Saint-Gobain held a meeting dedicated to its investors and analysts, dedicated to the strategy of the Group.
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Since his last “investors’ day ” in 2013, the Group has continued its transformation : solid progress has been made in several areas, and resulted in a clear improvement of its financial indicators. Saint-Gobain intends to pursue actively this strategy thanks to its specific positioning and its strengths, in line with the needs of a world in movement. Each of its three poles contributes to the acceleration of the implementation of the strategy of the Group.
The acceleration of demand for solutions Saint-Gobain, the macro-economic environment to improve gradually for each of our end markets and the results of the various action plans implemented, should allow the Group to grow faster than its markets.
This growth will result in margin improvement and increased cash generation. Saint-Gobain intends to be able to demonstrate its potential for improving margins through levers of business are specific to each pole. In the medium term, the operating margin could reach 12 to 14% for the division Innovative Materials, 11% to 13% for the Construction Products and 4.5% to 5.5% for the Building Distribution sector.
The Group is revising upwards the amount and duration of its programmes cost savings through the deployment of Industry 4.0, as well as the opportunities related to the transformation to digital in its various businesses. Over the period 2017-2020, the amount of cost savings expected to reach at least 1.2 billion euros, which corresponds to an elongation and an increase in the program of 800 million euros initially announced for the period 2016-2018.
The financial discipline will continue to be a priority, with investment content to approximately 4% of sales in the medium term, that is to say, below their historical level, a level of working capital requirement lasting less than 30 days, a strict control over non-operating expenses, as well as an ongoing effort of optimization of the financial expenses, which will be down in 2017 to reach at least 500 million euros.
The optimization of the portfolio of activities will be key to the creation of value for Saint-Gobain on the period 2017-2020. The pace of acquisitions is expected to accelerate, with acquisitions of small and medium-sized for a total amount up to 2 billion euros over the next four years. They will create value quickly. The proposed acquisition of control of Sika remains a priority : Saint-Gobain is confident and determined to complete this project, in perfect alignment with the family Burkard. Disposals of activities nonstratégiques will represent a total of at least 1 billion euros between 2017 and 2020, in line with the ongoing commitment of the Group to optimise its portfolio.
You can watch the full presentations on the site www.saint-gobain.com/fr/finance.
Glossary :
Operating margin : operating Result / Turnover.
Operating income : details in note 3 in chapter 9 of the financial statements of the reference document 2016, available at the following link :
https://www.saint-gobain.com/sites/sgcom.master/files/ddr_2016_vf_.pdf
Industrial investments : investments tangible
ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN
Saint-Gobain designs, produces and distributes materials and solutions designed for the well-being of each and everyone’s future. These materials can be found everywhere in our habitat and our daily life : buildings, transport, infrastructure, as well as in numerous industrial applications. They bring comfort, performance and safety while meeting the challenges of building sustainable, effective and efficient management of resources and climate change.
39.1 billion euros in sales in 2016
Present in 68 countries
More than 170 000 employees
www.saint-gobain.com
@saint-gobain
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