Same reason spike the own funds of EUR 1

Same reason spike the own funds of EUR 1.5 billion to spend a year 2009 coming very difficult but not the same punishment. While the Paris stock exchange was rather well received, Friday, the capital increase of Lafarge, which was expected by markets worried about its debt level, similar operation announced the same day by Saint-Gobain, was sanctioned by a 14,97 fall in the title, 23,80 euros. Yet, it is fully guaranteed by the banking syndicate led by BNP Paribas, Calyon, and JP Morgan. But investors enjoyed neither surprise nor uncertainty as to the decision of the investment company Wendel, Saint-Gobain first shareholder with 21.2 of the capital, or not to subscribe to the capital increase Friday, Wendel had not specified its position, but according to our information, it should be involved in operation and announced modalities (box read) reflected by a very strong haircut.

Friday, the Financial Director of Saint-Gobain, Benoît Bazin, argued however that "the discount is linked to the volatility of the markets, but it is neutral to the existing shareholders." The stock market, finally, did not appreciate the announcement by the leaders of the Group of materials and trades of the habitat of their intention to propose to shareholders a dividend of 1 euro per share for the financial year 2008, against 2.05 euros paid the previous year.

But the war as in war. As in Lafarge, this capital increase is only one of the elements of a vigorous plan to enable Saint-Gobain cross at best the storm.

Downsizing

Already, the 2008 fiscal year was busy. After two warnings on its results and the announcement, last July, 4,000 cuts workforce and a EUR 300 million savings plan, the group led by Pierre-André de Chalendar finally published annual results slightly above the expectations of analysts through, in particular, to a good holding of the selling price: the current net result decreased by 9.5 over 20071,914 billion euros, and the result net (Group share) decreased by 7.3 to 1.38 billion, for a turnover increase of 0.9, at 43.8 billion and an increase of 3.7 at constant exchange rates. In the light of the degradation of the activity year, marked by a plunge of 9.3 of the volumes that rising prices by 3.8 in the fourth quarter was not compensated, Saint-Gobain has considerably hardened its adjustment measures. At the global level, carried out staff reductions in 2008 were finally concerned 8,000 jobs, and 100 million additional euros of cost savings have been identified.

New savings plan

For 2009, the roadmap established by Pierre-André de Chalendar is in the same line: priority given to the selling prices to support sales. new program of 600 million euros of savings which, he said, "could be amplified in the coming months" and that will result in "significant" workforce reductions, this time, "in the whole of the geographical areas", and more only in the United States, Britain and Spain; decrease of at least 25 (or EUR 500) industrial investment; continuation of transfers of small and medium size (the sale of the packaging, valued pole some 4 billion euros, on the other hand referred to better days because it is "out of the question to convey an ultra-cheap price"); suspension, finally, of the proposed acquisitions in 2009.

In the context of global recession, Saint-Gobain, obviously refuses to prediction encrypted for 2009. Objectives for 2010 that the Group was established in 2007, they have simply become "obsolete".