© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Saint-Gobain brand is seen on the corporate headquarters constructing on the La Protection enterprise district in Courbevoie, exterior Paris, France, February 19, 2018. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
(Reuters) – French development supplies group Saint-Gobain on Thursday posted report first-quarter gross sales however flagged the upper influence of vitality and uncooked materials prices in 2022 amid a difficult geopolitical state of affairs and provide chain points.
Saint-Gobain, which manufactures and distributes supplies in sectors starting from automotive to well being, safety, and meals and drinks, additionally confirmed its earlier goal of incomes the next 2022 working earnings versus 2021 at comparable change charges, amid good momentum in its most important markets.
The group mentioned, nonetheless, it expects accelerating inflation to boost its vitality and uncooked materials prices by round 2.5 billion euros in 2022 in comparison with 2021, when its invoice amounted to 1.5 billion euros, or 3% of gross sales.
“This inflation considerations specifically vitality prices, particularly in Europe the place the Group has hedged round 80% of its and electrical energy purchases for 2022 as an entire,” it added in its quarterly earnings assertion.
The corporate’s gross sales of 12 billion euros ($12.60 billion) for the three months by March, up 16.4% on a like-for-like foundation from a 12 months earlier, have been pushed by renovation in Europe and development within the Americas and Asia.
Saint-Gobain mentioned it had drawn up numerous plans to proceed its operations in “delicate to Russian fuel provides” Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic, if Russia have been to cease the flows utterly.
It hopes to restrict the doable influence to round 2% of group gross sales, Chief Monetary Officer Sreedhar Natarajan mentioned in a convention name.
The group reiterated it has no manufacturing operations in Russia and had cancelled all its funding tasks within the nation.
($1 = 0.9527 euros)
