Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. (SGO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello and good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure today to present together with Sreedhar. our CFO, our first half results. There are 2 strong and positive takeaways from our first half. First, we have delivered once again an excellent performance in H1 2022 across all financial indicators. Second, Saint-Gobain has very solid fundamentals, a transformed business model and a clear strategy. So let me start with the highlights of the first half. In 2021, we have defined our strategic growth and impact with the vision to reinforce our worldwide leadership in light and sustainable construction. The progress of which you will see all along this presentation. Our financial results are a perfect illustration of the successful implementation of Grow & Impact. After a record year in 2021, we are again delivering an excellent performance on all financial indicators with new records. Strong sales growth, up 15% like-for-like, plus 17.5% for our operating income versus H1 2021 to a new record at EUR 2.8 billion, with also a record operating margin at 11%, plus 20.5% on our recurring net income over the first half of 2021, above EUR 1.8 billion, which is also a new record. And finally, strong ongoing discipline on cash management with free cash flow close to EUR 1.7 billion and in line with our objective of a conversion ratio above 50%. So once again, a very strong set of results for Saint-Gobain despite COVID. We still have Omicron remember in January and February, supply chain disruptions and accelerated inflation. These results show the continuous commitment of our teams. And I want to thank and congratulate all of them for their achievement. I'm very proud of them, and this is why together with all the management team of Saint-Gobain, we look forward to the future with confidence. Our new Grow & Impact strategic plan is being very well received by our teams and our customers, helping us to make it a real success. We are bringing complete solutions to our customers with our country-based organization, leading to a greater satisfaction of their needs and also a better optimization of our operations. We are constantly enhancing our growth and profitability profile with mergers and acquisitions. We have rotated another EUR 2.6 billion of turnover since the beginning of this year with various acquisitions and divestitures. I was in Canada 2 weeks ago, and I can tell you that Kaycan, our latest acquisition, which we have acquired in North America, U.S. and Canada, will truly strengthen our leadership in light construction market. And we are also playing our leader role on sustainable construction, bringing solutions that decarbonize construction. I will come back on our achievements later in the presentation. So these are just a few examples among many, illustrating our momentum with a focused and consistent strategy. We have built a powerful and resilient business model. Fast, resilient, proactive organization to navigate through any uncertainties. We have proven that over the last 3 years, a country-based organization. Our local teams are fully empowered to make quick decisions and they know the specificities of their markets better than anyone else. They are performance driven, focused on execution with clear financial indicators. They're also customer-centric with comprehensive innovative solutions to address customer needs and best-in-class service to outperform our competitors. And finally, we have built also a strong portfolio focused on value creative and synergistic acquisitions and divestments for underperforming businesses. With all of this, our ambition, of course, is to continue to outperform our markets. And I'm confident in our 2022 outlook, which targets a further increase in operating income compared to 2021 at constant exchange rate and also in our ability to deliver another year with double-digit margin. Sreedhar, the floor is yours to drive us through all the details and the financial metrics of the group.

Thank you, Benoit, and good morning, everyone. Let me give you some more details about our first half results. Starting with organic growth, we saw a dynamic growth in the first half with 15% organic growth driven by pricing given the high comparison basis in volumes. You see the positive exchange rate impact is compensated by the negative structure impact which is coming from the continued divestment of underperforming businesses, partly offset by the acquisitions, mainly Chryso made to enhance our growth and profitability profile. If you look at the pricing, we continue to see a very good trend quarter after quarter in all segments, driven by our differentiated solutions, our services and importantly, our local organization by country, which enables us to have a good and deep understanding of our customers and the market dynamics. In this context, we did achieve a positive price/cost spread for the first half of more than EUR 250 million in a continued inflationary environment. We now expect the total inflation of raw materials and energy for the year to be close to EUR 3 billion versus EUR 2.5 billion, which we said at end of April. The vast majority of increase is coming from raw materials and the transportation due to sustained high level of energy costs. We are confident that we will be able to more than offset this expected inflation in raw materials and energy for the full year. Note that for 2022, we are hedged at 80% our energy and around 60% for 2023. If you look at the volume trends, it's a very good trend. We see coming quarter after quarter when you compare with 2019. It is important to compare with 2019 as 2020 and '21 down comparison basis are lumpy due to the COVID effects. You notice that we have Q2 volumes in line with Q1 volumes compared to 2019. We saw a continuation of a very strong underlying trends driven by renovation in Europe, construction in Americas and in Asia Pacific, except China. In terms of operating income and margin, we achieved the new record. The operating margin increased to 11%, a 370 basis point increase compared to pre-transformation margin of H1 2018 with a structural improvement coming from the cost savings and the optimized group portfolio, in addition to the benefits brought by the effective new organization. In addition to the structural improvement, we also had a positive price/cost spread of more than $250 million that I mentioned earlier. The first half results once again reinforced the fact that Saint-Gobain is resilient as we continue to deliver excellent results in spite of all challenges related to COVID, supply chain and unprecedented inflation. Let us now look at the P&L -- other P&L lines below operating income. We recorded an increase in business income of 16%, and we have achieved another new record of EBITDA for the first half with an EBITDA margin of 13.4%. Please note that we have accounted of EUR 77 million loss in the capital gain loss line as we lost the arbitration process linked to the Verallia North America divestment in 2014. When you look at the net financial expenses was slightly lower compared to the last year. Income tax was also lower as H1 2021 included an exceptional amount in the U.K. related to the deferred income tax. The group tax rate on recurring net income was slightly down at 24%. Recurring net income reached a new record level at EUR 1.8 billion, up 20%, and earnings per share is up 23% as we continue to do our share buyback program plan as we communicated in Capital Markets Day. Coming to the free cash flow, we have achieved a free cash flow of EUR 1.7 billion and a conversion ratio of 51% delivering once again consistently in line with what we said in our Investors Day target. This is what was driven by the EBITDA increase and came despite the normalization of working capital, which rose slightly to 26 days from the 25 days of last year in June, due to the expected increase in inventories necessary to serve our customers better and to mitigate the supply chain-related disruption we continue to see. Total CapEx was EUR 70 million in the first half as against the $1.8 billion planned for the full year. Coming to the balance sheet. Our continued strong focus on cash helped us to significantly reduce our debt over the last few years, and our leverage ratio is at 1.2x even after taking into account the IFRS 16 impact. We are very glad that Moody's has upgraded our credit rating and Standard & Poor's also revised its outlook to positive. This reinforces our commitment as a management to keep the balance sheet very strong and also have the investment grade strong going forward. Now let us look at the results by reporting segments. Overall, in Europe, we continue to see a good sales momentum on the renovation market. despite some signs of slowdown in new construction. Let me get into the details of Northern Europe. Starting with the Nordic countries, they continue to deliver good growth, thanks to our position across the value chain with the renovation market supported by energy-efficient related renovation. In the U.K., we have continued to optimize our portfolio. We were able to deliver a satisfactory performance in a slower market. Germany benefited from its strong positioning in energy-efficient renovation but faces some uncertainties in terms of the availability and the cost of energy. Eastern European countries reported a very strong momentum, thanks to a very supportive markets and to the market share gains in its main countries, particularly Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania. The region achieved a record operating margin of 8.2%. When you look at the Southern Europe, we saw a strong sales growth driven by price given a high comparison basis in volumes. Our unique offer of comprehensive solutions helped us to outperform the renovation market. France continued to grow strongly, thanks to a solid renovation market and our energy efficiency solutions, aided by the stimulus package like MaPrimeRénov. Thanks to our unique presence throughout the value chain and our complete set of innovative and substantial and sustainable solutions, we continue to outperform. Italy also did a very good job of using the full set of solutions to make the most of the strong demand for energy-efficient renovation, which is also supported by Italian government. Spain strongly grew, especially in the solutions in the light and sustainable construction. Middle East and Africa delivered further robust growth, benefiting from the opening of new plants and upbeat markets, particularly in Turkey and Egypt. We achieved a very good operating margin in the region of 8.9%. In the Americas, we continue to see strong growth driven by the pricing and with the volumes pacing in a high comparison basis, but up 15% on their pre-COVID levels. Thanks to strong demand and the market share gains, the region achieved a very good margin level of 16.9%. In the North America sales of our comprehensive solutions for light and sustainable construction continued to drive growth for exterior products like roofing and siding and interior products like gypsum and insulation, providing user comfort and energy efficiency. The success of Continental integration is helping us to strengthen our presence in the market and consistently outperform. Our local organization enables us to deal with supply chain challenges and reinforce our customer service, which is one of the biggest differentiating factor in the market. Latin America saw a good double-digit growth, a tough comparison basis and a less dynamic market macroeconomic environment, particularly in Brazil and given the inflation and the interest rate rises. Otherwise, the growth across the region, particularly Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Colombia, plenty of countries where we continue to be doing very well, supported by sales price and also enhanced product mix and the growth for the both CapEx investments and acquisitions like IMPAC in the Construction Chemicals distributed recently in Mexico. Now let us look at the growing Asian markets. We saw a strong sales growth in Asia Pacific region driven by volume as well as price. India showed an excellent performance once again with a growth of 60%, thanks to the market share gains and an innovative, integrated offering supporting energy and the resource efficiency buildings. The completion of the acquisition of Rockwool India Private Limited, earlier in this year completes the country's offering in the facade and interior solutions for the market. China maintained growth despite the pandemic-related lockdowns driven by prices and thanks to the market share gains in light construction. Southeast Asia had a dynamic quarter, especially in Vietnam and Malaysia, with markets rebounding and the diversification of our effort, especially in construction chemicals. The region achieved a strong operating margin of 12.7%. Now let us look at the global customer markets. You see like-for-like sales accelerated both in price and volume. Thanks to recovering markets aside from automotive in Europe. Our Construction Industry business continued to show a strong growth at about 20% outperforming the market, supported by the strong demand for the external thermal insulation systems. Very good trends at Chryso, continued its high trajectory of growth plus 24% of organic growth driven by the need of decarbonization of the construction sector. Our mobility sales increased, driven by pricing and the volumes in the Americas, China and India, especially in electric cars. The drop in European mobility continued, but things improved at the end of first half. We continue to outperform the automotive market, thanks to, again, our strong positioning in electric cars and high added value solutions. Industrial markets saw a double-digit growth driven by both volumes and pricing, thanks to our co-development models with clients and our high added value solutions. Our growth was supported by businesses linked to our customers investment cycles like ceramic refractories, where our solutions help our customers to decarbonize their processes. The operating margin of high-performance solution was 12.9%, a sharp sequential improvement when you compare with last year's second half. So to summarize, you have seen as Benoit said, we have achieved an excellent result in spite of all unprecedented challenges we saw in the last 3 years. And this, again, reinforces the effectiveness of the new management the Grow & Impact strategy in action. I can only tell you that I assure you that this management will take proactive steps, do every possible things to ensure that Saint-Gobain remains very resilient. Thank you, and I pass on the floor to Benoit.

