Saint-Gobain shows sharp upswing in 2010 results

Saint-Gobain, France, published the results of its sales for the fourth quarter of 2010 and for the year ended Dec. 31, 2010.

"In 2010, in a global economy still recovering from the crisis, our sales volumes got back on an upward trend and our priority focus on sales prices paid off," said Pierre-Andre de Chalendar, chairman and chief executive officer, Saint-Gobain. "We delivered a sharp upswing in our results, driven in particular by the significant cost savings achieved over the past few years.

"Leveraging its financial strength, the Group will resolutely adopt a tempered development policy to boost this return to growth," Chalendar said. "It will step up its capital expenditure and financial investments, targeting emerging countries and high value-added Habitat solutions. Given an increase in its capital expenditure of EUR500 millionin 2011, Saint-Gobain is targeting free cash flow of EUR1.3 billion," according to a Feb. 24 PR Newswire report.