Annual Report 2014

Etex Annual Report 2014
Activity report
Cladding & building boards
Lightweight
solutions
After the acquisition of Siniat, Etex disposes of a strong combo:
fibre cement cladding and building boards, gypsum boards and
high performance insulation.
Based upon that backbone, we will in the coming years strive to
expand our activities in the lightweight or dry construction market.
This method involves constructing buildings without the use of any
wet trades such as concrete or mortar.
PPA school housing
project for the Enugu State
Education Department in
Nigeria, which included
construction and
renovation works. This
image shows one of the
lightweight constructions
that were clad with Etex
ceiling and roofing boards.
Picture provided by
Emenite.
Gypsum in Latin America
In Latin America, plaster products are
highly commoditised, making most
offerings nearly indistinguishable from
one another. Therefore, we are diversifying
our portfolio by including powders and
ready-mix solutions. Two types of finishing
with a different granulation, liked by the
customers.
We are also upscaling our customer
intimacy. We are promoting new techniques
towards installers, contractors and building
promotion companies, e.g. on how to cover
walls with plasterboards instead of the wet
plaster.
This enables us to sell our vision with a
full dry construction implementation. And
it is a closed system as we can offer our
customers all parts of the solution.
Joint Compound production in Colombia
In Tocanipá, we have completed the
construction of a new low-cost plant
for our Ready Mix Joint Compound for
plasterboards. As part of a drywall system,
joint compound is used to fill the gap
between plasterboards.
As a result, our Colombian company Gyplac
will be able to produce for local market
requirements, offering short lead times and
smaller quantitity sales. Similar approaches
could be taken in other geographic areas.
Big investments
Etex has several big investment projects
running in its Latin American gypsum
business.
Our new plasterboard factory in Peru will
be operational in the second quarter of
2015. The construction of this Gyplac plant
started in May 2014. The factory will have a
capacity sufficient to satisfy the demand in
the local and selected export markets.
In April 2014, we also started constructing
a new plasterboard plant in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. Totalling an investment of more than
50 million euro, it will mainly serve the
country’s southern regions as of the end
of 2015.
Diversified offer
The quality of social housing is improving
and we are extending our offer. Customers
are demanding more solid walls, and we
can offer them different solutions. From
one plasterboard over a combination of
plasterboards to a very solid combination
of our fibre cement and plasterboards.
PPIn Tocanipá, a village near Bogotá in Columbia, Etex
built a plant to produce Ready Mix Joint Compound for
plasterboards.
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