Type Public Industry Manufacturing Revenue 538.5 million USD (2016) Number of employees 1,108 Net income 74.6 million USD (2016) | Traded as NASDAQ: CSTE Website www.caesarstone.com Headquarters Haifa District, Israel Founded 1987 | |
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Operating income Stock price CSTE (NASDAQ) US$ 33.85 -0.20 (-0.59%)3 Mar, 4:00 PM GMT-5 - Disclaimer Subsidiaries Caesarstone Canada inc, Prema Asia Marketing Pte Ltd, Caesarstone USA, Inc., White-Wood Distributors Ltd. Profiles | ||
Caesarstone Ltd., or Caesarstone (Hebrew: אבן קיסר, Even Qeysar), is a publicly traded company that engages in the manufacture and sale of engineered stone surfaces such as are used for kitchen countertops, vanity tops and tiles. The company was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Kibbutz Sdot Yam in Israel. Its products are sold in 42 countries around the world.
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Company profile
Caesarstone Ltd. manufactures engineered stone surfaces at two locations in Israel – Kibbutz Sdot Yam and the Bar Lev Industrial Zone near Karmiel, and in its new plant in Richmond Hill, GA, USA, since May 27, 2015. Its products, which are sold in 42 countries around the world and are a more affordable alternative to granite surfaces, are used as interior surfaces in both residential and commercial buildings. Common uses of Caesarstone's products include quartz surfaces for kitchen countertops, vanity tops, wall-cladding, flooring and quartz sinks. The company's competitors include Cold Spring Granite, Creative Touch Interiors and DuPont Safety & Protection.
History
During the 1980s the financial situation of Kibbutz Sdot Yam was dire. Debts skyrocketed and residents were abandoning the community. Amos Amir, who during the 1970s was CEO of Shayish Caesaria, a local tile manufacturer, conceived of the idea of Caesarstone as a replacement for the kibbutz's terrazzo tile factory, for which he felt there was little demand anymore. Amir visited tile factories in Europe in search of more innovative production methods and formed a special relationship with a factory in Castello di Godego, Italy. Soon after returning to Sdot Yam and sharing his experience and ideas with the residents, Amir felt his position had been eroded as his ideas were being developed without his input, and he left the kibbutz. The new Caesarstone factory, which began operating in 1987, encountered a series of difficulties early on relating to ill-suited machinery and defective products, and soon the kibbutz was having to deal with damage claims and severe losses. In 1988, authorities shut down the Caesarstone factory and demanded its machinery be confiscated, in response to which the workers locked the authorities inside.
Arguments persist to this day over who deserves credit for Caesarstone's rehabilitation. Steps were taken to restructure the kibbutz's debt, and Moshe Narkis, a Technion professor, is credited with having finally struck the right formula for properly manufacturing quartz slabs. In 1989 the factory decided to discontinue manufacturing tiles and focus instead on slabs. In 1993 the factory's operating income turned positive. Agreements with clients in Italy and in Australia further contributed to the factory's revival, and in 2005 a production plant was opened in the Bar Lev Industrial Zone. TENE Investment Funds injected $25 million into Caesarstone in 2006 in exchange for a 21.7% stake in the company, leading to the construction of a second Bar Lev plant and bringing to four the total number of manufacturing sites.
On May 27, 2015, Caesarstone opened its first factory in the United States in Richmond Hill, Georgia.
Financial performance
Caesarstone's operations are impacted by the performance of the home remodeling and new construction sectors of the economy. Between the years 1999–2010 the engineered quartz surfaces industry expanded at a rate of 16.4% annually. As of 2012 Caesarstone estimated that it controls 13% of the global market for engineered quartz surfaces. The company's largest market is Australia, followed by the United States and Israel.
Caesarstone experienced an annual growth rate of 30% between the years 2002 and 2008. In 2009 Caesarstone had revenues of $162 million, of which $15 million were net profit – up 150% from the previous year. Caesarstone's revenues for the year 2011 came to $260 million, up 31% from 2010. Its net profit for the year was $29 million. For 2012 Caesarstone's revenues increased 14.2% to $296.6 million, and its net profit rose 36.4% to $39.6 million.
2012 Nasdaq IPO
In February 2012 Caesarstone filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to execute an initial public offering of up to $115 million and list its shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Among the companies involved in the IPO were J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Credit Suisse, and Baird. Caesarstone's 6.7 million shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on 22 March and priced at $11 each. Between March 2012 and January 2013, Caesarstone's share price rose 59%, making Caesarstone the second-best non-American IPO performance for 2012. By early February 2013 the value of Caesarstone's stock had soared 88%, and it further extended its rally to 127% by month's end.
Social and environmental commitment
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Caesastone joined the Coasters for the Cause fundraising initiative, established in an effort to raise money for the American Red Cross. In addition, Caesarstone is an active member of the Israeli Leadership Council.
Caesarstone was the first stone company to be certified ISO 14001-compliant. As part of its commitment to the environment, Caesarstone recycles 97% of the water used in its manufacturing process.