– Saint-Gobain sees its energy and raw material costs soaring by slightly more than 3 billion euros this year due to rising inflation, the French construction materials group said on Thursday.
The group expects the bill for energy alone for the year to amount to almost 2.5 billion euros.
It however said it had hedged around 80% of its natural gas and electricity needs for 2022, and about 60% for the next year, adding it was confident in its ability to offset the cost increases this year.
“For its main gas-consuming manufacturing businesses in Europe, the Group has made rapid progress in rolling out continuity plans and ensuring the flexibility of production to operate with less or alternative energy,” it said in a statement.
Four of its glass making plants are using fuel or diesel to operate, while four others are being prepared for possible conversion this year, and two more the next one.
In insulation business, over half of the 25 plants in Europe have an electricity-powered furnace, while investments are made to use alternative energies by the year-end at four plants in Germany, among others.
Saint-Gobain quarterly revenue rose 19.6% year-on-year to 12.9 billion euros ($12.88 billion), beating the 12.7 billion euros average estimate from a company-provided consensus, thanks to double-digit organic growth in all segments, driven in particular by high performance solutions, Asia-Pacific and North America.
The group confirmed its guidance for 2022.
($1 = 1.0014 euros)