Thank you, Sreedhar. Now let me share with you our perspectives and operational priorities. We operate in a more uncertain economic environment with higher inflation, rising interest rates, energy supply challenges, particularly in Europe, and we are, of course, closely monitoring these changing market conditions, which happen on a country-by-country basis, and we stand ready to take all necessary actions. I'm confident that against this backdrop, Saint-Gobain is stronger and more resilient than ever. Why is that? First, because we have made the right strategic choices on the markets we operate in. A large part of Saint-Gobain markets are resilient. I will come back to it. And second, because of the transformation that we have delivered in terms of business model for Saint-Gobain. So let's talk first about our markets, a large part being resilient, renovation-driven, decarbonization of construction and industry. When you look at our exposure across segments and geographies, you can see that around half of our turnover is on renovation. The market also that has structurally changed which we expect to remain resilient, also due to a much greater focus on energy efficiency. Additionally, you can see it on the right part of the slide, we have strengthened and diversified our geographic footprint with the recent acquisitions also of GCP, Kaycan, Continental 2 years ago with now 40% of our sales between North America and Asia emerging markets, 25% France and 35% in the rest of Western Europe. Our markets are driven by strong megatrends, which are going to resist and to remain for the long term, climate change and the need to decarbonize construction, preservation of natural resources, fast decarbonization in emerging markets. Those 3 fundamental challenges, they call for a sustained growth on our 3 markets, renovation, light construction and also a shift towards sustainability on global industrial and construction applications. Starting with renovation. The need for energy efficiency in buildings has never been so pressing. To some extent, there is a triple alignment to it, carbon neutrality for climate, energy independence in Europe accelerated by the war in Ukraine and also, of course, reduction of household purchasing power due to the high energy bills. So the best energy, you know it's the one you don't use. I'm not going to go into all the details, but you can see that the European Commission is progressing fast on regulatory framework for energy renovation, also for mandatory minimum energy standards in existing buildings and the REPower EU initiative further strengthen this priority with additional funding. At country level, many governments have strengthened their initial commitment on energy efficiency. In France, the government has already extended its commitment for MaPrimeRénov, which calls for at least 700,000 renovation per year. Similar situation in Spain, the government is introducing energy-savings certificates, a new scheme on top of their massive fiscal support on energy renovation. Sreedhar mentioned the superbonus in Italy, which has been extended for many years to come. So our full set of renovation solutions will continue to benefit from this very positive and lasting trend. Now let's also keep in mind that on new construction, the underlying dynamics are healthy with still a very large unmet demand. Housing shortages are widespread across our large markets, 3.8 million units in the U.S., 1.8 million units in Canada. And in the last decade, housing starts have progressed a pretty moderate pace, so that they remain well below the previous peak. So we are not facing the risk of a bubble burst. There will be bumps down the road, but we do expect new construction to make its way through the coming years. Within new build, we are particularly well positioned with our live construction solutions, which answer the needs for construction decarbonization, time and productivity savings. We talked about that at length during the Capital Market Day and also, of course, all the well-being benefits. All those benefits explain why light construction is actually growing faster than traditional construction between 1 and 5 points in the different geographies and clearly gaining share against traditional ways of construction. We are particularly well positioned in terms of light construction, representing 40% of our total sales. Finally, on our global industrial markets, they remain supported by innovation and investment needs for sustainability. The big sustainability imperative that a lot of corporates have taken. This commitment become the standard across a lot of large industrial companies, which are customers of Saint-Gobain. Their urgent need for sustainability, for performance is offering significant opportunities for innovation, new products and therefore growth for our high-performance solutions. Just one example on the right part of the slide, the EV market is expected to grow 10x between 2020 and 2028. This is great for electrical vehicle glazings, but also for battery components within high-performance solutions. Sekurit, our brand for automotive glazing has more than 40% market share on EV and EV sales will soon represent 25% of our mobility business around the world. So you have seen the first strategic choice we made it external on the markets we are operating in, supported by strong and resilient underlying drivers. The second point I want to highlight is more internal, our transformed organization, which makes us better positioned than ever to face shifts and challenges in market conditions. Our business model is powerful and resilient. It allows us to make the most out of any situation. We have proven that in the last 3 years, where we overcame -- it was not walk in the park against COVID, supply chain disruption, high inflation in the last 12 months and delivered very strong results. So I'm confident that we will navigate well more uncertain times ahead. Our country-based organization with CEOs 100% aligned and accountable. Our new business profile also much stronger, thanks to the divestments of underperforming businesses we have made and acquisitions to strengthen our positions like the acquisition of Continental Building Products in U.S. plasterboard, you have seen the success of this move. And also, we have devised and identified action plans ready in all countries. Our country-based organization is lean and it does facilitate fast decisions, which is essential to deal with whatever problem you could face such as, again, recently supply chain and inflation, but delivering a very good customer service. Decisions are taken very close to customers and they are made according to their local needs and expectations. Our managers are empowered to make the best decisions for their business, make decisions fast through aligned incentives. They are incentivized purely on their own parameter with clear objectives, cash returns, profitability and ESG road map. This local organization is driven by 90% of country CEOs, which are native from their country, from the countries they manage. So they are, therefore, very intimate with their customers, with their markets, with their teams also in order to motivate, push them, reward them, and it has proven its efficiency over the last year with very solid financial performance. So I'm confident that this organization is ready, is clearly designing everything it takes to navigate successfully in the coming quarters. Our local organization allows us also to accelerate growth and gain market share by offering comprehensive solution. Let me illustrate just 3 examples. In the U.S., CertainTeed provides Lowe's major U.S. retailer with a broadest product offering, combining plasterboard, roofing, siding, construction chemicals, all in one place. CertainTeed has doubled its sales in retail in the past 3 years. In India, Sreedhar mentioned the success of India in Saint-Gobain and again, in the first half, My Home by Saint-Gobain offers end customers an opportunity to design their homes with complete solutions from Saint-Gobain, from partitions to showers ceilings, kitchen countertops, and this service has contributed, it's not only that, but that's contributed to the exceptional growth we have seen in India, up more than 60% in the first half. Finally, we also leverage our expertise in material science to create innovative systems such as Glasroc X, which is a high-performance board for exterior applications, combining the plasterboard from Gyproc together with a fiber glass veil from ADFORS within high performance solutions. It has increased its sales by more than 20% over the first half 2022. Also, we have done a massive rotation of our group sales since 2018, now reaching close to 25% of our sales, the perimeter of 2018. More than EUR 6 billion of sales of underperforming assets have been divested with an EBITDA margin of less than 5%. And we have acquired high-growth, high-profitability sales for EUR 3.5 billion with an aggregate delivered margin around 20% EBITDA. So this renewed market positioning makes us more resilient should economic uncertainty linger over the coming quarters. I want to come back to Chryso. It has been integrated in our books on October 1 and I think it's another example after Continental about our capacity to timely and successfully integrate our new acquisitions. Chryso is delivering very strong results ahead of plan. It has achieved an organic growth of 24% like-for-like, 24% organic growth in the first half with more than EUR 50 million of EBITDA, maintaining a best-in-class margin. No change in the margin of EBITDA well above any other competitor. So I'm extremely pleased with the integration of Chryso and the performance and the strength of Chryso team now within Saint-Gobain. We have also started to fully leverage Saint-Gobain worldwide footprint to deploy Chryso technology and achieve synergies. Some examples are there cross-selling with POINT.P, now we have 95 ready-mix plants within POINT.P in France. They are all taking Chryso admixtures today achieving great synergies, deploying also as expected, the new street offer with Weber. You have a list of countries which are already delivering that on the ground and also working jointly on CapEx and M&A to enhance and accelerate the geographic presence of Chryso around the world. We have signed an acquisition in Brazil, which will be a very nice addition in Brazil for Chryso. This success, of course, will be replicated for our upcoming integrations, which we are actively preparing. Regarding GCP, the antitrust reviews are progressing well and the closing is expected before the end of the year. Integration planning is going full speed. The Saint-Gobain teams, Chryso, CertainTeed in North America are ready to welcome the GCP teams and create value together. The Kaycan transaction, good news is expected to close tomorrow, end of July, with a confirmed EBITDA multiple around 8x post synergies and after the disposal of the U.S. distribution business, which is progressing well. So there is no doubt that this integration will be seamless within CertainTeed as Continental 2 years ago. Thanks to the expertise, the enthusiasm of both teams between Kaycan and Saint-Gobain CertainTeed that was in Canada 2 weeks ago, and extremely pleased with the richness I've seen within Kaycan in terms of product knowledge, teams and also customer channels going forward. So faced with evolving market conditions, we are actively listening to that, each country action plans are ready to continue focus, of course, on price/cost spread like we have done very well in the first half while also retaining and gaining market share, outperforming the market, be ready also to adjust costs if where and when necessary and prepare backup plans for energy where and when appropriate. To illustrate this, I would like to listen, we have recorded the 4 CEOs, couldn't be here today with us, 4 CEOs who are fully determined to successfully face any upcoming channel. So let's listen to France, Poland, Germany and the U.S. Let's watch the video, please.

