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K. SCHIPPER: Hi, I’m K. Schipper with the latest in hard surfaces industry news from Radio Stone Update.
00:32
Caesarstone Ltd. finds itself starting 2022 in record form – a pace it expects to maintain through the year. One thing it’s banking on is the introduction of a brand-new porcelain-slab product by this fall. Not that everything is rosy for the Israel-based company, but CEO Yuval Dagim said earlier this month that the general outlook remains positive.
Overall the surfacing company reported $170.4 million in revenue for this year’s first quarter, or a 16.7 percent increase from the same time last year. However, increases in raw materials and shipping led to a basic quarterly net income of $6.2 million, down from $14.1 million in first quarter 2021.
Increased operating costs took a bite out of both margin and profits, but Dagim says first quarter 2022 results were in line with expectations, based on what he described as “healthy demand for our products.” He also cited successful integration of acquired businesses, expansion of digital platforms in several regions and the focused execution of the company’s multi-material growth strategy.
The demand for Caesarstone products remained strongest in the United States, where revenues showed a 20.3 percent increase from the same period in 2021, or $85.2 million in sales. Canada’s $23.7 million in sales in the first quarter surpassed 2021 sales for the quarter by 33.5 percent.
Dagim credited a part of North American growth to the company’s big-box retailers. He said that Caesarstone is putting more of its brands in Lowe’s, and the company has experienced increases in revenue, volume and activity through IKEA. Finally, the company experienced strong growth in natural stone sold in the U.S. through its Omicron Granite & Tile distribution network, which it acquired in early 2021.
Dagim called the purchase of Omicron a step in the right direction, and said, “We are looking for more steps like the Omicron acquisition to see if we can improve our footprint in the U.S. and to cover more intensively more metros of the U.S. markets.”
Also helping to boost Caesarstone’s bottom line was an on-going series of price increases that began late last year and continued early this year. Another round of price increases for some products started at the end of the first quarter.
As a worldwide company, Dagim said Caesarstone is trying to deal with higher transportation costs by utilizing more of its facility in the U.S., while serving its Australian business through its OEM supplier in China. Continued revenue growth is also expected to be driven by the global introduction of Caesarstone-branded porcelain products in this year’s third quarter. The new line will be produced through Lioli Ceramica. Caesarstone acquired the India-based company in mid-2020.
03:46
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is known as a global stone producer. However, their conflict and the rising cost of utilities across Europe, is having a major impact on the ceramic tile industries in Italy and Spain. Just as in North America, when the COVID pandemic started to ease, the price of petroleum products – in this case, natural gas to power kilns – began to rise, spurring hyper-inflation.
The results have been pretty predictable. The industry organizations that represent ceramic manufacturers in both countries have asked their governments and the European Union for financial assistance, although officials from both organizations acknowledge that so far their pleas have gone unheeded. They have raised prices, while eating parts of those rising costs. And, they have gone through temporary shutdowns at some factories, and acknowledge that more are possible before the end of 2022.
Further increasing the pressure on the industry in both countries is that some of the best white clay used in ceramic manufacturing is quarried in the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine and shipped out of the now-destroyed port of Mariupol. While some of the clay was stockpiled before Russia invaded Ukraine, ceramic manufacturers are searching for different sources of clay and changing their formulas accordingly.
Even with government assistance, it’s unlikely that ceramics manufacturers in Spain and Italy will return to pre-pandemic conditions any time soon. For more on this story, be sure to read the May/June issue of Stone Update, now available at www.magazine.stonemag.com
05:29
The Stone Equipment and Supply Alliance — the SESA — is sponsoring a new dedicated area for man-made materials at The International Surfaces Event (TISE) in Las Vegas early next year.
Called the “Manufactured Surfaces Pavilion,” the area will welcome exhibitors of all manufactured materials including quartz, large-format porcelain and other man made or engineered products. The area is adjacent to the TISE Live Demo Stage and is part of the StonExpo segment of the event. Offered in partnership with the International Surface Fabricators Association – the ISFA — the pavilion will include pre-show marketing to the industry and on-site graphics directing attendee traffic to the area.
SESA is leading the effort to bring manufacturers of all surfaces that fabricators work with on a daily basis to Stonexpo, says SESA President Mike Schlough of Park Industries. He adds, “The goal is to make this show the best place for fabricators to learn about these materials and their associated fabrication techniques as well as seeing industry leading machinery and technology.”
For more information on this new initiative, please contact Jon Lancto of Big Fish Consulting at 843-860-4150 or email him at jlancto@icloud.com.
08:11
An Orland, Maine, company is enjoying a unique opportunity that it hopes will expand its business. Freshwater Stone and Brick is supplying the stone being used to replace the deteriorating granite base at the Statue of Liberty. The job is utilizing Freshwater Pearl granite, a speckled gray stone, from the company’s Mosquito Mountain quarry near Frankfort.
