Saint-Gobain 2018 Net Profit Plummets on Asset Impairment

   By Cristina Roca

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA (SGO.FR) said Thursday that its 2018 net profit more than halved after it booked a large asset impairment, and proposed a slightly higher dividend than the year before.

The French construction-materials company reported net profit of 420 million euros ($476.5 million) for the year, down from EUR1.57 billion in 2017.

This was due to a EUR2 billion asset impairment, which mainly concerns "distribution in the U.K., Pipe, Lapeyre and distribution in Germany," Saint-Gobain said.

Saint-Gobain's sales for the year increased 2.4% to EUR41.77 billion. The company said that sales grew organically by 4.4% for the year and 4.8% during the last quarter of the year, and said it benefited from a strong pricing dynamic.

Analysts had seen sales for the year at EUR41.66 billion, according to a consensus estimate provided by FactSet.

Operating income for the year was EUR3.12 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, meeting the company's 2018 view of a LFL increase in operating income.

The company proposed a dividend of EUR1.33 a share, up from EUR1.30 a share the year before.

Write to Cristina Roca at cristina.roca@dowjones.com; @_cristinaroca

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2019 12:42 ET (17:42 GMT)

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