By Mateusz Rabiega
(Reuters) -Saint-Gobain plans to spend around 12 billion euros ($14 billion) to grow its business through organic investments and acquisitions under its 2026-2030 strategy, while earmarking roughly 8 billion euros for shareholder returns, the French construction group said on Monday.
The company will focus on growing its construction chemicals segment, as well as expanding in high-growth markets of North America and Asia-Pacific, as it turns more toward industrial and non-residential sectors, it said in a statement.
As part of its strategy, the company wants to seize opportunities, including the demand from rising population and urbanisation in Asia and emerging countries, a potential market recovery in Europe, and strong long-term needs in North America.
Ultimately, the group expects high-growth markets to account for close to 60% of its sales in the long term, versus around 50% today.
Saint-Gobain shares rose over 1% in early trading before reversing course as French stocks plunged after the unexpected resignation of the country’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
The shares were down 2.4% by 1138 GMT.
Saint-Gobain wants to pay out around 6 billion euros in dividends, and 2 billion in share buybacks, it said.
The company also raised the financial targets for the next four years, compared to the ones it had set for 2021-2025, and said it aimed to outperform the wider market with mid-single-digit percentage growth in sales on average.
It targets a core profit (EBITDA) margin of between 15% and 18%, up from 13% to 15% expected in the previous strategy.
($1 = 0.8539 euros)
(Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
