By Nathan Allen 
 

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA's (SGO.FR) net profit rose nearly 62% in the first half, due largely to the sale of some of its stake in Sika AG (SIKA.EB), the company said Thursday.

First-half profit at the French building-materials company was 1.22 billion euros ($1.43 billion) compared with EUR754 million a year earlier. Sales rose 1.9% to EUR20.79 billion from EUR20.41 billion, the company said.

The group booked a one-off gain of EUR781 million from selling part of its stake in Sika back to the company.

Chief Executive Pierre-Andre de Chalendar said the group raised sales prices by an average of 2.5% amid continued raw material and energy cost inflation.

Analysts had forecast sales of EUR20.58 billion, according to a FactSet-compiled consensus.

Following the closing of the Sika transaction Saint-Gobain said it will accelerate its transformation strategy and is targeting divestments that represent at least EUR3 billion in sales by the end of 2019.

The company said it plans to continue its high volume of acquisitions, having bought 13 companies for a total of EUR356 million in the first half.

 

Write to Nathan Allen at nathan.allen@dowjones.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 26, 2018 12:37 ET (16:37 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Grafico Azioni Cie de SaintGobain (EU:SGO)
Storico
Da Feb 2024 a Mar 2024 Clicca qui per i Grafici di Cie de SaintGobain
Grafico Azioni Cie de SaintGobain (EU:SGO)
Storico
Da Mar 2023 a Mar 2024 Clicca qui per i Grafici di Cie de SaintGobain