The mid- to long-term market trends in France continue to be favorable to us. The need for renovation, our biggest market is accelerating due to the current energy situation. The order pipelines of our customers are quite full until year-end. However, we are vigilant on the new construction trends and have already identified our action plan to adapt ourselves. As you have seen, we have demonstrated our capability to deal effectively with different challenges like COVID, inflation and supply chain disruptions, and we have continued to gain market share in that environment. I'm confident to deal with any new challenges. The daily contacts with hundreds of thousands of French craftsmen and our presence across the full value chain allow us to understand in real time the market trends and serve the customers in the best possible manner. Our ability to take quick decisions with the spirit of outperformance has been demonstrated during the past years. And our teams are extremely committed.

I'd like to talk to you about how we handle the cut off of Russian gas supply due to the war in Ukraine. We had anticipated it by drawing up contingency plans earlier this year to limit the impact of gas supply challenges, including the complete stop of all Russian gas. Poland has now filled up its gas storage capacities to over 90%. And we at Saint-Gobain, have diversified our mix of supply. We have been also working with the relevant authorities to ensure the prioritization of our glass furnaces to gas access. On another note, I would also like to tell you about how our new organization on the ground is allowing us to really take advantage of our full set of solutions. We created, for instance, a catalog of Saint-Gobain comprehensive solutions by category of customers. In doing so, many of our top customers have widened the range of solutions they are buying from us, allowing us to outperform the market. Last but not least, our teams know exactly how to best use our pricing power product line by product line in a timely manner.

In Germany, one major issue is a possible disruption in Russian gas supply. When the risk was increasing earlier this year, we implemented as Saint-Gobain already did in Poland, contingency plans to best react on various scenarios. A key priority has been the direct exchange with the German Federal Network Agency to underline the importance of our products for the energetic transition and carbon reduction in the German construction market. Besides that, we have been installing backup solutions, which basically consists of running our plants with either heavy fuel oil or diesel oil, amongst our 4 float lines in Germany, for example, one is at the border with the Netherlands and is using Dutch gas. One has been already switched to heavy oil and we are currently working on switching the remaining 2 to diesel oil in October or November. Our organization in Germany is extremely attentive to the gas supply situation and very close to the Federal Network Agency. And we all know that the best energy is the energy we do not use. This has made the renovation and lightweight construction markets more important than ever, and we benefit from our leading positions in these strong markets to be able to overcome any challenges we may face.

In North America, the question has never been whether or not our markets have a degree of cyclicality. The question and what we have built our organization around is how do we outperform the market. To do this, we are constantly monitoring and ensuring our teams remaining lean and agile in adapting to markets faster and better than others. In North America, this has been demonstrated over the past years where we have managed over 250 force majeures with no impact on our customers, where we have outserviced and outperformed the public competitors we can see and where, for instance, we grew the siding business at twice the market despite supply chain challenges. There are 2 positive dynamics that will continue to drive growth. More than half our sales in North America are tied to renovation. Because of our strong exposure to roofing. Repairing your roof is a must-have, not a nice to have, and therefore, not impacted by the macro economy. The successful acquisition of Continental and the addition of GCP and Kaycan to our offering will give us even more tools to differentiate in systems for residential, commercial and infrastructure that will allow us to continue to grow in value-added segments. In short, I am confident we have the best teams and the best solutions to win in whatever underlying market situation we are faced with. And I say this with the benefit of tangible results to prove it over the past 3 years.

Very good. Thank you, Thierry, Joanna, Raimund, Mark. So let's switch to this highlight on energy. You have heard from our Polish and German CEOs that our action plans for energy are well underway. We have devised consistent actions across Europe to ensure production continuity. We have continued to work since February, April when we last updated you, for instance, out of 13 flat glass float lines in Europe, 8 will soon be able to run on alternative energy and the remaining 5 have an extremely limited exposure to Russian gas supply. For other plants, we are also actively pushing to diversify our energy mix, also feature them as priority industry like in Germany and in Poland with the local authorities. So overall, in the countries which are the most exposed to Russian gas supply, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, we are able to mitigate the direct impact of a potential scenario in which all supplies of Russian gas are stopped to around 2% of group turnover. Of course, in addition to securing our energy supply, we are strongly committed to continue to work and accelerate on our energy transition. Some milestones and very big progress we have made in the first half, you have already heard this first premier of world's first 0 carbon production of flat glass in our plant in Aniche, in north of France using 100% green electricity, 100% cullet. We're also building the world's first 2 zero carbon gypsum product plan in Norway and in Canada, which will be operational in '23 and in 2024. So I'm very proud of the way our teams in each region, each country have built and taken ownership of their ESG road map and road map towards carbon neutrality by 2050. A good example also on the customer side is how we innovate to help our customers' transition towards decarbonized construction. One example what Chryso is doing in collaboration with Hoffman Green Cement and Bouygues construction. Earlier this year, we have demonstrated the first utilization of a low carbon concrete with 0% clinker on the construction site switching to clay and using of Chryso Environmix Ultra Low Carbon admixture. Another example is Facade F4 in France, the system between insulation and gypsum, with half of CO2 and half of water consumption, it's a dry process compared to similar traditional wall facade. So as you have seen, we are well determined, well positioned to outperform consistently, and I'm very confident in our ability to achieve resilient results going forward. Thanks to our positioning and strong underlying markets, our comprehensive solutions offering that matches the needs and the expectations of customers and also a powerful organization, culture, truly multi-local and driven by performance. So we see the current macroeconomic uncertainties as a new challenge to demonstrate, again, our resilience ensure that we can continue to outperform even in a more difficult environment. So now turning to the outlook, despite a more uncertain geopolitical macroeconomic environment, ongoing disruption in supply chain, particularly energy in Europe, rising interest rates, continued inflation that increase the risk of a slowdown in the new construction market, the group will continue to benefit in 2022 from strong momentum in its main markets especially renovation in Europe as well as construction in the Americas and in Asia. And reaffirm its excellent operating performance, thanks to an agile organization and optimized business model as we have seen. So provided there is no major -- new major impacts related to Corona virus pandemic or geopolitical situation, we expect the following trends in the different segments. In Europe, supportive renovation market requiring comprehensive solutions within each country across all the value chain, particularly on energy efficiency. Americas, upbeat market trends particularly in residential construction in North America, a bit less dynamic environment in Brazil. Asia-Pacific market growth with continued very good momentum in India and the recovery in Southeast Asia, short-term uncertainties in China related to the zero coronavirus health policy. High performance solutions, market growth with supportive long-term trends in terms of sustainability, construction and also industrial customers, demand for innovation and new materials to decarbonize, whether it's green mobility or other application, again, despite the low level of the automotive market in Europe, but I think we have reached a [ flow ]. So in this context, I'm confident that Saint-Gobain confirms it is targeting a further increase in operating income in 2022 compared to 2021 at constant exchange rate. Thank you, and we are now ready, Sreedhar and myself to take your questions. We'll start with the questions in the room.

