Gypsum industry news

Spain: Uralita has appointed Javier Gonzalez as its new CEO after former CEO Javier Serratosa stepped down as a result of a debt refinancing agreement.

The refinancing contract granted private equity company KKR Fund control over the majority of the capital of Uralita's insulation subsidiary Ursa, which generated approximately 70% of the company's consolidated revenue in 2014. Serratosa, who continues to maintain a stake in Uralita, will thus assume the presidency of Ursa, in which Uralita will continue to hold a 10% stake. Uralita additionally reinforced its executive team through the appointment of Gonzalo Serratosa as vice president.

Spain: Uralita SA has released financial results for the 2011 calendar year, which show a net loss of Euro27.1m. The gypsum wallboard and insulation materials producer also saw sales drop to Euro676m from Euro683m year-on-year, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation down by 65% from Euro78.9m in 2010 to just Euro26.9m. The group's revenue was also down marginally, to Euro690.8m, a drop of just 0.2%.

The Spanish construction market remains in the doldrums amid the continued Eurozone debt crisis, drastically reducing demand for gypsum, insulation and the other building materials that Uralita produces. Uralita SA has released financial results for the 2011 calendar year, which show a net loss of Euro27.1m. The gypsum wallboard and insulation materials producer also saw sales drop to Euro676m from Euro683m year-on-year, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation down from by 65% from Euro78.9m in 2010 to just Euro26.9m. The group's revenue was also down marginally, to Euro690.8m, a drop of just 0.2%.

The Spanish construction market remains in the doldrums amid the continued Eurozone debt crisis, drastically reducing demand for gypsum, insulation and the other building materials that Uralita produces.

Spain: The Uralita Group, which is engaged in the production of gypsum materials including wallboard (as well as insulation panels) has released its annual report, which shows a 94% slump in its net profit to Euro604,000 from Euro10.1m in 2009.

The group's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to sales ratio was down from 12.8% to 11.5%. The result continues a four-year record of positive earnings for the group but several of its other indicators were down, including total debt to net tangible assets (from 110.9% to 115.0%), total liabilities to total assets (up by 1.7% to 0.6) and net tangible assets per share (down 3% to Euro1.29).