Brickworks

BRISTILE Limited shareholders who have held the faith were finally rewarded for their patience with a one-year TSR performance of 101 per cent for the year to June 30 2001.

Boom times don't always result in booming profits, just ask Brickworks Ltd - the east coast owner of the Austral, Bristile and Auswest Timbers brands - which revealed eroded margins in the first half of the financial year.

BOOM times don’t always result in booming profits. Just ask Brickworks Ltd, the east coast owner of the Austral, Bristile and Auswest Timbers brands, which have revealed eroded margins in the first half of the financial year.

Higher gas prices and increased competition in WA, combined with land supply constraints nationally have eroded the performance of brick and tile manufacturer Brickworks.

Perth company Auswest Timbers is seeking to negotiate a secure long-term log supply in the South West with the state government so that it can proceed with the purchase of Gunns’ mothballed timber mill at Manjimup.

Intense competition among the state’s three major brick manufacturers means prices are lower now than they were six years ago, despite record levels of building activity.

Building materials manufacturer Brickworks has disclosed that intense competition in the local market meant Western Australia was the only state where it was unable to lift prices for bricks during the past year.

Building products manufacturer Brickworks is gearing up to sell one of its Western Australian facilities, while also planning to restart its Cardup plant to maintain its production capacity in the state.

South Australia’s push for renewable energy is an experiment worth watching for the other states.

Sydney company Brickworks is planning to introduce a revolutionary new technology to Western Australia it believes will cut the cost of manufacturing bricks by 30 per cent.

Building products maker Brickworks has confirmed it will close its Malaga manufacturing facility and showroom in the face of the decline in residential building activity in Western Australia.

Brickworks managing director Lindsay Partridge says Western Australia remains an attractive market despite setbacks during the year, when it undertook a major restructure of its Austral Bricks WA and Auswest Timber businesses.

Soaring gas prices on Australia's east coast are making manufacturing difficult or even impossible, the competition watchdog has warned, as a gas 'crisis' puts jobs in brickmaking and other industries at risk.

Weakness in Western Australia’s residential construction sector is throwing up significant challenges for building product manufacturers, weighing on the profits of ASX-listed outfits Brickworks and Boral.

Brickworks has sold its Austral Bricks factory in Malaga for $19.2 million, a facility it formally put up for sale in April after it was shut down last year due to declining demand for residential building products in Western Australia.

Building products manufacturer Boral has been dented by the continued weak performance of its Western Australian operations, reporting lower underlying earnings and a $20 million asset impairment for its WA bricks business.

Industrial business Schaffer Corporation has sold its Urbanstone manufacturing subsidiary to Brickworks for $13.5 million.