Grenfell Tower fire: Shares in company that supplied cladding slump after stopping sales for high rise blocks

Immediately after the announcement, shares in Arconic tumbled more than 6 per cent taking their loss since the 14 June Grenfell Tower blaze to over 10 per cent

Over the weekend, Reuters reported that Arconic knowingly supplied the flammable panels for use in the North London tower (Thomson Reuters Eikon)

Shares in the firm that supplied the cladding used in Grenfell Tower slumped on Tuesday after the group said that it had suspended global sales of the product for high rise blocks.

Immediately after the announcement, shares in Arconic tumbled more than 6 per cent taking their loss since the 14 June Grenfell Tower blaze to over 10 per cent.

Over the weekend, Reuters reported that Arconic knowingly supplied the flammable panels for use in the North London tower, citing emails to and from a sales manager at the company, formally known as Alcoa.

When asked about the emails, Arconic said in a statement that it had known the panels would be used at Grenfell Tower but that it was not its role to decide what was or was not compliant with specific local building regulations.

On Tuesday, Arconic said in a statement that discontinuing global sales of Reynobond PE for use in high-rise buildings is “the right decision because of the inconsistency of building codes across the world and issues that have arisen in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy regarding code compliance of cladding systems in the context of buildings' overall designs”.