Armacell (Luxembourg; www.armacell.com) revenues climbed 8% to EUR 603.2m as the flexible insulation foams manufacturer expanded its market position globally but EBITDA excluding one-offs was flat at EUR 102.1m. It expects to reap "significant synergies" in 2018 and beyond from acquisitions and "internal efficiency programmes."

The company acquired Danmat Iso Systems (Ølstykke / Denmark; www.danmat.dk) last year – see Plasteurope.com of 17.03.2017 – and started building a greenfield manufacturing site in Bahrain. From the second half of 2018, it will make products that include high-density materials and elastomeric insulation for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Armacell significantly increased its North American production capacity by integrating Nomaco’s (Zebulon, North Carolina / USA; www.nomaco.com) PE insulation business and expanding crosslinked polyethylene (XPE) manufacturing in the US. To support sales in Latin America, it consolidated the PoliPex insulation business in Brazil and grew its regional presence to now cover Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay.

The South Korean facility in Cheonan, with a 21,200 m² area, started producing state-of-the-art silica aerogel blankets for high-temperature applications. In addition, a new certificate granting Armacell access to public projects in South Korea helped strengthen growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Armacell says it has decided to expand its PET foam production in China, making it the only manufacturer globally to offer PET foam cores made from 100% recycled PET. It put the Component Foams business under new leadership and launched a major investment project to reposition itself in the US component foams market.