French building materials provider Siniat (Avignon; www.siniat.fr) plans to spend about EUR 25m expanding its EPS processing at four of its five French insulation production sites through the end of 2014. The majority of the investment – EUR 12m – has been earmarked for doubling production in Rantigny, in northern France, not far from Clermont. Another EUR 7m will be allocated for Château-Gontier in the country's northwestern section and the remaining funds will go to company locations in Loriol-sur-Drome and Villeneuve-sur-Lot.

The French company currently converts about 15,000 t/y of EPS granules with about an equal split of the total utilised for white and grey foam EPS. A leading provider of gypsum-related solutions across Europe, Siniat's products include drywall and drylining as well as system solutions. Revenues from EPS products were just at EUR 100m out of a total revenue reported at EUR 450m.

With total corporate revenues of about EUR 1 bn, the Siniat Group, headquartered in Avignon, came into existence in 2011 when plasterboard manufacturer Lafarge Platres was bought by Belgian building materials provider Etex (Brussels; www.etexgroup.com). It is now one of the six divisions belonging to Etex.