Ireland: Kingspan says that it expects to record a profit of Euro415m in the first half of 2022, up by 26% year-on-year from Euro329m in the first half of 2021. The company noted that its global backlog of insulated panels orders fell by 2% year-on-year in volume on 31 May 2022, having previously been up by 19% year-on-year on 31 March 2022. It said that order volumes nonetheless remained above 2019 levels.

Germany: Saint-Gobain has appointed Danijel Lučić as the head of sales for its Germany-based subsidiaries Saint-Gobain Isover G+H and Rigips. He succeeds Dirk Borgmann, who has decided to leave the company. Lučić will take up his new positions from July 2022.

Lučić has worked for nearly 30 years with Saint-Gobain Group with much of it in the insulation sector. This has included roles with Saint-Gobain HES and Superglass Dämmstoffe.

France: Groupe Berkem and Soprema have launched Pavatex, a wood fibre-based insulation panel. Groupe Berkem says that it developed a bio-based polyphenolic fungicide for use in the panel. The partners say that development of the product took 30 months.

Groupe Berkem chair and CEO Olivier Fahy said “The development of a unique solution that meets the needs of the market is the result of the collaboration between our two groups and the pooling of our technical expertise. For Groupe Berkem, this collaboration agreement is part of our continuous commitment to supporting the transition of chemical substances to eco-responsible and bio-based solutions.”

Russia: URSA Eurasia has appointed Alexander Trubitsyn as its general director for the production of thermal insulation materials. Previously he held the position of the Director of Production and Logistics at the company. Trubitsyn succeeds Denis Shvydkoi in the post. Shvydkoi will manage international projects for URSA Group, based at the company's head office.