Knauf plans to invest CZK 400m next year in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The German producer of plasterboard and mortar will invest CZK 200m to build a new production facility for processing pearlite in Prague-Kbely. Knauf’s Kbely expansion will create 15 to 20 new jobs, according to Radek Bedrna, the company’s Czech CEO. The facility is scheduled for completion in early 2016. The company plans to import pearlite from Slovakia, where it acquired a share in LB Perlit, a company owned by Lasselsberger. Knauf invested CZK 83m into the company, opening the way for the company to operate two pearlite quarries. Knauf will also invest CZK 200m into another new pearlite processing facility in Slovakia in 2016, writes the daily Hospodářské noviny. Knauf’s revenues jumped 10 percent in the first quarter 2015 y-o-y. The company posted CZK 969m last year, up by 7 percent from 2013.
