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00:19
K. SCHIPPER: Hi, I’m K. Schipper with the latest in hard surfaces industry news from Radio Stone Update.
00:30
With the second half of 2024 fast approaching, The Size, the Castellon, Spain-based parent company of Neolith, presented its strategic plan for the upcoming six months. On the table: the launch of six new products, including a line of surfaces without crystalline silica.
The company will also complete the opening of three new distribution centers. Overall, the company is seeing a positive market reaction following promising first quarter results.
The new distribution centers will cover three continents, Europe, America, and Oceania in an effort to strengthen international presence of the brand. In February, a new center opened in Gothenburg, Sweden, along with completion of renovations at a new Neolith distribution center in Los Angeles.
A center in Auckland, New Zealand, is in the middle of renovation and will open in the third quarter of 2024. At the end of the year, the company will have 25 distribution centers around the world.
The new product line, called Atmosphere, is being released at the end of June, according to Jesus Ayarza, Neolith Group CEO. He called them “products that are at the forefront of the industries.”
In parallel to the launch of Atmosphere, Neolith recently announced that its all-new crystalline silica-free product line known as “Neolith for a New Era,” was released in the Australian market this month. Products containing crystalline silica will officially be banned in Australia beginning July 1.
Ayarza notes that Neolith made great efforts and a high investment in research and development to create surfaces for the New Era product. The result is a surface that meets the most-demanding professionals’ needs while having the same technical characteristics customers are already familiar with. He expects a period of conversion between materials, but “We truly believe marble workers and installers will be impressed by how they can work with them,” he says.
In making the announcement, Ayarza, who will complete his first year as Neolith CEO next month, says after facing major challenges in 2023, especially a decline in the demand for construction materials, the company wants to be ambitious and moderately optimistic for 2024.
“The first quarter of the year has ended very well above our forecasts,” Ayarza concludes.
02:59
One Equity Partners, a New York-based middle-market private-equity firm, obtained what it describes as a “significant minority interest” in Gruppo Siti B&T, a manufacturer of turnkey plants, machinery and aftermarket products and services for ceramic tile, stone and quartz slabs. Terms of the private transaction weren’t disclosed.
Gruppo Siti B&T serves a diversified clientele of more than 2,500 global manufacturers of ceramic, quartz and other surfaces through world-recognized bands include Siti, Ancora, Projecta, Digital Design, Diatex and Mec Abrasives.
Founded in 1961 by the Tarozzi family and headquartered in Formigine, Italy, Gruppo Siti B&T is one of the global players in design/build of complete plants, production lines, machinery and consumables for the ceramic and quartz industries.
Fabio Tarozzi, chairman/CEO of Gruppo Siti B&T, says he believes One Equity Partners is the ideal partner to help grow his company in its next stage of expansion. “We have already identified several opportunities to continue to grow the business, and One Equity’s expertise will be a tremendous asset in our efforts to execute those initiatives.”
Gruppo Siti B&T currently employs approximately 660 individuals, along with about 150 out-sourced personnel, operates out of 15 offices globally and has 10 production facilities worldwide. Ante Kusurin, Partner of One Equity Partners says, “Given various favorable market tailwinds, we believe Siti possesses significant growth potential, both organically and through acquisitions.”
One Equity Partners seeks to build market-leading companies by identifying and executing transformative business combinations. Since its founding in 2001, it has completed more than 400 transactions worldwide. A spinoff of JP Morgan in 2015, the firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
06:20
EMERSON SCHWARTZKOPF: This is Emerson Schwartzkopf for Hard-Surface Report. A few weeks ago, a fellow editor in the hard-surfaces trade asked me for import numbers for the United States to compare this year with 2023. I worked up data for January through April and found a few interesting trends … and one big surprise.
When you add up the value of all those imports, the United States brought in 1.47 billion dollars of dimensional natural stone, quartz surfaces, and porcelain in the first four months of this year. That’s 3.8 percent more than the same time in 2023. Since the rate of inflation – the Consumer Price Index – rose by only 3.4 percent, you could say that hard surfaces are holding their own with just a pinch of growth.
Except that … well, it’s not that simple. Break down that 1.47 billion dollars of surfaces, and three out of the five top sectors – granite, marble, and porcelain – went down in overall value. The growth came with quartz surfaces and other stone, which includes quartzite, at 10.5 percent and 20.4 percent respectively.
