Gypsum industry news
Australia/US: USG-Boral will resume 100% ownership of its Australia and New Zealand gypsum wallboard operations, subject to a call option for Knauf to buy back 50% within five years.
Boral CEO Michael Kane has commended Boral’s Sheetrock brand’s substantially strengthened position by comparison to that at the time of Knauf’s US$7bn acquisition of USG in April 2019, since which time Knauf has held 50% of USG-Boral’s gypsum wallboard business in Australia and New Zealand.
Boral will continue its joint operations with Knauf across Asia, at the centre of which are USG-Boral Asia’s purchase of Knauf Asian Plasterboard for US$533m, and its sale of its Middle Eastern ventures to Knauf for US$50m.
Boral annual profit up by nearly a half
27 August 2015Australia: Boral has recorded an increase in full-year profit, buoyed by the return to profitability of its US business for the first time since 2007, a pick-up in local demand and cost-cutting initiatives.
Australia's largest building materials provider posted a net profit of US$183m in the year to 30 June 2015, a 48.3% increase on the previous year's US$123m. Underlying profit rose by 45% to US$178m. However, Boral's total revenue over the same period fell by 15.2% to US$3.15bn.
Boral chief executive Mike Kane said that the results reflected the benefits from the company's overhaul of its business which reduced the size of its workforce and resulted in the closure of some unprofitable operations. "We've improved Boral's cost base, strengthened the balance sheet and we are managing our portfolio of businesses more efficiently," he said.
In the current 2016 fiscal year, Boral said it will focus on maintaining underlying earnings from construction, materials and cement, while property earnings remain uncertain. Building products are seen remaining broadly steady, while USGBoral will deliver further underlying improvement.
