The series of Sika takeover by Saint-Gobain, which began discreetly on December 5, is enriched with a new episode reinforces the position of the current leadership in the strategic conflict against the french group led by Pierre-André de Chalendar.
The Swiss chemical group on Tuesday released partial results above the expectations of financial analysts. Revenues in 2014 increased by 13% in local currencies and 8.3% in Swiss francs to 5.57 billion francs.
Complete figures including the benefits will be published on February 27, Jan Jenisch, director of Sika already dangled an operating profit (EBIT) of more than 600 million francs. This figure, conservative judged by financial analysts, an increase of over 14%, while the previous forecast of the active chemical group in the construction were in the range of 8 to 12%.
Put in balance the conflict of objectives, and the calculation of synergies and business integration in terms of Sika Saint-Gobain, these results support the direction of the Swiss group in its intentions to get another business model as that proposed by the French group, ten times larger than him.
"We can not achieve our growth objectives with the map of Saint-Gobain," warned Tuesday, January Jenisch during a conference call. It recalls that it is in the business for eighteen years and that the current management team is no stranger to the results envied by Saint-Gobain. The average profit margin of the Swiss group between 2010 and 2013 is 10.2%, against 8.3% for Saint-Gobain.
Beyond the sense of inequality related to the fact that the French group can, through the opt out, take the Sika control by holding 16% stake sold by Burkard family, management does not understand how Sika can remain competitive with Saint-Gobain in the rapidly growing mortars. In fact, the management of Sika dream to manage this business sector of Saint-Gobain Weber embodied by the company. This is nearly five times greater than the mortars division of the Swiss Chemical Society. Absorption of a former competitor would create synergies of € 150 million instead of 70 million allocated to Sika in the plane of Saint-Gobain, says Jan Jenisch. The boss of the French group offers him a simple strategy of complementarity with Weber, whose annual turnover is 2.3 billion euros.
This form of differentiation mortar product ranges across markets is considered aberrant by the management of Sika. "The industrial logic is that we create global synergies based on reduced costs and more efficient network of plants," says Jan Jenisch. He reiterated Tuesday his intention to leave the company if the strategic position of Saint-Gobain does not infléchissait. "I can not run the map of Saint-Gobain. It is not realistic overall direction, "said the boss of Sika.
What is the atmosphere in the company's staff? "Everyone has questions. I do not make comments on the subject of any employee departures. All I can say is that I put every effort to maintain the successful course of business, "says Jan Jenisch.
It confirms that there is still no dialogue with Saint-Gobain on a change of strategic plan. "At the moment there are no discussions with officials of Saint-Gobain, but I think and I hope it will be. Even if only to remove uncertainty, "argues the director of Sika. Markets were somewhat reassured Tuesday by the results. The title was up 4.57%, to 3135 francs at the close of trading, when he bought at 3899 francs before the announcement of the Sika takeover by Saint-Gobain. The future remains unclear. "In the current situation, I can not issue any forecast on the possible growth in 2015," states Jan Jenisch.