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Borealis and Total in PE deal


Borealis and Nova Chemi- cals have signed a prelimi- nary agreement with Total Petrochemicals and Refining USA to form a joint venture to develop a 1m tonne capacity light feed cracker and PE production unit at Total’s site at Bayport in Texas, US. The partners hope to finalise the deal late this year, subject to required regulatory approvals, with start up planned for late 2020. The JV will be set up alongside an existing 400,000 tonnes/year Total PE unit and will include a 625,000 tonne/ year Borstar PE facility. According to the


partners, the JV “will create significant synergies by enabling strong integration of the value chain and the first-time use of the proprietary Borstar PE process technology in the Americas”. ❙ www.borealisgroup.com ❙ www.total.com


Deceuninck grows on back of US and Turkey


Deceuninck, the Belgian profile extruder, posted increased sales and profits in 2016, thanks to strong growth in Turkey and the USA. The company grew sales by


4% to nearly €671m ($733m) and raised profitability (REBITDA) by more than 16% to €65m. Overall net profit was €21m


– an increase of 57%. “Key 2016 projects like the


realisation of two state-of-the- art manufacturing facilities in Turkey, the start of the new plant in Fernley (USA) and the acquisition of an innovative ventilation and aluminium


system have been successfully delivered,” said Francis Van Eeckhout, CEO. However, he warned that


uncertainty in Turkey was likely to remain high – al- though “experts like IMF and OECD see continued growth”. In most cases, negative


exchange rate effects were cancelled out by increased sale prices, he added. Sales in Western Europe


rose by 3.5% to nearly €177m, driven by one-off project sales and strong-growth in the UK, Netherlands and Italy. Sales to Eastern Europe fell by nearly 5% to around €162m,


due mainly to company phasing out selected low-margin products and a continuing decline in the Russian market – which was partially offset by increasing demand from Balkan countries. Turkey and Emerging


Markets – such as Chile – is now Deceuninck’s largest region for sales, after a near-11% increase brought in revenues of €214m. North American sales rose


more than 6% to €119m, though this was partially offset by the sale of its US decking business. ❙ www.deceuninck.com


Deceuninck is a leading producer of door and window profiles


Eurocell reports healthy growth for PVC profiles


Eurocell, the UK manufacturer of PVC window and door profiles, reported healthy growth in both sales and profits for 2016. The company posted a 16%


growth in sales to nearly £205m, resulting in a pre-tax profit of nearly £24m – a rise of 21%. Growth in the profiles division – which makes rigid


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and foam PVC profiles – rose by 20% to exceed £127m, while EBITDA rose to nearly £22m, an increase of 5%. This included sales from two recently acquired companies. One strategic aim for


Eurocell is to increase its share of the PVC profiles market by using spare manufacturing capacity in its extrusion facilities. Recent


PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | May 2017


production volumes have averaged around 40,000 tonnes per annum – but it believes it can raise that beyond 50,000 tonnes per annum with little additional capital investment or incremental labour costs. “While new volume could


dilute gross margin, the net margin on such sales should be attractive,” said Mark Kelly, CEO.


The company also intends


to develop new products, increase its use of recycled materials – which helps to reduce raw material costs – look for more acquisitions, and open more sales branches: on top of opening 18 new branch- es in 2016, the company says that it aims to open another 30 by the end of this year. ❙ www.eurocell.co.uk


www.pipeandprofile.com


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