COURBEVOIE (dpa-AFX) - French building materials company Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA said Wednesday that its first-half 2014 profit jumped 114.4% to €671 million from €313 million, as restated, in the year-ago period.
Recurring profit for the first-half rose 27.1% to €511 million from €402 million a year earlier.
Operating profit for the first-half increased 8.7% year-over-year to €1.3 billion.
First-half sales declined 1% to €20.45 billion from €20.65 billion in the same period last year.
On a like-for-like basis, first-half sales increased 4.1% from a year earlier.
Pierre-André de Chalendar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Saint-Gobain, said, 'After a first quarter boosted by favorable weather conditions in Europe, the second quarter confirmed the slight uptrend in our markets first seen in second-half 2013 across all of our regions; only France remains down. Besides the continuing strong negative currency effect during this first half and the impact of the Verallia North America sale, these results - along with our ongoing tight rein on costs - support our objective of a clear like-for-like improvement in operating income for full-year 2014.'
Saint-Gobain confirmed its objectives for full-year 2014 of a clear improvement in operating income on a comparable structure and currency basis and a continuing high level of free cash flow.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX