Saint-Gobain recently announced that its provisional net income for last year was up 30% at FFr 5.6bn (US$926m). Increased net profits came on sales of FFr 107bn, up 8.9% from FFr 91bn. The company said almost all sectors contributed to the improvement, regardless of continued slackness in the European construction business, and that more than 65% of sales were in Europe with the rest in the Americas and Asia. The group said it would make no provision for the Asian crisis. Operating income was FFr 10.4bn, against FFr 9.4bn in 1996. This represented 9.7% of turnover, compared with 10.3% the previous year. Continuing group restructuring absorbed FFr 1.1bn. Net debt continued to grow, reaching FFr 17.4bn, compared with FFr 14.7bn in 1996 and FFr 3.9bn in 1995. (whole item)
