Steico’s UK sales rise 51.6% in H1, 2021

16 August 2021


I-joist producer Steico has reported a 51.6% boost in its UK business for the first half of 2021.

The German-based company said the UK remains its most important I-joist market for Steico, with H1 revenues (also including wood fibre insulation and LVL sales) of €15.6m (H1 2019: €10.3m).

The UK increase followed a significant slump in the previous year.

Steico’s total group sales across all countries covering wood fibre insulation, LVL and I-joists were up 29.6% for the period to €186.8m. EBIT improved by 155.1% to €31.1m and net income for the period in the first six months lifted by 181.5% to €21.1m.

“Due to the friendly market environment, growth is expected to continue in the second half of 2021 – although growth rates are likely to be somewhat lower due to the already very strong second half of the previous year,” Steico said in its results statement.

Steico management predicts 2021 revenues will lift by around 20% with an EBIT ratio between 14.0% and 17.0%.

The wood fibre insulation division reported sales of €129.2m or around 69.2% of total revenues (previous year €94.6m) for H1, 2021. This equals to an increase of 36.7%.

The I-joists division is increasingly gaining market share in the continental European markets. In the first half of 2021, revenues totalled €22.6m (previous year €14.6m). This corresponds to 12.1% of revenues and an increase of 54.6%.

LVL contributed around 10.1% to total revenues in H1. This corresponds to an increase of 4.9% to €18.9m.

Capital expenditure to create new production capacity is largely on schedule and on budget. At the Czarna Woda site, a further plant for stable wood fibre insulation materials using the wet process is being built and planned for start-up in Q4.

At the Casteljaloux site, a plant for stable wood fibre insulation materials using the dry is planned to go live in Q4, while preparatory work is underway at the new Gromadka site for the construction of the new insulation materials plant. It is planned to go live at the start of 2023.

Rumours of Steico interest in a new plant in Germany are also being reported by news channels.