Saint-Gobain further increases its turnover in the first quarter

The French building materials group Saint-Gobain announced Thursday a 3,3% increase in its turnover in the first quarter, to 12,4 billion euros, "in a difficult geopolitical and macroeconomic environment".

Saint-Gobain mentions in particular an inflation which weighs down the new construction markets, especially in North America and Europe, partially offset by "the good general resilience" of the energy renovation market.

Like-for-like, the group's turnover increased by 4,7% from January to March, "growing in all its business segments", adds the company in a press release.

The published turnover is slightly higher than the consensus of Bloomberg analysts, who expected 12,252 billion euros, and below that of Factset analysts who expected 13,39 billion euros.

Over the quarter, the prices of materials, plasterboard, glass wool, etc., increased by 10,2% on average. But sales in volume fell by 5,5%.

Without giving concrete details or specific examples, Saint-Gobain said "to take the commercial and industrial measures necessary to adapt to its environment" and "to continue to generate an attractive level of operating margin despite difficult markets" .

Sales increased by 1% in Northern Europe over the quarter, driven by prices and in a context of a marked slowdown in new construction, while renovation (around 55% of sales) held up better.

The Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa region, which includes activities in France, posted sales up 8,1%, driven by prices and good resilience in the renovation market (nearly 70% of sales), while the new construction market is slowing down.

The Americas region posted growth of 0,5%: North America increased by 0,5% and Latin America by 0,7%. Brazil in particular continues to suffer from high interest rates weighing on the construction market.

The Asia-Pacific region saw its turnover increase by 5%.

The group confirmed for 2023 the outlook for its markets presented at the end of February, "with a contrasting situation between the marked decline in new construction and the good general resilience of renovation".

In a context of moderate market slowdown, Saint-Gobain confirms that it is aiming for an operating margin of between 2023% and 9% in 11.