Kingspan Group, the Irish maker of polyurethane insulation boards, is building up its business in the U.S.
In Feb. 21 discussions about its 2019 earnings, CEO Gene Murtaugh said the company will add a PIR board facility in the U.S. between 2021 and 2022 that will sit alongside a new insulated panel facility currently under construction in Pennsylvania.
"Penetration in the [U.S.] and Canada has continued to grow as modern and more efficient methods of construction become increasingly adopted and Kingspan's solutions become the basis of specification in many applications which historically would have used more traditional materials," the company noted in its annual report. "The roll-out of QuadCore [insulation panels] is also gaining momentum and this will be further enabled with the new production line in Modesto, Calif., that is nearing completion."
Kingspan's global headquarters is in Kingcourt, Ireland. Its U.S. offices are in Atlanta.
Globally, Kingspan posted sales of 4.6 billion euros ($4.9 billion) in 2019, up 6.6 percent vs. 2018.
"Performance this year was helped by increased penetration of our proprietary high-performance insulation products QuadCore and Kooltherm," Murtaugh said. "This structural shift in building techniques and materials used also drove our increased profit margins."
The company's Insulated Panels business sales rose 7.4 percent to 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in 2019.
Looking ahead to 2020 Murtagh warned: "The uncertain economic outlook in our end markets has seen a slow start to 2020, however."
On a more upbeat note he added: "The level of demand building in Southeast Asia will soon justify investment in local manufacturing capacity there. We also continue to focus on acquisition opportunities; and have a healthy pipeline of targets under consideration."