has announced that its non-consolidated loss fell by 24% year-on-year to Euro95,100 in the first nine months of 2014. Non-consolidated revenues fell to Euro484,667 in January - September 2014 from Euro823,167 in the same period of 2013, while sales expenditures fell to Euro22,637 from Euro50,934. Its non-consolidated operating loss fell to Euro29,839 in the first nine months of 2014, compared to Euro92,605 in the same period of 2013.