Using import values as the main measurement can also be misleading. Hard-Surface Report, along with nearly everyone else worldwide, focuses on customs value. It’s basically the value of a shipment as it leaves the docks of the exporting country – or, using another term, free on board. It measures what exporters receive in payment, less transport expenses.
Customs value doesn’t show the amount of material coming into the United States. The volume that goes through ports-of-entry is more telling of actual demand.
Add up the amount of natural stone imports for January through April this year, and the 743,295 metric tons represents a 4.6 percent loss from the same time in 2023. Only the Other Stone sector, bucks the trend with a 10.4 percent gain. Marble is down by less than one percent, but granite drops 11.6 percent.
Porcelain remains static in the year-over-year comparison, with the 350.1 million square feet in the first four month this year a 0.04 percent squeak up from 2024.
So what’s the big surprise? The 66.3 million square feet of quartz surfaces coming into the United States this January through April is 23 percent ahead of the same time last year. That’s a staggering rate of growth, coming mainly from India and southeast Asia, but also from Europe with Spain and Czechia. The average customs value per square foot of those materials is also down this year, meaning that exporters are getting less for materials this year than in 2023.
We’ll continue to keep an eye on this at Hard-Surface Report. You can see the numbers for yourself every month at www.hardsurfacereport.com.
09:47
K. SCHIPPER: Cincinnati-based Sims-Lohman announces its acquisition of Florida-based The Legacy Cabinet Company, effective June 3.
The joining of Sims-Lohman and Legacy allows the former to expand its footprint to a dozen states while adding 10 customer showrooms and 11 distribution centers. That brings its total portfolio to 38 showrooms, 18 regional distribution centers and six state-of-the-art granite and quartz countertop manufacturing plants.
Sims-Lohman prides itself on being a “one-stop” solution for countertops and cabinets for the home building industry. With more than 50 years of experience, the privately-owned company has more than $200 million in annual sales and a workforce of more than 525 people.
John Beiersdorfer, CEO of Sims-Lohman, says the partnership will allow his company to continue its commitment to customer satisfaction in its new markets, while positioning Sims-Lohman for additional growth in the future.
“We look forward to working with our new team members, customers, subcontractors and supplier-partners to ensure we continue to provide best-in-class service,” Beiersdorfer said.
11:02
Michael Kephart, president of the Franklin, Tennessee-based Kephart Group, joins the National Tile Contractors Association – the NTCA — as an executive consultant. In his new role, Kephart will focus on advancing training, education and advocacy for the U.S. tile industry.
More specifically, Kephart will serve as an executive adviser and advocate for NTCA and the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF) in Tennessee, where he will work closely with the U.S. Tile Collaborative and local factories to promote training, education and advocacy initiatives.
In a statement, Kephart described Tennessee as the center of the U.S. ceramic tile industry both now and in the future. The U.S. Tile Collaborative has partnered with the Tennessee Economic Development Department, state universities, technical colleges, the Tile Contractors of North America — the TCNA — and the NTCA, to launch a groundbreaking education initiative supporting the U.S. ceramic tile industry.
The U.S. Tile Collaborative is an advocacy and advisory group for expanding the Tennessee tile manufacturing base with training and education for plant labor supported by the Tennessee College of Applied Technology –TCAT — model.
Kephart has played a crucial role in bringing NTCA before the Tennessee Economic Development Department, setting the stage for this initiative. Now, as an executive advisor/consultant, he will help align factories in Tennessee to support CTEF and NTCA initiatives, including developing a tile installation curriculum within the TCAT and Tennessee College Systems.
In other news around the industry….
12:52
The National Tile Contractors Association – the NTCA – received the Best of Category – Digital Printing for Promotional Piece award at the 2024 Graphic Awards presented by the Printing Industry Association of the South.
NTCA Creative Director Michelle Chapman designed and created the winning piece for “Little Hands Little Tiles,” an educational trade initiative of the NTCA. The initiative is designed to introduce children to the joy and creativity of working with tile through engaging and educational puzzles. The puzzles are distributed to industry members within their communities or given as gifts to inspire the next generation of tile artisans.
Bart Bettiga, executive director of the NTCA, said the association is excited about this well-deserved recognition of Chapman’s work.
13:46
Remember, our electronic newsletter, Slab & Sheet, comes out on alternate Wednesdays. For a transcript of this broadcast, go to www.radiostoneupdate.com. For Radio Stone Update, I’m K. Schipper and we’ll see you here again soon.
