The UK sales operation of Europe's largest supplier of gypsum fibre board recorded a 24% rise in square-metre volume in 2013 over 2012. There was a 40% rise in sales through builders’ merchants and also strong sales to commercial projects through distributors.
Fermacell said that much of the success can be attributed to its tapered-edge board, which was reduced in price to the same as square-edge Fermacell. This resulted in an increase in sales of this product of 40%. At the same time, there was no list price increase in 2013, unlike many competitors who are believed to have raised their prices by around 5%.
In addition, prices for smaller quantities of material were reduced to help merchants and lead times for material from Fermacell's factory in the Netherlands are now the same for a single pallet as they are for a full load, to anywhere in the UK, the company said.
Fermacell general manager Gary Carter said: "We are projecting a further 28% growth in 2014, particularly within the commercial projects sector, with additional capacity now available from our new factory in Spain.”
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