Saint-Gobain: 2009 action; plan ahead of targets

Against the backdrop of an unprecedented economic and financial crisis affecting virtually all sectors and countries across the globe, trading for the [Saint-Gobain] Group was sluggish throughout 2009 in most of its businesses and geographic areas. However, there was a relative improvement over the second half of the year compared with the first half, in terms of both like-for-like growth and profitability. Gains in profitability were chiefly attributable to the cost cutting program implemented. The Group therefore considers that business bottomed out overall in 2009. Nevertheless, the global economic climate remained very challenging in the second half of the year. Only Asian and Latin American countries saw a significant pick-up in trading between the first and second half of the year (around 20 percent), and have now put the crisis behind them. While trading in both Western and Eastern Europe along with North America seems to have stabilized overall at a low level (particularly in construction), certain industries such as the automotive sector saw an improvement in the second half of the year. Household consumption, in turn, remained relatively less affected by the downturn in the economic climate in 2009, according to a Feb. 25 PR Newswire report.

Read full article