Gypsum industry news

Romania: Etex Building Performance has announced plans to build a Euro6m sludge drying unit at Oltenia Energy Complex’s (OEC) Rovinari coal-fired power plant in Oltenia. The subsidiary of Belgium-based Etex will derive synthetic gypsum from the unit for use at its Turceni wallboard plant, according to Economica. It already operates a similar sludge drying unit at OEC’s Turceni coal-fired power plant.

Industrial director Gheorghe Budrugeac said "We count on the fact that both the OEC and the local and central authorities will understand the importance of the investment for the local community and the positive impact on the environment, therefore we expect no delays in the approval process."

Australia: Boral recorded consolidated sales of US$3.87bn in the 2021 financial year, down by 6.7% from US$4.14bn in the 2020 financial year. It recorded a net profit of US$463m, compared to a loss of US$828m in the 2020 financial year.

CEO and managing director Zlatko Todorcevski said “Our full-year 2021 financial year results reflect the mixed market conditions we are continuing to experience in Australia during the pandemic. The value of total construction work was lower than the prior year, including in multi-residential, non-residential and infrastructure construction. Several major projects were completed during the period, with others delayed before new projects come on-line and reach materials intensity. While a lift in detached housing provided a boost to activity during the year, Boral’s earnings are predominantly exposed to construction activity outside of residential.”

He added “We have made substantial progress in our strategy to transform Boral into a stronger, better performing, more customer-focused organisation, with a core portfolio of businesses that deliver value throughout the cycle. Over the past year, we have progressed the divestments of several non-core assets, including completing the divestment of our interest in the USG Boral joint venture and announcing the sale of North America Building Products, achieving sale prices well above expectation. With total proceeds of almost US$3.25bn from completed and announced divestments to date, our strategy to focus Boral on the core Australian construction materials business is well advanced. And following a detailed assessment of strategic options for our North American Fly Ash business, we are now entering the final stages of a divestment of this business.”

New Zealand: USG Boral is preparing to stop operations in New Zealand in mid-November 2021. It said that it had been “unable to build a sustainable business,” according to the New Zealand Herald newspaper. 45 jobs will be lost due to departure. The company has offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and a distribution centre in Auckland. It imports and sells gypsum wallboard, ceiling panels, adhesives, cornices and roofing boards. Its exit will leave the local wallboard market split between manufacturer Winstone Wallboards and importer Elephant Plasterboard.

US: L&W Supply has agreed to buy the eastern gypsum distribution operations of Builders FirstSource for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is subject to approval by competition bodies and is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2021.

“The Eastern Gypsum business acquisition supports L&W Supply’s overall growth strategy. With the additional locations in the northeast and southeast, we solidify our position in these markets and strengthen our partnerships with area contractors,” said Dan Piché, L&W Supply’s president.

Builders FirstSource originally entered into the gypsum business through the acquisition of Probuild in mid-2015. Its eastern gypsum operations consist of 21 facilities located throughout the northeast and southeast US which generated sales of approximately US$160m in 2020. L&W Supply is a distributor for gypsum wallboard, ceilings, steel framing and other building materials used by commercial and residential specialty contractors.

France: Saint-Gobain’s sales grew by 24.6% year-on-year to Euro22.1bn in the first half of 2021 from Euro17.8m in the same period in 2020. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) nearly doubled to Euro3.25bn from Euro1.64bn. Both sales and earnings were also higher than the comparable period in 2019.

“These first-half 2021 record results surpass even our second-half 2020 performance. This success reflects the profound positive changes in our organisation from Transform & Grow,” said Benoit Bazin, chief executive officer of Saint-Gobain. “It also reflects structural changes in our markets, which should show an acceleration in growth over the coming years.” The group added that it was planning to catch up with previously delayed expansion projects for the construction Industry and in façade and gypsum solutions in Mexico, India and China in the second half of 2021.