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind. First one, you will not be surprised. It's a question regarding flat glass price end of December, also end of first quarter and end of June. The second issue, more flavor on your energy and electricity price risk management. What is the maximum duration of the long-term purchasing contracts and also hedging and the last question, the order of magnitude of sales and EBIT of Weber.

I think all questions for Sreedhar.

So on glass 4 mm, it is 5.65 in June. There's a sequential increase between the 2 quarters, the 17%. So it continues to -- we continue to push the prices up, and this is a business where there is clearly a shortage and the supply chain is pretty tight in the market, and it helps us to get this inflation comfortably passed on to the market. And then the second question on the hedging. I mean, as we said, hedging for 2023 is close to 60% that we have done. And this is something which we regularly watch, keep a watch on it. And keep make -- opportunistically make the necessary adjustments. And this is -- this has been quite effective for us. When you look at our hedging policy, look back in the last 2 years, it has been extremely effective because we have been able to mitigate the risk and the cost implications related to this volatile situation that we are seeing in the market. I don't remember the third question.

I can take it, [ Jean-Christophe ], is trying to get the sales of the Weber. The sales -- I can tell you, I think the best and what I suggest is that when we have integrated GCP on top of Chryso plus Weber, we'll make a full picture on our construction chemical exposure in 2023. If I take the 2022 pro forma, we'll get close to EUR 4.5 billion. on construction chemical. And I suggest at that point, we'll make a full recap, I would say, on all the synergies, top line, bottom line for both Weber, Chryso and GCP, trending well and also I alluded to that, but the excitement and the synergies, both on the purchasing side for raw materials and more importantly, on the growth side, whether it's for flooring, whether it's water proofing between Chryso, Weber and welcoming soon GCP is very positive. So we are extremely confident about the complementary in terms of product lines and also geographies between those 3 pieces of Saint-Gobain going forward. We don't communicate the product line. I can tell you that Weber is contributing nicely, both in terms of growth and profit. So we are accelerating. We have added within the 8 plants that we have added in the first half, we have added some construction chemical plants, whether it's in Malaysia, whether it's in Kenya, whether it's in Latin America. We have made also some additional Philippines, additional acquisitions. IMPAC, Sreedhar mentioned it, Brasprefer is waterproofing in Brazil. We signed on Wednesday night, a small acquisition in Uruguay, [ EuroMix ], that will be the 76 country of Saint-Gobain in Construction Chemicals. So it's clearly a growth area for us and integrating very well altogether. So that's a good support of growth and profitability for Saint-Gobain for the coming future. Other questions in the room? If not, we will turn to the call -- sorry, another one in the room, please...

Hello. One question, if I may. You mentioned the MaPrimeRenov, which is about EUR 2 billion on the target of the government about 700,000 renovation this year, it represents only EUR 3,000 per home. Is it enough to drive the renovation market in France.

So yes, it has brought some catalysts. Of course, MaPrimeRenov is not 100%, but it's a catalyst to trigger the decisions and the actions. On top of that, you may have seen that the government wants to increase the number of, what they call global renovation will jump by at least 2 grades of energy performance diagnosis. So I'm confident that going forward, we will push for more global renovation and therefore, even more powerful in terms of taking the full breadth of the Saint-Gobain offering on energy efficiency renovation.

And we just have to keep in mind, there's also this new regulation, which is in France coming up with this energy performance certificate. This is also a big driver for us. We see that impact because house owners needs to renovate. Otherwise, they are going to have the challenge to rent out their properties. And it's a question of getting the property value at the correct value. So it's very, very important point.

So maybe let's switch to the first question on the call. I see Exane with Yves.

We have our first question from Yves Bromehead from Exane.

Hope you can hear me well?

Yes.

So just a few questions on my side. One is, I wanted to know if you could provide some clarity on your guidance as given the performance in H1, you could still meet your guidance if H2 operating profit is slightly disappointing. So I guess my question is, what are your expectations? And what should we have in mind in terms of growth or not in H2 '22 operating income on a constant currency level?

Well, I think I've been giving you quite a lot of touch points because on top of the very strong first half we have delivered, I mentioned early in my presentation that we target a double-digit margin for the full year and the guidance being growth of operating income at constant exchange rates. So I think with those 2 touch points, you have quite a lot of data to put into your expectations and model.

Thanks Benoit, for that. Maybe a question on the U.K. You mentioned that some of the margin improvements in Northern Europe was driven by the U.K. transformation. I wanted to get a feel as to if you could maybe help us understand where the margin level is in the U.K. now versus the other mainly on the distribution side versus France and the Nordics. And if you are starting to become more satisfied with those levels? Or if there is more transformation to do and more heavy lifting?

Overall, we -- I can tell you that last time we gave you the whole margin for distribution was 6.6%. We are above that. So well aligned with what we mentioned to you at the Capital Market Day, which was 7-ish in distribution and 13-ish in manufacturing, so we are there. U.K. overall for the country is doing quite well in a market which has been a bit more challenging in the first half. And specifically on U.K. distribution, we have continued to improve. It's an ongoing effort over the last few years, and we have continued to improve. So it's a nice evolution in the right trend in a more challenging market in the U.K., so moving nicely.

