The Building Bulletin Newsletters are a monthly roundup of all the latest news in the building materials sector. Free to subscribers of International Cement Review
Favourable growth in the US drives Ferguson plc. Scandinavian markets level off and UK construction is in reverse gear. Vulcan acquires Polaris Materials while Sika continues to expand. Teko Mining boosts quarry production.
CRH continues its acquisition path as sales stabilise while Summit and Kingspan can also look ahead with optimism. While construction output slips in euro area, Estonian construction volumes see growth in 2Q17. USG launches a new waterproof membrane product.
Cemex reports mixed results while Breedon notes "strong profit improvement". Construction equipment sales are forecast to boom in China and India. In the UK demand for mineral products falls in 2Q17. Germany's construction sector sees activity accelerate in July.
Wolseley growth is supported by US and Nordic markets. Construction hits US$5bn in Cambodia while in Great Britain construction hotspots are shifting and the construction market in Slovakia picks up. Mississippi Lime buys Mercer Lime Co while a new concrete panel plant is set up as a joint venture in Malaysia.
Eagle Materials sees record revenues while GB aggregate demand is expected to hit 267Mta by 2030. Good news in terms of construction activity in May in Germany, but in New Zealand building consents fall in April.
Vulcan Materials, Martin Marietta, CRH and Saint-Gobain see good start to 2017. Knauf Gips plans to open a new gypsum plant in the Philippines while the global concrete bonding agents market is expected to boom.
Breedon "transformed" by Hope acquisition, Wolseley sees strong US market but exits the Nordics. In Australia building approvals are up 8.3 per cent. Renca launches new geopolymer cement for 3D printing.
Martin Marietta is off to a good start to 2017 while Saint Gobain improves its pretax profit. CRH sales jump 15 per cent in 2016. Wolsely announces Swiss merger. In the UK civil engineering replaces housebuilding at the main growth driver but in the US public construction spending falls five per cent in January.
Eagle Materials reports record 30QF17 earnings while strong Australian, US and Korean markets help drive up 2H16 profits at Boral. Japanese housing start growth hits a four-month low and Cambodia construction spend is up 156 per cent in 2016. In the UK, marine aggregate demand rose 12.9 per cent in 2015.
Sika reports broad-based sales expansion in 2016 while the UK construction products industry reports its 15th consecutive quarter of growth. Growth is also the order of the day in the US and Ireland's construction sectors. Tasmania's introduction of new building rules sees Australian building approvals drop. Knauf acquires Mexican Plaka business.
Breedon continues growth and acquisition path while Boral is to extend its US reach through Headwaters. The Irish construction sector is set for 20 per cent growth in 2016 while the euro area sees construction output drop in September. The global gypsum board market is forcast to hit US$54.12bn by 2022.
Vulcan attributes lower 3Q16 sales volumes to weather while in the UK reduced construction activity has seen lower sales of mienral products. However, Saint-Gobain takes a positive look going forward while Cemex celebrates strong underlying results in 3Q16. Lagan Cement bolsters its transport operations.
October's Building Bulletin reports on nervous housing starts in UK, USA, Canada and Japan as well as the expectation that the global aggregates demand will reach nearly 63Bnt by the end of 2024. Caterpillar announces US$1bn Africa expansion plan.
CRH sees strong growth through cash management while 1H16 brings mixed results for Russia's LSR Group. The gypsum market has been valued at US$3.8bn in 2016 while in the EU the construction sector expanded by one per cent in 1Q16. Meanwhile, India commits over US$1bn to new road projects.
Sika’s bold investment strategy results in record 1H16 sales, as the company opens new factories across southeast Asia. Martin Marietta reports record 2Q16 results while Saint-Gobain sees 1H16 turnover decline and Tarmac expands in the UK.
HeidelbergCement becomes aggregates leader while LafargeHolcim and CDC launch 14Trees initiative. Myanmar construction forecast to reac US$13.5bn by 2020. June sees UK construction index record weakest performance in seven years and the MPA responds to the results of the Brexit vote. In the US gypsum sales are up but the Hungarian construction sector is set to slow.
Canada launches inquiry into gypsum anti-dumping, Boral combines Building Products and Construction Materials & Cement divisions to form Boral Australia and Wolseley records positive growth in 3Q16. Meanwhile, UK exports of construction and earthmoving equipment begin to stabilise after a fall.
Vulcan Materials benefits from sustained demand, Chinese steel production is expected to decline while USG records best quarter in nearly a decade. Summit Materials continues its acquisition trend and Wienerberger aims for 9.5 per cent growth in 2016.
Wolseley delivers a ‘resilient’ trading performance, report values global construction output at US$10trn by 2020, and Sika sets new sales record.
Wienerberger reports record revenues for 2015, MPA lodges concern over dwindling aggregates reserves and CRH calls 2015 "a year of significant growth".
