News | 9


Egger Group cites market uncertainty


of Egger Group and speaker of the Group Management: “Persistently high inflation


Above: Egger’s St Johann in Tirol plant, Austria


Egger Group closed the first half of its financial year with stable, yet reduced consolidated sales of €2.1bn. The company reported in December that the six months ended October 31, 2023 saw a 7% reduction in sales compared to a year ago.


Challenges included


persistently high inflation, high interest rates, volatile raw material prices and geopolitical crises.


“The first six months of our financial year have been very demanding,” said Thomas Leissing, chief financial officer


IPCO extends its footprint in China by acquiring Nantong Langwei New Materials


The acquisition will enable


IPCO to take advantage of local cost levels and shorter lead times while also reducing CO2


emissions and risks


caused by transportation to and from Sweden.


All belts will be sold under


Above: The acquisition team: (from left) Robert Schortz (vice-president strategy execution and m&a IPCO), Cindy Guo (external legal counsel with zhong lun law firm), Shaobai Li (vice-president apac sales & service IPCO), Roy Zhang (MD Long Goal/Longwin), Lefan Gong (external legal counsel with zhong lun law firm)


Steel belt manufacturer IPCO has closed a deal to acquire Nantong Langwei New Materials, known as ‘Long Goal’.


The acquisition gives IPCO


local steel belt production capabilities for the Chinese market and enhances IPCO’s competitiveness in China.


the IPCO brand in China, utilising IPCO China’s current sales force, strengthened by Long Goal sales representatives. Former Long Goal employees were due to be fully integrated into IPCO’s China organisation during Q4. “We are delighted to


welcome the Long Goal team to IPCO,” said Robert Hermans, IPCO CEO. “Local Chinese supply will strengthen IPCO’s competitiveness for the vital Chinese belt market and will also eliminate transportation needs around the globe. “This is good news for our


customers, good news for our business and good news for the planet. Moreover, this is a perfect fit with our strategic priority ‘In China for China’”.


in many regions, stricter capital requirements for home purchases and global geopolitical uncertainties have led to a general weakness in consumption and a decline in demand in almost all markets. “Thanks to the efforts of our more than 11,000 employees, we are nevertheless able to report Group-wide sales that decreased only slightly. “We are particularly pleased that we could successfully initiate strategically forward- looking decisions in the first half of 2023/2024, such as the acquisition of our


22nd production plant in Markt Bibart, Germany and the Egger Group’s climate protection commitment to the Net Zero 2050 target.” The purchase agreement with Rauch for the Markt Bibart plant was closed at the beginning of November, shortly after the end of the first half of Egger’s financial year. Egger says the economic outlook remains subject to great uncertainty, which is why the company is looking at the second half of the 2023/2024 financial year with subdued earnings expectations. It anticipates a further decline in demand, partly due to seasonal effects.


LP recognised by Newsweek as Responsible Company for 2024


LP Building Solutions (LP) has been recognised by Newsweek as one of America’s Most Responsible Companies for 2024. LP was awarded this honour based on a holistic view of corporate responsibility that considers the three pillars of environmental, social and corporate governance practices. “For over half a century,


we’ve worked to deliver on our purpose of Building a Better World,” said LP chair and CEO Brad Southern. “Our environmental, social


and governance programme demonstrates our purpose at work and the continued evolution of our sustainability journey. Being recognised by Newsweek as one of


America’s Most Responsible Companies underscores our long-standing commitment to sustainability and always doing the right thing.” The analysis used to select the winners was based on more than 30 environment, social and governance (ESG) key performance indicators for the top 2,000 public companies (by revenue) with headquarters in the United States and a public survey of over 17,000 United States residents. In the survey, respondents were asked to select companies familiar to them and then to evaluate each company’s corporate social responsibility performance generally and in the ESG sub-dimensions specifically.


Schilliger board plant approved


Schillger Holz has received building permit approval for its plans to build a new woodfibre insulating board factory.


Building work will start


at Küssnacht am Rigi in early February 2024, with commissioning in the summer of 2025.


www.wbpionline.com | December 2023/January 2024 | WBPI


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