Switzerland: Sika’s sales rose by 8.9% year-on-year to Euro5.3bn in 2017 in local currencies. The chemical production company attributed this to a strong fourth quarter with positive development of business in all regions, investments in new factories, the creation of new national subsidiaries and the launch of new products. A record net profit figure is expected for the 2017 financial year. Particular growth in the fourth quarter was noted in the US, Mexico, Argentina, China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.

“We expect to break new records for both the operating result and net profit. With nine new factories, three further national subsidiaries, and seven company takeovers, we have made significant investment in growth markets as well as in growth platforms in the form of product technologies and distribution channels. These 19 strategic investments, our pipeline with innovative quality products and our global presence – we now have 100 national subsidiaries and more than 200 factories – allow us to look toward the future with optimism,” said chief executive officer Paul Schuler.

Oman: Oman exported 6.76Mt of gypsum from January to November 2017. This compared to 4.86Mt from Thailand, according to Ramachandran, Director of USG Boral Zawawi Gypsum, an Oman-based producer and exporter of gypsum. This potentially marks a change to the gypsum export market in 2016 when Thailand exported 6.29Mt and Oman exported 5.6Mt. Other leading exporters in 2016 included Spain, Iran and Mexico.

US: National Gypsum, Eagle Materials and PABCO Building Products have agreed to pay US$125m to settle claims that they fixed the price of gypsum wallboard. A preliminary motion to approve the settlement is scheduled to be filed in January 2018, said David Young, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, a lead plaintiffs’ firm in the litigation, according to the Legal Intelligencer newspaper. The legal firm and others are representing wallboard customers, including distributors and installers.

The three wallboard producers are the last of seven defendants of a lawsuit that started in 2013. Previous deals with Lafarge North America, Temple Inland and USG bring the total amount of settlements for direct purchasers in the case to over US$190m. A seventh company, CertainTeed, was granted summary judgment in 2016.

Australia/UK: Richard Cousins the former chief executive of UK-based wallboard producer BPB has died in a plane accident in Australia. He worked for six years as the chief executive officer for BPB following a number of previous roles at the company. Following its takeover by Saint-Gobain he subsequently joined the board of Compass group in the food services sector and became its group chief executive in 2006.