Gypsum industry news

US: Continental Building Products has announced the appointment of Dennis Schemm as chief financial officer, effective from 11 May 2015.

"We are excited to welcome Schemm to our leadership team," said Jay Bachmann, Continental's CEO. "He has a proven history of experience, with more than 20 years in finance, including 16 years in senior management roles at publicly-traded industrial companies. His extensive and broad leadership capabilities will be instrumental to supporting our efforts as we further strengthen our low-cost position and generate additional cash flow as our end markets improve."

Schemm most recently served from 2013 to 2015 as vice president of global finance for Armstrong Flooring, a division of Armstrong Worldwide, where he oversaw the division's financial and accounting functions. From 2011 to 2013, Schemm served as director of global financial planning and analysis at Gilbarco Veeder Root, a Danaher Corporation, where he was responsible for operational and strategic planning and provided financial leadership for global operations and research and development.

Uzbekistan: Knauf has started a new US$52.5m investment project at two of its plants in Bukhara. The move follows the signing of a new agreement in 2014 by Knauf and Uzstroymateriali JSC to boost economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Germany.

Knauf has already invested US$51m in Uzbekistan. It has two plants in Bukhara: JV JSC Bukharagips, which produces dry building mixes and Knauf Gips Bukhara, which produces gypsum wallboard. The 60,000t/yr capacity Bukharagips plant started operations in August 2009, while the 20Mm³/yr capacity Knauf Gips Bukhara plant was built in 2011.

Egypt: The German-Arab Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GACIC) has announced the opening of a new US$50m Knauf Egypt plant. The plant has a capacity of 15Mm²/yr of gypsum wallboard, 90,000t/yr of other gypsum products and 25Mm/yr of metal cutters. Construction in the Ataqa Suez industrial zone began in 2010. Suez was selected as the plant site because of its strategic location between raw materials sites, local markets and major export markets.

US: Eagle Materials Inc has reported its financial results for its 2015 fiscal year that ended on 31 March 2015.

Earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 32% year-on-year to US$265m, reflecting improved sales volumes across nearly all business lines, with cement sales volumes setting an annual record of 4.8Mt. Net sales prices also strengthened across all businesses. Fourth quarter earnings before interest and income taxes increased by 31% to US$44.4m, as fourth quarter sales volumes improved across nearly all businesses, reflecting improving construction fundamentals in the US.

On 3 March 2015, Eagle entered into a definitive agreement with Holcim (US) to purchase its 600,000t/yr granulated ground blast furnace slag (GGBFS) plant in South Chicago. The purchase price of US$30m is subject to customary post-closing adjustments and will be funded from operating cashflow. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of its 2016 fiscal year and is conditioned upon the closing of the Lafarge-Holcim global merger.

Operating earnings from gypsum wallboard and paperboard grew by 28% year-on-year to US$177m in the 2015 financial year. Revenues from gypsum wallboard and paperboard grew by 13% year-on-year to US$525m. Gypsum wallboard and paperboard fourth quarter operating earnings grew by 32% year-on-year to US$38.3m. The increase in operating earnings was primarily due to higher net wallboard and paperboard sales prices and higher wallboard sales volumes. Gypsum wallboard and paperboard revenues for the fourth quarter grew by 5% year-on-year to US$112m. The average gypsum wallboard net sales price for the quarter grew by 4% year-on-year to US$168.97/Mft². Gypsum wallboard sales volumes grew by 5% year-on-year to 464Mft² in the fourth quarter.

US: Wallboard recycler USA Gypsum has opened its US$3m wallboard recycling plant and corporate headquarters in the West Cocalico Township, Pennsylvania. The company said that the new buildings and equipment will produce better quality products more efficiently and will help USA Gypsum to divert even more wallboard waste from landfills.

The recycling plant also includes renovated buildings for packaging, storage and offices. In the past 10 years, USA Gypsum has diverted more than 225,000t of wallboard from landfills, converting it to beneficial use by farmers in the form of gypsum fertiliser, soil conditioners and amendments and gypsum animal bedding. In spite of this growth, USA Gypsum has estimated that less than 10% of wallboard scraps generated in Pennsylvania are recycled. USA Gypsum ships its gypsum products across the US and Canada.