Gypsum industry news

France: Saint-Gobain has launched a Euro1.5bn bond issue. The issue consists of three Euro500m tranches, with maturities of three, six and 10 years. It is linked to two indicators of Saint-Gobain sustainability targets, namely its progress towards a 33% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 CO₂ emissions and an 80% reduction in production waste between 2017 and 2030. The company said that the transaction will enable it to extend the average maturity of its debt with mid to long-term funding.

CFO Sreedhar Natarajan said “Sustainable growth is at the heart of Saint-Gobain’s business model. The issuance of a sustainability-linked bond demonstrates the strength of Saint-Gobain’s commitments set out in its environmental and social governance roadmap. The group aims in particular to tackle the big energy and environmental challenges faced by the world with its contribution to reduce CO₂ emissions in its operations, and also decarbonise construction and industrial activities through its sustainable solutions”

Switzerland: Sika’s sales were US$5.45bn in the first half of 2022, up by 18% year-on-year from first-half 2021 levels. The group also increased its operating profit during the half, by 23% to US$874m.

CEO Thomas Hasler called market conditions during the half ‘challenging.’ He continued “Thanks to our broad diversification, we operate in several markets with different levels of maturity, and we can leverage our solutions across a broad base. We were largely able to offset the increase in price for raw materials with higher product prices, and supply bottlenecks were resolved via our global procurement organisation. The current challenges will remain in the second half of 2022, but I am confident that we can meet our targets for 2022 thanks to our dedicated employees.”

Belgium: Saint-Gobain has appeared on climate charity CDP’s Climate Change A List 2021. The producer says that the listing recognises its environmental ambition and transparency. It has taken ‘significant and demonstrable action,’ including allocating Euro100m/yr until 2030 in capital expenditure and research and development funding to reduce CO₂ emissions. It employs an internal carbon
price for investment decisions, which has risen by 50% to Euro75/t for capital expenditure. For research and development, it is Euro150/t.

Senior vice president human resources and corporate social responsibility Claire Pedini said “This is a recognition of the progress made and the commitment of the group with regard to the fight against climate change. Saint-Gobain is a key player in this respect and demonstrates at all levels its leadership and responsibility: maximising the positive impact for our customers thanks to our solutions, whilst minimising our own footprint as part of our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050.”

France: Saint-Gobain’s consolidated sales in the first nine months of 2021 were Euro32.9bn, up by 18% year-on-year from Euro27.9bn in the corresponding period of 2020. During the period, the company’s North Europe region’s sales increased by 18% to Euro11.2bn from Euro9.49bn, its Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa sales increased by 18% to Euro10.6bn from Euro9bn, its Americas sales increased by 20% to Euro5.07bn from Euro4.22bn and its Asia-Pacific sales increased by 25% to Euro1.32bn from Euro1.06bn.

The group said that its strategic priorities are to accelerate its growth and impact and to continue profitability and performance-focused initiatives in order to maintain robust margins and strong free cash flow generation. In the full year of 2021, it is targeting record operating income and close-to-record second-half operating income.

France: Saint-Gobain has launched Grow & Impact, a new strategic plan to increase profitable growth. The plan consists of new annual financial targets for 2021-2025, including organic sales growth of 3 - 5%, an operating margin of 9 – 11%, a free cash flow conversion ratio above 50%, a return on capital employed of 12 - 15% and an annual dividend payout ratio representing 30-50% of recurring net income. The company also announced a Euro2bn share buyback programme for 2021 – 2025.

Saint-Gobain has forecast full-year energy and raw materials costs of Euro1.5bn, up by 36% from its previous estimate of Euro1.1bn. Euro1.1bn (73%) of the new estimate is forecast for the second half of 2021. The group said that it will need a positive price impact of around 6% over the full year and of 8% in the second half of 2021 in order to offset this. CEO Benoit Bazin said “The Group will build on the success of its new local organisation and its multinational culture driven by performance and by proximity to its customers, in order to benefit fully from strong growth on its underlying markets. By capitalising on innovation and the power of data to enrich our range of solutions, Grow & Impact will enable us to outperform our underlying markets and maximise our positive impact in numerous areas.” He added “Our vision is to become the worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction. In a world moving towards net-zero carbon, Saint-Gobain aims to provide a full range of solutions that address three major issues of our time: drastically reducing the 40% of CO2 emissions linked to construction, protecting natural resources and facing the challenge of rapid urbanisation in emerging countries.”

France: Saint-Gobain is among 157 businesses which signed a letter to European Union (EU) members’ governments urging the enactment of higher 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. The letter calls on all EU leaders to target a reduction of 55% by 2030 in line with the European Green deal.

Chair and chief executive officer (CEO) Pierre-André de Chalendar said, “The right decisions now can help create and protect healthy, thriving and fair communities and secure a roadmap for a prosperous economy. From a business and investor perspective, clarity on the net zero transition pathway and timetables for each sector - as well as policy that enables substantial investments in carbon neutral solutions - is essential. This in turn would provide us with the confidence needed to invest decisively at the necessary pace and scale to reduce emissions, create decent green jobs, drive innovation, and accelerate the rebuilding of a resilient zero carbon economy."