Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 motorsport team has terminated its sponsorship contract with Ireland-based Kingspan in response to public pressure. The team’s cars first displayed Kingspan sponsorship at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on 3 - 5 December 2021. Grenfell Tower Fire survivors and bereaved families group Grenfell United protested against the display.

Kingspan withdrew fire test reports on its Kooltherm K15 phenolic insulation in November 2020 after admitting at the Grenfell inquiry that they may not reflect the actual product. Refurbishers used Kooltherm K15 in Grenfell’s exterior insulation system prior to the deadly fire at the tower in June 2017.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas said "Both parties have subsequently concluded that it is not appropriate for the partnership to move forward at the current point in time. We have therefore agreed that it will be discontinued with immediate effect."

Denmark: Rockwool’s nine-month sales rose by 18% year-on-year in 2021 to Euro2.25bn. Its earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (EBITDA) were Euro456m over the same period. The company said that strong demand for non-combustible insulation and our other stone wool products resulted in double-digit growth in all of its business areas in the third quarter of 2021.

Chief executive officer Jens Birgersson “With construction activity booming in many markets, we achieved double-digit sales growth in all business areas and good profitability despite soaring energy and input costs, a tight labour market and material shortages. We are working hard to meet customer demand and overall managing supply chain and logistics challenges well.” He added “Nevertheless, the high cost increases we are seeing on energy, production material and logistics are negatively affecting margins, necessitating additional and more rapid price increases, which are likely to continue in the coming months.”

Germany: CertainTeed plans to build a 312kW solar power plant at its Berlin insulation centre. Construction is set to begin in 2022. Along with a similar project in its US plastic operations in Wayne, New Jersey, US, the plant’s construction aligns with the aims of parent company Saint-Gobain’s newly announced Grow and Impact sustainable expansion strategy.

CertainTeed CEO Mark Rayfield said “The new solar projects at our sites in Berlin and Wayne will reduce our company’s energy costs at these locations and support the broader transition to renewable, zero-carbon sources of power.”

Austria: Austrotherm has announced its construction of a 226kW solar power installation on the roofs of storage halls 6 and 7 of its Purbach extruded polystyrene insulation plant in Burgenland. The EU’s Regional Development Fund provided funding towards the project.

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.”