Gypsum industry news

US: Eagle Materials has announced the appointment of Michael Haack as chief operating officer (COO), reporting to Steve Rowley, president and CEO. The COO position is a newly-created one in response to the company's significant growth and continued strategic expansion in construction and energy-related markets.

Michael joins Eagle from Halliburton Energy Services, where he enjoyed a 17 year career with successively important operating positions, most recently with the management of Global Operations for Sperry Drilling, a company in the drilling and evaluation division of Halliburton with operations in every major global oil and gas market. He was awarded a Master of Business Administration degree from Rice University and holds a Master of Science degree from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University, both in Industrial Engineering.

"We are proud to have such a high-calibre and experienced individual as Michael joining the Eagle team," said Rowley. "His placement in this newly created position is timely given our growth progress and strategic aspirations. Haack's experience will be especially valuable given our growth into energy-related markets, most notably in frac-sand and specialty oil well casing cement. This represents a significant step in the expansion of our strong operating leadership team and is aimed at ensuring the long-term continuity of Eagle's enviable performance track record."

US: US LBM Holdings has acquired Wallboard Supply Company of Londonderry, New Hampshire from the Filion family and its investors. President John Filion will continue to lead the company along with Vice President Ryan Filion and all members of the management team.

"Expanding our strong presence and capabilities along the East Coast, Wallboard Supply Company represents a great addition to the US LBM family of companies," said LT Gibson, President and CEO of US LBM. "Our commitment to partner with specialty distributors in the wallboard category ensures US LBM's top place as one of the most diverse providers of building materials in the country."

Wallboard Supply Company is a third generation, family-run business that has operated in New England since 1970. Its product line includes gypsum wallboard, metal framing, insulation, lumber and ceilings. The company has its headquarters in Londonderry, New Hampshire with four locations in Braintree in Maryland in Portland, Maine Hermon in Maine and Williston in Vermont.

US: Continental Building Products (CBP) has announced its results for the third quarter that ended 30 September 2014. CBP's net sales grew by 8.6% year-on-year to US$114m, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 32% year-on-year to US$33.7m and operating income was up from US$0.3m in the same period of 2013 to US$20.2m. Its wallboard sales volumes grew by 3.8% year-on-year to 590Mft² and sales prices rose by 6.3% year-on-year.

"Our focus on operational excellence and maximising our returns from our low cost base was evident in our third quarter results," said Ike Preston, CBP's CEO. "As we finish 2014 and look to the new year, we remain focused on realising the full potential of our business. We are confident that the long-term fundamentals for construction growth remain strong and we remain focused on delivering value to our customers while actively managing our costs and continuing to deploy our capital in a disciplined manner to drive shareholder value."

Bulgaria: Bulgarian gypsum producer Gips has announced that its consolidated loss widened by 33% to Euro1.6m in January - September 2014. Consolidated revenues decreased by 5.0% year-on-year to Euro2.45m in the first nine months of 2014. Its operating loss widened to Euro431,239 during the period, from Euro88,500 in 2013.

US: Continental Building Products (CBP) has announced that its secondary public offering of 7,000,000 shares of common stock, which was announced earlier this week, will be priced at US$14.75/share. All of the shares are being sold by its largest stockholder, an affiliate of Lone Star Funds. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,050,000 shares of common stock from the selling stockholder. The offering is expected to close on 25 November 2014.