Gypsum industry news

Saudi Arabia: Mada Gypsum plans to reposition itself as a solutions provider, while retaining its core offer of gypsum wallboard. Accordingly, it has launched a new brand identity under the motto Building Excellence. Gulf Construction News has reported that the company is seeking to increase its offering of gypsum wallboard internal lining solutions and to maximise its production of components for its system solution in-house.

President Greg Smith said “Mada Gypsum has been repositioning itself and building capabilities with a focus on promoting itself as a system provider. This shift from being a plasterboard supplier to systems supplier was an important differentiator that allowed us to leverage the strength we have with our other products such as metal profiles, ceiling tiles, glass matt sheathing, fibre cement boards and joint compound.” Smith concluded “Our evolution now to a solution provider is a natural progression, as we have the structure, the people and the products in place.”

UAE: Gypsemna says that it has added a new gypsum wallboard systems line at its 50Mm²/yr Musaffah gypsum wallboard plant in Abu Dhabi. The Musaffah plant is the largest gypsum wallboard plant in the Gulf region.

New Zealand: David Thomas, the manager of Winstone Wallboard, has reassured the local market that the company is doing as much as it can to maximise supply of its GIB plasterboard brand despite ongoing shortages. He said that the gypsum wallboard producer is operating its Auckland and Christchurch at ‘record’ levels and considering ways to bring forward the manufacture of wallboard at its new plant in Tauranga, which is currently under construction.

He also added that the company is preparing for an allocation process from July 2022 that was previously announced in February 2022. It has provided merchants with the monthly volumes of plasterboard it is forecasting to supply them from July to September 2022. The allocation model is planned as a temporary measure until the completion of the new plant at Tauranga in June 2023. He also asked for the construction sector to working together to schedule delivery of wallboard as close as possible to when it will be installed to further minimise shortages.

Australia: BGC has started a second attempt to sell the company and has appointed Macquarie Capital to run the process. An indicative bidding round is planned for June 2022, according to the Australian Financial Review newspaper. The process is expected to take up to one year. BGC previously tried to find a buyer in 2018 but legal issues following the death of the company founder Len Buckeridge and a slowdown in the construction market in Western Australia made this difficult.

The company is presenting itself as a major presence in the West Australia cement market, with a 47% share, and the only organisation with a vertically integrated quarry, cement and concrete business. Macquarie Capital says that the company has an annual revenue of around US$740m and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$74m. Group earnings are reportedly mostly generated by heavy building materials, brick and masonry divisions. BGC assets include a cement grinding plant, concrete plants and a gypsum wallboard plant in Perth.

Belgium: ETEX recorded consolidated net sales of Euro2.97bn in 2021, up by 14% year-on-year from Euro2.62bn in 2020. Its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 12% to Euro522m from Euro468m, while its profit for the year dropped by 1.4% to Euro198m from Euro201m. The group’s building performance recorded like-for-like sales growth of 21% from 2020 levels and of 15% from 2019 levels. Its gypsum wallboard volumes grew year-on-year, while strong demand in all regions except South Africa impacted some export businesses through supply chain issues and increased shipping costs. The company adapted its prices to offset a sharp rise in raw material and energy cost prices.

During the year, ETEX acquired a top-three Australian gypsum wallboard producer and completed its rebranding as Siniat. It also diversified with the launch of a fourth group division, new ways, which includes light steel framing production operations.