John Horton, Freshwater’s architectural stone manager, told the Maine newspaper The Ellsworth American that the existing base is a sandwich construction where the outside is very close to the company’s granite, but the inside wall consists of a Hudson Valley limestone that hasn’t held up since the statue was dedicated in 1886. Horton explains that the limestone will be removed, and the granite installed as a veneer.
Complicating the project is the design of the statue’s base, which is in the shape of an 11-point star. Currently, employees at the quarry are cutting large slabs which are then trucked to Freshwater for fabrication. Horton says the total job will involve more than 1,000 pieces of stone in various sizes and angles which will then be shipped to New York.
An important aspect of the fabrication job is distressing the edges of the stone blocks with a torch and a hammer, The Ellsworth American reports. Horton says had that not been done, the new stone would look like a subway station.
Jeff Gammelin, who founded Freshwater Stone in 1976, says the Statue of Liberty project is the sort of job that opens up new opportunities and that the company is making an effort to get into more restoration stonework. The company, which currently employs 58 people, has four divisions: the architectural stonework division, the stone construction division, the fabrication shop and the quarries. Gammelin estimates that half of the workers will touch the stone at some point before it heads to its destiny with history.
10:09
MSI has opened the doors on yet another showroom and distribution center. The new 61,000 ft² facility in the Milwaukee suburb of Pewaukee is designed to serve both residential and commercial markets in the state of Wisconsin.
The location has a complete offering of the company’s flooring, countertop, decorative mosaic, wall tile and hardscape products. The showroom features products for a diverse customer base developed around lifestyles, trends and budgets, complete with a state-of-the-art indoor slab area featuring natural stone, Q Premium Natural Quartz, as well as Everlift LVT and Arterra Porcelain Pavers.
The slab viewing area includes more than 140 colors of granite, marble and other natural stone slabs. A designated quartz gallery features more than 100 colors in an array of sought-after finishes. Vignettes display bestselling products in a real-life setting so that visitors can see the latest innovations in everything from hardscaping to porcelain and ceramic tile to mosaic backsplash tile.
Raj Shah, president of the Orange, Calif.-based MSI, says, “With a dedicated team of local professionals, local inventory and a state-of-the-art showroom, we believe we can offer the broadest selection of hard surfacing products, unparalleled customer service and the strongest distribution capabilities across the region.”
In other news from around the industry…
11:44
The International Surface Fabricators Association – the ISFA – will host a Mineral Surfaces Training and Roundtable Event June 7-9 in Kent, Wash. ISFA is partnering with FLOFORM Countertops to provide fabrication training for porcelain, sintered and ultra-compact surfaces, as well as an industry roundtable.
The first two days of the session include courses on layout, cutting, polishing and installation parameters and guidelines, and chip-and-scratch repair, among other topics. Shop-focused training will include shop layout best practices and organization, handling and moving panels, saw setup, blade specification, and cutting speeds. Fabricators who complete the training will receive an ISFA Certificate of Completion.
The final day of the three-day session will include an Industry Roundtable and a tour of the FLOFORM Countertops facility. Cost – including meals – is $999 for ISFA members and $1,199 for non-members, which includes a one-year ISFA membership. MSI Surfaces and Park Industries are sponsoring the event. For information, go to www.ISFAnow.org
13:06
Park Industries is also bringing back its popular Digital Stoneworking Expo as an in-person event next month. The event will be held June 22-23 in Denver. The Mile High City was the site of one of Park’s more-successful digital expos in 2018.
Key topics include defining shop bottlenecks and where to start improvements, determining your ROI and digital fabrication from slab to fab. The expo also tours three automated shops in the Denver area, InStone Granite & Marble, Rocky Mountain Stone Designs and Stone Distribution Center. There is no charge to attend, but space is limited. To learn more or to register, go to www.parkindustries.com/dse
13:56
And, Bethany, Conn.-based LATICRETE has been named “Supplier of the Year” by the Ceramic Tile Distribution Association. The CTDA is an international organization of distributors, manufacturers and allied professionals of ceramic tile and related products. The award was presented at Coverings 2022, and is based on a vote of CTDA members.
Ron Nash, President of LATICRETE North America, attributed the honor to the company’s great network of distribution partners, and from the hard work by LATICRETE team members. LATICRETE offers a broad range of products and systems covering tile and stone installation and care, as well as serving other construction markets.
Remember, the latest issue of Stone Update is now available at www.magazine.stonemag.com. Our online newsletter, Slab and Sheet, appears on alternate Wednesdays. For notes and a transcript of this podcast go to www.radiostoneupdate.com
For Radio Stone Update, I’m K. Schipper and we’ll see you here again soon.