And lastly, on the hedging strategy for 2023. Can you maybe help us understand whether we should expect another year of double-digit input cost inflation with the prices that you've hedged? And are you looking now to sort of stop increasing the hedging for '23, given the price of those hedges and have more spot exposure? Or are you deciding to continue and push through with more of your 2023 energy bill, which is hedged forward?

Yes. So Yves, 2023, it's too early to talk about. I think I wish we are all able to have such a big visibility. But having said that, when you look at the hedging, what we said 60%, close to half of that was done when -- even before the energy prices started going up in last year September and October. So that should give you some data point that the hedging, what we have done at this point of time, even though it would be higher than what you would have seen in 2021, but it is still at a very attractive price. So this is something which we need to monitor it very closely. As I said, this is -- inflation is going to be a topic which we need to remain extremely vigilant. And you've seen what is more important is the focus and the proactiveness that the management demonstrated consistently for the last 3 years. You have seen the way we keep -- kept on proactively pushing the prices up, making sure that the price cost spread is managed well. And you have seen what we have done in the first half in spite of having a high inflation, we have a very good situation of price cost. So that should give you the confidence that we will monitor, we will keep extremely focused on price/cost trend.

Next question, I think it is from JPMorgan, Elodie Rall.

Good morning, Can you hear me?

Yes.

Great. So I'll limit my question to 3. The first one is on the price cost spread for this year. So you are confident to have at least flat for the year. You have a head start in H1 with price cost being positive and you have upgraded your guidance for raw materials and energy bill to EUR 3 billion. So my question is, at this point, do you need more price increases to push through to offset this new EUR 3 billion guidance in terms of energy and raw material bill. And if nothing changes from here, does it mean that H2 is going to be positive again in terms of price/cost, so that's my first question. Second question is on volumes. Overall, volumes remain 8% above 2019 level in the second quarter, similar trends in Q1. Do you see any signs of deceleration towards the end of the quarter and in July? And has the visibility that you have on other books makes you confident that you can maintain this volume performance against 2019 in H2. In Europe, in particular, you talked about softening trends in new construction. And if I may throw in a last question, sorry. You've talked about your confidence to navigate through more challenging times. So if I can ask, if you feel confident to maintain double-digit margins in this more challenging times?

So Sreedhar will take the first, and I'll take the 2 and 3.

Okay. So Elodie, you have seen us what we said in the past and we consistently want to do is -- our objective is to compensate more than the inflation. That's what we are doing it. You have seen this. So compensate more than the inflation in euro terms. And this is what I said, euro terms for the full year. So I'm not going to be very precise what's going to be H1 and H2. But having said that, what is important is, again, I would repeat, the focus on the price, the proactiveness, the new -- new organization, and I've said it in the past many times, this is an area where you can actually see the effectiveness of the new management, new organization, which is by country where you see that the grassroot level people, the CEOs, they are getting into the nitty-gritties of price. Price management is not something you do it at sitting at the top of the office and the corporate office. You need to get into the granular details, you need to know the customer dynamic. You need to see what is your positioning in the customer, what is the kind of differentiation you're bringing on the table. And that is how you are able to see that consistently, we are able to make progress. So again, I remain confident for the full year that we should be able to not just compensate, but more than compensate in euro terms of the inflation, which you will see for 2022.

Questions on volumes. Well, times are a bit more uncertain. So it's a bit more difficult to say exactly what's going to happen in the next quarters. What I can tell you is that we continue to see good trends on renovation in Europe. Even if I take the U.S., you have heard Mark that we have a larger part on renovation in Europe compared to new construction. So it's something which is supportive. So all those trends on renovation are positive. That being said, there are some markets which are a bit more challenging, new construction in Europe. Automotive in Europe is still quite sluggish. China has been a bit up and down in the first half. Brazil also, we told you, has been a bit weak since last fall. So there are pluses and minuses. But overall, we feel continuing the underlying trends on renovation, the outperformance of our solutions is going to support the growth of the group going forward. There has been no particular change month after month in Q2 or Q1, and there is nothing specific to report on July. So no particular change so far in July. On the last question. So I mentioned to you what we target in terms of double-digit margin for the full year. We'll take it one at a time. As Sreedhar said, we are going to deliver the best of the best for Saint-Gobain. Clearly, we have done it in the first half, and we'll talk about 2023 in February next year. So we still have time to update you for next year.

The next question is from Yassine Touahri from On Field Investment Research.

It's Yassine from On Field Investment Research. A couple of questions. First, could you comment a little bit more on the renovation trends. We've seen some distributors wanting a normalization of DIY and also on the Do It For Me on projects that are not related to energy efficiency. Are you seeing a decline in volume in distribution in July? And also related to this question, it would be very helpful if you could give us an idea of the split between energy efficient quality renovation and non-energy quality renovation in your business, it'll be very helpful.

On renovation, no, I think you have to distinguish DIY versus the rest. And indeed, we are driven a lot by energy efficiency renovation. So bigger renovation than just painting the bedroom of your child or whatever situation. So this is quite a difference in terms of trend. And also keep in mind that we compare, we should compare with 2019, so normalizing to some extent, yes. But even if I take Do-It-Yourself in France, it is normalizing, but it's up 8% in volumes and activity versus 2019. So there has been a bit of a bump post COVID, including in Do-It-Yourself, but we should keep in mind that we are still above 2019. So that's what I want to highlight. Now we cannot track and trace exactly what is specific to energy efficiency. But again, a lot of what we see because we talk to craftsmen and we are not on the do-it-yourself, you start with energy efficiency, and you do a lot after that. One indicator which is interesting to follow in France is that the number of transactions is still at a peak, it's still very high, so number of transactions will lead down the road to renovation. When you buy an apartment or a house, you make sure that you would change the windows, you insulate the attic or the facade whatever, and then you could renovate your kitchen and go for Do-It-Yourself to do that. But the number of transactions is also very interesting to see, and it's still at a high level in France. We see the backlog of orders from the craftsmen at the 5 to 6 months. It's a high historical level. And it's true also in other countries. I was in the Nordic countries in early July, and our teams are saying, if we have a bit less new construction going forward because of the higher interest rates, we'll do more renovation and our craftsmen will shift towards renovation. So all in all, it's still very supportive on renovation going forward without mentioning the accelerated push and financing coming from the different government stimulus. I highlighted quite a lot of them, new building standards, new financial stimulus and also without talking about the public buildings that are started to creeping a bit in the various geographies. So I'm confident with the renovation trend going forward, yes, with a big pull from energy efficiency versus light Do-It-Yourself.

