Shares in building materials company Saint-Gobain went up more than 2% on 17 September 2003 on hopes U.S. negotiations on asbestos litigation reform would lead to a deal to end asbestos lawsuits.
Sha…
Shares in building materials company Saint-Gobain went up more than 2% on 17 September 2003 on hopes U.S. negotiations on asbestos litigation reform would lead to a deal to end asbestos lawsuits. Shares in Saint-Gobain were up 1.8% at EUR 34.91, better than an 0.8% gain by the DJ Stoxx construction index. The stock has recovered 49% from a low of EUR 23.46 on 10 March 2003 as investors have become less worried about its exposure to U.S. legal claims related to asbestos. Hopes of a deal to take asbestos claims out of the courts have been rising as a result of an initiative in the US senate, sponsored by Senator Orin Hatch. “It is widely known that the asbestos reforms proposed by Senator Hatch in the summer have been derailed as a result of a lack of acceptance by all parties… Since this time, further lobbying has taken place, with new common ground being found,” CSFB analysts said in a research note. “We think there will be new – potentially positive – news on this front in two to three weeks“ time,” they said. They added in their eyes Saint-Gobain remained attractive, with the shares trading at five times forecast enterprise value/EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) per share, compared with 6.5 times for the sector.