Gypsum industry news
US: Continental Building Products' Palatka wallboard plant in Florida has endured Hurricane Irma without any serious damage to the facility. The site is about 30 miles inland of St Augustine and it employs over 125 workers. It closed for the storm to allow employees to prepare themselves and their families. However, it didn't lose power and 'sustained essentially no known damage'. Continental Building Products has announced it will donate US$25,000 to the American Red Cross to support the relief effort.
Continental Building Products sales rise so far in 2016
08 November 2016US: Continental Building Products' net sales have risen by 10% year-on-year to US$343m in the first nine months of 2016 from US$311m in the same period of 2015. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 8.6% to US$100m from US$92m. Its gypsum wallboard sales volumes rose by 18% to 176Mm2 from 149Mm2. The company attributed this in the third quarter of 2016 to stronger demand in major construction markets, especially from new residential construction and overall in the southeast of the country.
"For the third consecutive quarter, we experienced stronger demand in our markets east of the Mississippi which drove the 6% net sales growth versus last year," said Jay Bachmann, Continental's chief executive officer.
US: Continental Building Products' (CBP) net sales have risen by 12.5% year-on-year to US$229m in the first half of 2016 from US$204m in the same period in 2015. Its net income rose to US$25.2m from US$1.89m. Sales volumes of gypsum wallboard rose by 4.2% to 59.7Mm2 from 57.3Mm2.
"For the second consecutive quarter, we experienced stronger demand in our markets east of the Mississippi, which generated a 13% increase in wallboard volume versus the prior year," said Jay Bachmann, the chief executive officer of CBP.
US: Continental Building Products' net sales have rise by 21% year-on-year to US$111m in the first quarter for 2016 from US$92m in the same period in 2015. Its wallboard sales volumes have grown by 32% to 57Mm2 from 44Mm2.
"Our wallboard volumes in the first quarter increased substantially from prior year due to strong underlying demand, favourable weather speeding up completion of projects, and pre-buy activity in advance of the April 1 price increase," said Jay Bachmann, Continental's chief executive officer.
Ed Bosowski appointed to chairman of the board of directors of Continental Building Products
01 April 2016US: Continental Building Products has elected Ed Bosowski to serve as chairman of the board of directors effective from 18 March 2016. He replaces Brad Boggess. Bosowski has been a member of the board of directors of the company since February 2014, and has over 30 years of experience in the gypsum wallboard industry.
The company also announced that Brad Boggess, Kyle Volluz and Grant Wilbeck resigned from the board of directors on 18 March 2016 following the sale by an affiliate of Lone Star Funds of all remaining shares of stock it held in the company. The three departing board members were affiliated to Lone Star Funds. The board of directors of Continental Building Products currently consists of five independent members and the company's president and CEO.
Continental Building Products added new members to board
04 March 2016Canada: Continental Building Products has announced that Chantal D Veevaete and Michael J Keough will join its Board of Directors as independent directors, effective from 14 March 2016. Veevaete will join the Compensation Committee and Keough will join the Nominating and Governance Committee. They will replace Chad Suss and Kevin Barner, who were affiliated with the Company's private equity sponsor, Lone Star Funds. Suss and Barner will resign effective from 11 March 2016.
Veevaete has experience in senior leadership positions in several industries, with a particular expertise in human resources. Most recently, from May 2012 through December 2014 Veevaete served as Senior Vice President, Human Resources of Phillips 66, a diversified energy and logistics company. Prior to that she helped implement the separation of Phillips 66 from ConocoPhillips. From April 2009 through January 2012 Veevaete served as Vice President, Human Resources of Chevron Phillips Chemical, and before that served in human resources roles for companies in the health care industry.
Keough has experience in senior leadership and operating roles, including serving as Chief Executive Officer of several manufacturing companies. Most recently, Keough served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stronghaven, which has been a subsidiary of Hood Container Corporation since December 2013. From January 2005 through May 2010 Keough was President and Chief Executive Officer of Caraustar Industries, a manufacturer of paperboard and paperboard products.
Continental Building Products sales drop slightly in 2015
25 February 2016US: Continental Building Products sales fell slightly to US$422m in 2015 from US$425m in 2014. Despite this its net income rose by 5% to US$16.7m from US$15.9m. Wallboard volumes sales rose by 0.9% to 204Mm2 from 203Mm2.
US: Continental Building Products' net sales fell to US$108m in the third quarter of 2015 from US$114m in the same period of 2014. Its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation was flat at US$33.7m. Wallboard sales fell by 3.9% year-on-year to 590Mm2, while the average sales price fell by 0.7%, mainly due to the weaker Canadian Dollar and regional sales mix. Gross profit grew by 7.2% year-on-year to US$30m, primarily as a result of strict cost controls and favourable energy costs. Operating income fell to US$11.1m from US$20.2m in the same quarter of 2014.
Lone Star Funds to sell stake in Continental Building Products through secondary offering
14 September 2015US: Lone Star Funds has agreed to sell 4 million shares of common stock in Continental Building Products (CBP) through an underwritten secondary offering. Based on the closing price of CBP's common stock on 9 September 2015, the offering is valued at approximately US$85.2m. The underwriter has a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 600,000 shares of common stock from the selling stockholder. Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is acting as the underwriter for the offering, which is expected to close on 16 September 2015.
Canada: Continental Building Products has reported that its net sales, operating income and wallboard sales all grew in the second quarter of 2015.
"We produced another quarter of strong cash flow as a result of our disciplined operations, efficient cost structure and sharp focus on execution as we continue to grow our business," said Jay Bachmann, Continental Building Products' CEO. "During the quarter, each of our regions experienced stronger construction activity, enabling us to deliver solid growth in our wallboard shipments. We actively managed our costs to achieve significant operating leverage on higher sales and repurchased approximately 2% of our outstanding shares for US$20m while also reducing our debt leverage. We believe that we continue to be well positioned to capitalise on improving construction activity in our markets to enhance our profitability and deploy our capital into additional value-enhancing opportunities."
Net sales for the second quarter of 2015 grew by 7.9% to US$111m. The growth was primarily driven by 8.1% higher wallboard volumes to 567Mft2. The average mill net price grew by 0.7% year-on-year. At constant currency, the average mill net price increased by 1.5%. For US shipments, the average mill net price increased 1.4% year-on-year. Gross profit grew by 41.1% to US$29.5m and gross margin grew to 26.6% from 20.3% in the same quarter of 2014, primarily as a result of operating leverage achieved through higher wallboard volume and favourable energy costs. Operating income was US$4.3m compared to US$12.8m in the same period of 2014. Adjusted net income grew to US$10.2m from US$4.7m in 2014. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 24.4% to US$33.3m.
In the second quarter of 2015, Continental Building Products repurchased 913,200 shares of common stock at an aggregate purchase price of US$20m from an affiliate of Lone Star in a private transaction in connection with the secondary public offering in May 2015. It also used cash flow from operations for the voluntary repayment of US$10m of debt. The next principal payment on its debt not required until August 2020.