And you have a view of the part of your portfolio, which is related to energy efficiency versus general renovation?

We highlighted during the Capital Market Day that 72%, if I take a big picture, 72% of our sales are related to sustainability. So a good portion of that being purely on energy, but sustainability altogether, it's well-being sustainability. It's not only energy, it could be quality of air, it could be acoustic performance. All this is good solutions of Saint-Gobain for sustainability. So the energy component is significant, but it's not only -- and when you put a partition of plasterboard and insulation of the Facade F4 that I mentioned, you have a double effect of acoustic performance and energy efficiency within the buildings. So you kill two birds with one stone, and that's the beauty of our solutions.

It's a very human tendency that when you are getting into a renovation work, you are better off to get everything done at the one go, and you don't do it in different installments, especially with the challenges you have with getting the craftsman available.

Take the -- I mentioned the high level of transaction. In France, Sreedhar mentioned it, by 2025, if you are G on your diagnosis energy performance, you are not allowed to sell and rent your place. So either you sell it today and then the new owner or the new buyer will renovate or you renovate before you sell it at a higher price or you rent it in 2025, otherwise you are out of the market. So there is a big need for housing in France, but I could take many other examples. We highlighted the unmet demand in many countries. So there is a big need for housing. There is, of course, a crisis on energy bills within the household. If I take Europe, the increased cost of energy bills, invoices for the households is going to be EUR 250 billion in 2022. That's roughly EUR 1,200, EUR 1,500 per household in Europe. So the payback on energy efficiency, which used to be 7 to 8 years, it's now 3 to 4 years. So all those triggers are going to take place, and we are seeing that in terms of momentum and also awareness and expectation from the customers.

The next question is from John Fraser-Andrews from HSBC. Please go ahead.

3 for me, please. The first one, the challenge you've in new construction in Europe. Could you elaborate on that by end market and what you're actually seeing there? What are those challenges? Second question. Your gross margin in the first half, I see your price cost was strongly positive, but did your gross margin actually increase in the period. And then finally, in Asia, the volume growth, the 11%, India clearly was super strong. But could you give an indication of where the volumes were in the other countries outside of India, if you strip that out?

Sreedhar will take the second. I will take the first. So far new construction in Europe, we don't see, as of today, in ourselves a drop. However, this is what I mentioned. We are watching, listening to the changing market conditions. For instance, I take France. There has been a huge pile of new permits, new building permits between the end of the year and the first quarter. So, so far, it's still very high below what should be the normal number in terms of total demand from customers, but high. And there will be 9, 12 months of work and therefore, orders for us to deliver on those permits. We are, however, aware that there could be a bit of normalization because of higher interest rates next year in the U.S. There could be a bit of slowdown in some geographies, whether it's in Norway. In the U.K., when I hear the large national builders, they are pretty cautiously optimistic, I would say. So for me, it's more listening to the signs of what we could expect for 2023. So as of today, we don't see that in ourselves, but more readiness for the next quarters. I take the third and Sreedhar will answer on the...

So the best way to -- yes, okay, go ahead.

I take the -- quickly on the question in Asia. We have had a very strong volume in India, the only drop was in China because China was under lockdown for 2 months. So indeed, the volumes were slightly negative in China in March, April, May, up again in June. And I'm confident that unless there is unexpected new Coronavirus lockdown in China, we'll have a strong recovery in the second half. Other geographies, whether it's Vietnam, et cetera, Indonesia have been strong in the first half, it was purely related to China.

So coming to your question on the margin protection, I think the best way to look at it is to look at the operating margin protection. I mean you don't look at every single line. So you have seen the first half, we have not only delivered what we had last year at 10.7%, actually, we went up to 11%. We have a positive price/cost spread of $250 million that demonstrated that we were able to not just compensate in euro terms, but also we were able to protect the margin for the first half. So that's where I think we need to keep track, and I think the management team is very focused on ensuring that the margin is protected. Every actions we take in the marketplace is focused on protecting the margin.

Just come back on the Asia growth. What I'm trying to drive at is that India clearly has got some very strong penetration of the market going on there and be interesting to hear what potential there is in the other Asian countries to emulate what's going on in India? Or is that specific to that country?

No, it's a very good question. And you have noticed that last June -- last July, a year ago, when I changed the executive committee of Saint-Gobain, I actually gave all Asia to our CEO in India, Santhanam. So he is still running India with the success you have seen. But on top of that he is covering all Asia and indeed, pushing all other countries to think like our Indian teams, have been thinking for years 2x, 3x, not 2%, 3%, 30%, but 2x, 3x in the next 10 years. So we are pushing that concept in Vietnam. We have been pretty strong in Thailand for several years. Indonesia is clearly one country where we have already 6 plants on construction chemicals, and we could accelerate there. Philippines, it's a new country for us, and I'm glad that GCP actually was and Chryso were present in the Philippines. So we could benefit from this, I would say, new geographic footprint to build on top of that and open the doors of what we have done in China, what we have done, of course, in India to Chryso, that was part of the growth plan. in Vietnam as well to Chryso and GCP and other product lines. So in those geographies, we highlighted that during the Capital Market Day, we basically take the different product lines of Saint-Gobain. You have to think of Saint-Gobain providing everything for the building envelope of the house, the ceilings, the facade, the roofing, the floor, the partitions and making sure we have that in all countries. In India, we started with glass, then plasterboard and construction chemicals, we are accelerating with Weber and now Chryso we entered into insulation. Hopefully, we'll add ceilings in not-so-distant future, and we are developing this full envelope offer across other geographies. It takes a bit of time because it's more organic growth. There are no obvious targets and acquisitions to be made, but I'm very confident that we will truly accelerate the momentum in Asia, Southeast Asia. We are also present in Japan and Korea, which are markets which are recovering today in terms of housing in terms of also energy efficiency demand, but I'm expecting more growth based on the population in Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, the large countries of Asia. And indeed, trying to copy paste. It's not as simple, but what we have done over the last 20 years in India with a double-digit growth and double-digit EBIT.

I would again say that having this organization by country is once again making it extremely efficient for Saint-Gobain to go and look at the customer in a comprehensive way. We have broken the silo, which we had earlier by product, looking at by product is not efficient. And we see that big advantage in Southeast Asia.

The next question is from Gregor Kuglitsch from UBS. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Can you hear me?

Yes. Go ahead please.

