Waiting for the building boom

Despite the weak US construction market, Alpha Pro Tech achieved record sales in 2011 for its Building Supply business, which now accounts for over 56% of the company’s consolidated revenue.

In addition to both nonwovens and wovens supplied as roofing underlay, the company is achieving notable success with its Rex housewrap materials,

REX Wrap Fortis housewrap, for example, is a highly engineered composite, made up of a high-strength woven fabric, a monolithic breather film and a nonwoven sheet, offering a high-strength non-perforated membrane to protect from both water and air. It meets the latest ICC Code requirements for water resistive barriers as well as new air barrier requirements.

“When the housing market starts to rebound, we expect to be in a position to benefit from significant growth opportunities,” said president Al Millar. “In addition, we expect to shortly launch an economy version of our synthetic roof underlayment in the first to capture additional market share in the lower end of the. We remain optimistic about the future of this segment, as our distribution channel strategy continues to strengthen.”

Alpha Pro Tech’s total sales in 2011 were $38.5 million, down from $41.9 million in 2010. This decrease resulted from reduced sales in its Infection Control and Disposable Protective Apparel businesses, offset primarily by increased sales in the Building Supply segment.

Building Supply  sales for the year increased by 11.5% to $21.6 million, compared to $19.4 million for 2010., with 69% of it synthetic roof underlayment and 31%  housewrap.

Sales by Disposable Protective Apparel fell 23.7% to $12.6 million and Infection Control sales by 28.2% to $4.3 million, partly as a result of the sale of a  medical bed pads and pet bedding business in the first quarter of the year, but also as a result of its former key distributor of industrial masks launching its own ranges.