French building materials and speciality glass company Compagnie de Saint-Gobain announced on 29 April 2009 that its first-quarter revenue had dropped 15% as the construction market continued to decli…
French building materials and speciality glass company Compagnie de Saint-Gobain announced on 29 April 2009 that its first-quarter revenue had dropped 15% as the construction market continued to decline. Saint-Gobain said its revenue in the first three months of 2009 fell to EUR 8.78 billion from EUR 10.3 billion in 2008, just above expectations. The company also said the first half of 2009 is looking to be extremely challenging, but did not give any guidance for the full year. “With all global markets in the doldrums during the first quarter of the year and faced with persistent uncertainty going forward, Saint-Gobain has not yet seen any concrete evidence that the economic crisis has bottomed out,” the company said. Saint-Gobain shares closed on 29 April down 0.3% at EUR 26.39., and have lost 45% of their value in the past year as the economic downturn has substantially impacted the construction sector.