Gypsum industry news

France: Saint-Gobain Placo has installed a heat and water recovery system in its Val-de-Cognac gypsum wallboard plant. In a post to LinkedIn, the company said that the new system has reduced the plant’s CO₂ emissions by 14%, its energy consumption by 11% and its water consumption by 10% compared to 2019 levels.

France: Knauf France aims to use 35% recycled gypsum at its Fos-sur-Mer gypsum wallboard plant in Bouches-du-Rhône, with an interim target of 10% by 2025. The company inaugurated the 30Mm²/yr plant in March 2024. It is currently using its own offcuts in production, but has a dedicated silo in which to also store gypsum from other sources in future. The plant’s wallboard requires 15 – 20% less energy than is used at a ‘traditional’ Knauf plant through the use of a vertical mill and high-efficiency driers. Its water use is optimised by drawing it in batches.

Les Cahiers Techniques News has reported that general manager Christine Muscat said "The ramp-up is gradual and we are at a third of production capacity, which we plan to reach fully in the second half of 2025."

France: Knauf France’s Fos-sur-Mer gypsum wallboard plant, which it inaugurated earlier in 2024, will receive 300,000t/yr of Spanish gypsum for use as raw materials, the Le Marin newspaper has reported. The plant is situated behind Sea-Invest Group’s mineral terminal at the port of Fos-sur-Mer. It has begun receiving its gypsum in regular shipments of 14,000t from the port of Garrucha, Spain.

France: Saint-Gobain reported sales of €23.5bn in the first half of 2024, down by 6% year-on-year from €25.0bn in the same period in 2023. The group reduced its capital expenditure by 5% to €583m. €255m (47%) of this was invested in new capacity, down by 7%. Group earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 2% to €3.65bn from €3.74bn. During the reporting period, Saint-Gobain accelerated efforts to reinforce its profitable growth profile with acquisitions in the light and sustainable building materials segments in Australia, Canada, India and the Middle East. Saint-Gobain said that it exceeded 67% of operating income being generated in “high-growth geographies,” namely North America, Asia and emerging countries. It now expects “double-digit” operating margins in 2024, for the fourth consecutive full year.

Chair and CEO Benoit Bazin said "Our first-half results once again demonstrate the success of Saint-Gobain's new profile, reflecting the group's ability to adapt to different macroeconomic environments and to continue to outperform. The roll-out of our comprehensive range of sustainable and innovative solutions and the resulting enhancement in our mix, together with our decentralised organisation by country with accountability on commercial performance and on proactive cost management, have enabled us to deliver a new record operating margin and strong free cash flow generation. I am very grateful for our teams' dedication and their contribution to the group's consistent improvement in its performance."

France: Saint-Gobain recorded €11.4bn in sales in the first quarter of 2024, down by 8% year-on-year compared to first-quarter 2023 levels. Group sales volumes fell by 4.7%, partly due to a 1.5% negative working day effect. Meanwhile, a negative group structure effect reflects on-going optimisation. New acquisitions during the first quarter of 2024 included Australia-based building materials producer and land banking entity CSR.

Saint-Gobain’s sales dropped by 10% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but grew by 6% in the Americas, where the group noted a ‘dynamic’ renovations market. Its sales also grew, by 4.5%, with ‘strong momentum’ in India. In Saint-Gobain’s High Performance Solutions business, sales declined by 5.4% year-on-year. The business’ sales to construction customers fell by 6.7% amid a decline in new project starts in Europe.

Saint-Gobain forecast resilience in the remainder of 2024, through its focused strategy and proactive commercial and industrial initiatives. It expects new construction to end its decline in Europe and all segments to ‘hold firm’ or recover in the Americas.

France: Saint-Gobain Placo has launched Glasroc X 13, a ‘three-in-one’ gypsum wallboard for use in façades and exterior shells for wood-frame structures. The producer says that the board embodies three key benefits for wooden construction applications: fire protection, weather resistance and stability. It can be left uncovered for up to six months before cladding, and is available in 1200mm or 1250mm widths.

France: Saint-Gobain’s sales dropped by 6.4% year-on-year to €48bn in 2023. Meanwhile, the group’s earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 1.7% year-on-year to €7bn. Despite this, it achieved average organic growth of 6.4% across its markets, buoyed by sustainable solutions, which accounted for 75% of its sales. Throughout the year, Saint-Gobain invested €223m in capital expenditure and research and development, in line with rising internal carbon prices. This contributed to a 34% reduction in its Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions compared to 2017 levels. The company used 57% renewable electricity in 2023, compared to 52% in 2022, and concluded eight new renewable energy supply deals. It aims to reach 66% renewables by 2025.

France: Saint-Gobain’s chief executive officer (CEO) will also become the company’s chair after the next general shareholders meeting in June 2024. He will succeed Pierre-André de Chalendar in the role, who is preparing to retire. Independent director Jean-Francois Cirelli will also be appointed as vice-chair at the meeting.

The France-based company said that its board of directors have been working since 2021 to enhance the effectiveness of the group's governance and the independence of the board by restructuring the balance of power within it. A Lead Independent Director will also be appointed in June 2024 with additional powers and the proportion of independent directors on the board will be increased, subject to a vote.

France: Saint-Gobain says that its like-for-like sales were stable year-on-year during the first nine months of 2023. In real terms its sales were Euro36.5bn during the first nine months of 2023, down by 4.9% year-on-year from the corresponding period in 2022. The group partly attributed this to comparison effects from its previous divestment of assets, including its distribution division, and negative currency exchange effects. Across its businesses, Saint-Gobain’s volumes dropped by 5.9%. Geographically, a ‘resilient’ renovation market offset a slowdown in new construction projects to raise sales in Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa by 1% year-on-year, but failed to do so in Northern Europe, where sales dropped by 5%. Sales fell by 5.5% in Latin America, as Brazil experienced the impacts of macroeconomic difficulties, but rose by 5% in North America. Across the Asia-Pacific region, organic sales growth was 5.1%.

Saint-Gobain said “In a difficult macroeconomic environment, the group continued to outperform its markets thanks to the pertinence of its strategic positioning at the heart of energy and decarbonisation challenges and to the strength of its local organisation by country, which enables it to offer comprehensive solutions to its customers.” It added “The group continues to focus on developing sustainable and innovative solutions with a positive impact, supported by strong innovation and investments for growth.”

France: Saint-Gobain has appointed Christian Bako as Vice-President Marketing & Development at Saint-Gobain. He joins the company’s executive committee and will report to Anne Hardy, the Chief Innovation Officer. He succeeds Cordula Gudduschat, who has been appointed as the general manager of Isover and Rigips Germany.

Bako studied International Business Administration in Germany and Spain, and started his career at Roto Frank, where he held sales and general management roles in Germany, Spain and France. He joined Saint-Gobain in 2017 as Chief Digital Officer of the glass business in Germany, where he subsequently became general manager of Glassolutions. In 2020, he was appointed general manager of a High Performance Solutions business for Germany & Austria before becoming, in 2021, General Manager for Central Europe.