Fletcher Building in NZX market trading halt ahead of report on plumbing product

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Fletcher Building chief executive Ross Taylor.
Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook

Fletcher Building (FBU) is in a NZX market trading halt ahead of a report by a group home builders in Western Australia who installed its Iplex Australia Pro-fit product, linked to a number of plumbing failures there.

Fletcher said it was concerned that a report by building products company BGC Group had been shared with some other parties in advance of a meeting set up to disclose the findings of that report.

“FBU wishes to ensure that the market does not trade materially influenced by false or misleading information and has sought a trading halt until it can respond to BGC’s briefing,” the company said in a brief release to the market.

Fletcher first reported the problem with the Iplex Australia Pro-fit pipe product in February, with the release of its interim result.

The product had been linked with plumbing leaks experienced by about 1200 of the 15,000 houses built in Western Australia between mid-2017 and mid-2022.

“We have acknowledged that Iplex Australia has received a number of product quality complaints in Western Australia relating to polybutylene hot and cold-water pipe product it manufactured under the name Pro-fit,” chief executive Ross Taylor said in the company’s latest annual report, issued in August.

Fletcher established a A$15 million fund to provide financial support to builders and plumbers to repair leaks and damage and to replace pipes, while gathering data to understand the cause of the problem.

Taylor also said Iplex Australia was focused on a resolution for all stakeholders and had stopped selling the Pro-fit pipe in mid-2022.