Saudi Arabia: National Gypsum Company ‘s sales rose by 40% year-on-year to US$16.3m in 2018 from US$11.7m in 2017. Its net profit after Zakat and tax was US$3.01m following a loss of US$4.38m in 2017. The company attributed its turnabout to increased sales, external investment and changes in its accounting.

US: Michael Haack has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Eagle Materials. He succeeds Dave Powers, who will retire on 1 July 2019. Powers will remain on the company’s board of directors.

Haack is currently Eagle Material’s president and chief operating officer (COO). He joined Eagle Materials as COO in 2014 from Halliburton Energy Services, where he worked for 17 years. He holds an MBA from Rice University in Texas, as well as Master and Bachelor degrees in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M and Purdue University, respectively.

Powers has worked in the building materials industry for 40 years. He joined Eagle Materials, formerly known as Centex Construction Products, in 2002. In 2005 he was promoted to Executive Vice President for Gypsum. He became president and CEO of Eagle Materials in early 2016.

Peru: Eternit plans to upgrade its gypsum wallboard plants at Cercado in Lima and Huachipa. Wallboard consumption is 0.4m²/yr per capita in Peru compared to 2.7m²/yr per capita in Chile, according to the Gestión newspaper. The subsidiary of Belgium’s Etex plans to increase its revenue from wallboard to 50% from 40% at present.

Peru: Mario Loor has been appointed as the general manager of Eternit Peru. He will joins a team led by Cristián Montes, General Manager of Latin America, according to Business Empresarial newspaper. Loor has previously worked for Kimberly Clark Corporation and Chemical Industrial Switzerland.