Strong progress in results
- Organic growth of 2.6% led by volumes; prices stable, with a progression of 0.6% in H2
- Negative 2.9% currency impact on sales (with a negative 2.3% impact in H2); negative 1.0% Group structure impact
- Further rise in operating income up 10.8% like-for-like, and operating margin up to 7.2% from 6.7%
- Further strong 20.0% increase in recurring net income1
- 29.0% increase in free cash flow2 to €1,258 million
- Acceleration of acquisitions in H2, totaling €362 million over the full year
- Increase in net debt to €5.6 billion, due namely to optimization of pension costs; buyback and cancelation of 11 million shares during the year
- 2016 dividend increased to €1.26, to be paid wholly in cash
Pierre-André de Chalendar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain, commented:
“Saint-Gobain showed strong progress in its 2016 results. We saw the benefits of our optimisation efforts and of our development in emerging markets, in a more supportive economic environment than 2015. As expected, France stabilized over the year as new-build activities recovered. All other regions enjoyed good momentum. The Group also benefited from its focus on pricing against a backdrop of lower energy and raw material costs.
In 2017, Saint-Gobain will maintain focus on its operational and strategic priorities. We expect both costs and prices to begin to rise again. The economic environment should be positive overall, although uncertainties remain in some of our markets. In this context, we are targeting a further like-for-like increase in operating income in 2017.”
- Recurring net income: net attributable income from continuing operations excluding capital gains and losses on disposals, asset write-downs and material non-recurring provisions.
- Cash flow from continuing operations excluding the tax impact of capital gains and losses on disposals, asset write-downs and material non-recurring provisions, less capital expenditure of continuing operations.
