US: To cater to industry demands, Trelleborg's offshore operation has consolidated its range of high performance thermal insulation materials to house them all under one brand, Vikotherm™.

"As sub-sea environments become more demanding, going deeper and further than ever before, temperatures and hydrostatic pressure become much greater," said Ben Wait, customer group manager with Trelleborg Offshore and Construction. "The demand for more sophisticated products that can cope with harsher environments is growing. This is certainly the case with our thermal insulation materials, so we've taken the strategic decision to group all of our solutions together to allow for easier product selection and ensure that all customer needs can be met in one place."

Trelleborg has supplied the subsea oil and gas industry for three decades, continuously researching to ensure that its products consistently meet the growing demands placed on them. As such, all solutions in the Vikotherm™ range will guarantee maintained flow rates, optimum productivity, reduced costs and protection against wax and hydrate formations. The featured products in the new portfolio include R2 and S1 materials, E1 and E2 epoxy syntactic foams, P7 non-mercury catalysed polyurethane, PT syntactic polypropylene tape, and G3 non-mercury syntactic polyurethane.

UK: The Construction Products Association (CPA) has appointed John Sinfield as its new chairman. Sinfield is managing director of Knauf Insulation in Northern Europe. The CPA represents the Euro48.6bn-turnover UK construction products and materials sector.

Sinfield replaces Geoff Cooper, chief executive of Travis Perkins, in the role. Sinfield said, "Given all the political uncertainty over the coming year, with regulatory doubt over energy security, costs and carbon measures, we need manufacturing to be underpinned by a vibrant, long-term, cross-party industrial strategy which enables the UK to capture supply chain advantages for firms here in this country. I look forward to leading efforts to help bring key players together to find a way forward."

US: Installed Building Products Inc (IBP) has announced that Todd R Fry has joined the company as chief accounting officer and principal accounting officer, reporting directly to Michael Miller, the chief financial officer. Fry was formerly chief financial officer of Champion Industries during 1999 – 2014.

"I am pleased to welcome Fry to IBP as we continue to expand our operations," said Miller. "Todd is a highly accomplished financial professional and we believe his over 20 years of experience in key leadership positions, including 17 years at publicly traded companies, will help continue to strengthen our financial management. We look forward to leveraging his financial expertise as we continue to grow our business."

US: Owens Corning (OC) has reported a weaker than expected first quarter in 2014. However, company officials said that they still believe that they can meet the financial goals they set at the start of 2014 over the rest of the year.

OC reported first quarter sales of US$1.3bn, down by 5% from the same period of 2013. The biggest trouble spot was in roofing, where sales fell by 18%. The company reported a net income of US$120m in the first quarter of 2014, more than five times what it reported for the same period of 2013, however, that figure included several one-time items, the largest among them a US$74m tax benefit. On an adjusted basis, OC said that it earned US$35m in the first quarter of 2014, unchanged year-on-year.

Mike Thaman, the company's chief executive officer, said that OC had anticipated roofing volumes to be down by about 10% in the first quarter of 2014 and slightly higher for the full year. While the company said margins on roofing materials remained solid, harsh weather in much of the US and aggressive pricing from competitors dragged on OC's volumes more than expected. Thaman said that he believes the company can make up the difference in the coming quarters and end the year on target, adding that he does not expect the effects of winter to linger on the business as milder weather comes in.

OC reported higher sales figures for its insulation and composites business, even as volumes were flat in the first quarter of 2014. Thaman said the insulation segment should continue to benefit as the pace of residential construction picks up.

"We're increasingly beginning to see those two businesses develop into the kinds of performers we know they can be," Thaman said. "Insulation is coming out of four or five years of very challenging losses into a year of profitability in 2013 and now into first quarter profitability in 2014, which speaks to continued improvement throughout the year. We have big expectations for what that business can do through a new construction recovery here in the US."