France: Saint-Gobain says that its overall group activity fell to 60% of 2019 levels in April 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then its level of activity surpassed 80% ‘at comparable working days, with large variations by market and country,’ according to Regulatory News Service. The group expects a ‘challenging’ second quarter 2020 before a recovery in the second half of the year. It continues to preserve cash and reduce costs.
In Europe the group reported that, by the end of May 2020, Nordic countries had almost reached 2019 levels. Germany and Eastern Europe were still seeing activity levels below those of 2019. The UK has seen activity levels progress by around 10%/week since a low point in mid-April 2020 when activity were at a ‘virtual standstill’, reaching around 70% of 2019 levels in the last week of May 2020.
In the group’s Middle East & Africa region activity levels surpassed 50% of 2019 levels since a low in mid-April 2020. In France, activity in distribution came close to the 2019 level in the last week of May 2020, but with big differences by region and brand. Spain and Italy are picking up gradually, but remain below the average level of the region. The Netherlands remains close to a normal level of activity, while the Middle East and Africa remain impacted to varying degrees.
North America has reported a ‘contrasting situation state by state,’ but has shown improvement since the low point of mid-April 2020. Activity in May 2020 moved closer to 2019 levels due to ‘significant’ volumes in exterior solutions and a rebound in gypsum volumes. In Latin America, despite the health situation remaining difficult, activity is picking up week after week, from 40% in mid-April 2020 to around 80% in May 2020 with a ramp-up in Brazil.
In Asia-Pacific sales have now reached 2019 levels following the gradual restart of all its production sites in China in March 2020. India remains ‘severely’ disrupted with the restart dependent on the relaxing of confinement measures. The situation is varied across South-East Asia with a rebound in Vietnam where activity has surpassed 2019 levels, but disruptions still relatively significant in Thailand and neighbouring countries.
