Growth for building materials

Saint-Gobain, the building materials and retail group, posted a sales decline of 4.6 per cent to € 14.65 bn in the first six months of the current financial year. The housing products sector bucked the trend, showing a positive like-for-like result 2.7 per cent up on the comparable period in 2001. According to a press release, the group’s building materials trade has grown both organically and through acquisitions, and has also been working more profitably.