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TWST: Can we start with a quick overview of BPB (London: BPB.L)?

Mr. Hollingworth: BPB is a company with sales approaching £2 billion. We operate in over 50 countries around the world. We employ around13,000 people. We are the world leader in our chosen areas of plasterboard and gypsum plasters, and there are not many UK companies who can claim to have global leadership. We are profitable, cash generative, and growing.

TWST: Can you touch on some of the highlights of your recent trading update that potential investors would be interested in?

Mr. Hollingworth: Yes, I think there are a couple of things happening here. In terms of the profit number, underlying profits before tax -- and that is before goodwill and exceptional items -- are up by some 25% to around £190m, and that’s despite booking restructuring costs of 20m, which are up by almost a half in the comparable period. The profitable result is translating into improved cash flow, which is the other key highlight of these results. We have got very strong operating cash flow in the year of over £300m with interest cover of more than seven times. The third element is in terms of our acquisition activity. In the early part of the year we acquired James Hardie, and in the latter part of the year we acquired Gyproc Benelux. Both of those acquisitions really consolidate our position as the global market leader in plasterboard.

TWST: What’s your strategy towards inorganic growth?

Mr. Hollingworth: We are a very focused company, so it is very easy to understand. We really are focused on plasterboard and complimentary products, and within complimentary products by far the largest area is plasters. In terms of James Hardie, the strategy was set when BPB entered the U.S. market through the acquisition of Celotex, and the James Hardie acquisition is following on from that. We would now claim to have the number three position in terms of the U.S. market. With respect to the Gyproc Benelux acquisition, this is a company we always had a minority share in of about 46%, and we have now bought out the remaining shareholder in Gyproc Benelux. It really fills in a missing jigsaw in terms of our European coverage. We didn't have a plant in the Belgian, Netherlands area, and this neatly fills that gap in our coverage of Europe.

TWST: So much of the rational is about consolidating your geographic footprint?

Mr. Hollingworth: Yes. I think the James Hardie plants are really very complimentary to the plants we acquired through the Celotex acquisition, and Gyproc Benelux gives us two plants which once again are very neatly positioned in terms of our European plasterboard map.

TWST: Can you comment on some of the key elements that have contributed to the growth you are seeing over the last 12 months?

Mr. Hollingworth: If you go back over the previous decade, fundamentally and particularly in the U.S. plasterboard, as we call it in the UK, wallboard as you call it in the U.S., is a growth industry. It tends to grow in the more developed economies [likes of the U.S.] at a bit above GDP growth. In the developing economies it grows far more strongly than that because you get growth through penetration as well. It grows through substitution of other building methods themselves. But the rise of plasterboard is inexorable and it will continue.