Knauf Insulation Plans Further Expansion After Profit Boost

KNAUF INSULATION is planning further expansion after posting financial accounts showing a substantial increase in annual turnover and profit.

The company reports generating over £269m in turnover in the year ended 31 December 2023, up from £234.5m in 2022 – an increase of 14.7%. The growth was matched by an increase in pre-tax profits of £10m, up from £34.4m to £44.4m.

The St Helens-based company manufactures and processes a wide range of glass mineral wool and rock mineral wool insulation products for distributors, builders, merchants and retail suppliers.

The Board reports profit growth despite, it says, the difficult market backdrop through “the implementation of several price increases to mitigate the impact of cost inflation across all categories but especially within energy and raw materials”.

Further Expansion

The business also invested £55m into its two sites. £50m went into its St Helens headquarters, increasing the plant’s capacity by around 30,000 tonnes per annum. Meanwhile, they also spent £5m at the Welsh plant in Cwmbran on packaging equipment that will enable the plant to produce Glass Mineral Wool slabs alongside its current wool roll and blowing production capacity.

Earlier this year, Knauf Insulation announced further investment of approximately €200m in a planned state-of-the-art rock mineral wool factory to help address the UK’s growing need for sustainable non combustible insulation products. This new factory is planned to have and annual capacity of over 100,000 tonnes and will “utilise cutting-edge, low-carbon electric melting technology”.

Knauf Insulation says it remains “cautiously optimistic” about 2025 thanks to anticipated interest rates cuts as well as post election initiatives, expecting further growth in 2026 and beyond.

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