So the first question is just on the cost inflation. So the EUR 3 billion that you guided to, can you tell us what you actually incurred in H1 and if you could split that into energy and raw mats, please? The second question is, I think you previously indicated you expect volume growth for this year. I wonder whether you think that is still achievable or whether you think that's now perhaps less likely? And then perhaps you can give us an early sort of sneak preview of what you are actually seeing in the third quarter so far?

Okay. So coming to the inflation, we are expecting close to $3 billion for the year. Within that, when you look at the energy, it's going to be more than EUR 2 billion. If you recall, we were at EUR 1.5 billion last year. The first half was a little more than what you see -- a little more than half, you should see in the first half for the total inflation. And this increase of EUR 2.5 billion to EUR 3 billion is primarily coming from all other raw materials. It's a bit -- of course, a bit from the energy, the fact that we are still 20%, which is unhedged. And with the volatility you see in the market, you have some impact, but the large part is coming from the transportation, the raw material, which is, again, getting impacted because of the sustained high level of energy, which is creeping in, in our cost structure.

The second question on volume growth. I think I answered that when Elodie Rall asked me the question. There are some pluses and minuses, a bit more uncertainties in the second half, but strong momentum again on renovation, strong momentum in the U.S. If I take, for instance, one large business in the U.S. where we have been gaining share, if I take gypsum, there is a very large lag between starts and completions. So I know that we'll be very busy with volumes in the second half. In Gypsum, if I take roofing in the U.S., we are still on allocation for our customers, so all those dynamics are there. Of course, there are some more markets where we have some early signs. I mentioned that, new construction in Europe, where it could be a bit more challenging, whether it's going to materialize in Q4, I don't know yet. There has been always a bit of, I would say, game effect month after month on stocking, destocking from distributors anticipating price inflation, so buying a bit upfront. This is what we have done ourselves and therefore, sometimes a bit destocking in the next month. But overall, we have a good solid base for Saint-Gobain going forward. On Q3, as I said, there is nothing special to say. What I can say, and should I mention that on the different actions, we continue to push pricing. In July, we have launched additional actions on pricing in some countries in Europe, more in also in the U.S., in Asia. So we have ongoing actions across the board, and some have already materialized also in July. I can tell you that within High Performance Solutions sector, we have a good backlog of orders. Those orders sometimes are related to sustainability investment from large customers on specialty ceramics to help them decarbonize their processes, whether it's for glass packaging, glass furnaces. So all those orders are there, and we expect good momentum in the second half for High Performance Solutions. So all in all, I'm confident, as I said, in going forward for Saint-Gobain.

The next question comes from Arnaud Lehmann from Bank of America.

Thank you very much Three questions on my side. Firstly, on GCP, what's your level of commitment on this deal, I guess, pretty high, but the results recently have not been great and the macro is a bit more challenging. Are there any clause in the contract that could drive a revision in the price? That's the first question. Secondly, on distribution, as you know, some shareholders have been questioning whether you should be in distribution at all. And I think you're the only company left in the sector who has both manufacturing and distribution. And I believe your argument is that it gives you access to the craftsman and feeding you back some information, which is fair enough. But I guess, why is that relevant in France and the Nordic and why not in Germany, Benelux or even the U.S., why in these countries, you just have the manufacturing and you seem to be doing well anyway. And the last question I can see in your release some dirty words making a comeback like diesel or heavy fuel and I appreciate it's pragmatic adjustment needed to replace natural gas at the moment. But have you thought about the implication of using more of those products for your either your CO2 emissions or your ESG credentials.

Thank you, Arnaud, for those questions. GCP level, our commitment is 100%. I'm happy to say that we have the approvals in Europe, in the U.S. the last approval we need is in the U.K. So we are moving nicely on the normal process with antitrust, and we expect the closing to be done before the end of the year. So the excitement, I can tell you and the complements between Chryso, Weber also certainty is even stronger than what we anticipated when we were not talking to each other, of course, all time with lawyers because we are still competitors. But I can tell you all the richness of the technologies, of the positions, I mentioned Asia, whether it's in Latin America, whether it's in North America, is confirmed. We have also confirmed our synergies, of course, now in all details in terms of actions. So we are ready to go. We know what to do. We knew from day 1 that Chryso is the star of the sector, running at super high margin, and we mentioned it last year, maintaining the margin, not dropping the margin, maintaining the margin and 24% like-for-like. We knew GCP because of 3 CEOs in 5 years and a bit of a disarray has a need for turnaround, improvement, stability of management, intensity on pricing actions, intensity on additional development and of course, leveraging the full scope of Saint-Gobain, whether it's for roofing, waterproofing in the U.S. or other geographies. So yes, we are ready. It should come soon. We are all eager and excited and confirming all the parameters of the deal. So that's what we are doing. You have seen the figures in the first quarter, they will publish sometimes in August, their second quarter. They suffer because they are too small, they suffer of supply chain. We have -- you have seen the success of Saint-Gobain to overcome any supply chain disruption. This is something we'll provide to GCP, day 1. And I know today because I talk to them every month at least, and our teams are even closer in contact. I will talk to the CEO of GCP again on Friday night. He suffers from a supply chain disruption and that's something we'll provide to them day 1 with all the scope of Saint-Gobain and combined raw material. So that's what I can tell you on GCP and clearly, a big improvement plan ready to go. On your second question, well, first, I think our shareholders support the strategy of Saint-Gobain. They see the benefit and how we have delivered consistently over now 7 consecutive semesters, and I think beating the consensus even by 6% or 7% this morning. So we have seen and proven the strength of our strategy. By the way, if I compare, we may be one of the few with distribution in our perimeter, but we are the first and only so far to have improved our margin in the first half. When I see other competitors, they have dropped by 2 points, 1 point yesterday for some. So maybe we are the only one with this model, but we are the only one to improve the margin in the first half. So it has some values -- and why is that? Because we want to have strong businesses. We are super pragmatic, all the management team, Sreedhar, myself on how to create value. We look at our strategy country-by-country. When we have 4, 5, 6 product lines, the #6 needs to add in terms of growth, profitability to the 5 others. If not, either we have an improvement plan or we sell. So we have been super pragmatic on all product lines whether it's for distribution, whether it's for glass, whether it's for insulation, we sold some EPS business in Germany and France 18 months ago. So being super pragmatic on how we create value country by country, it has delivered great results. And this is why it makes perfect sense to own a full presence on the value chain across the board. I see we have been the first to talk about building solutions 3, 4 years ago. Now I see a lot of players talking about solutions and try to go into renovation. Why? Because I told you several times on a high strategic level, the construction markets are at the tipping point to deliver sustainability, to deliver performance in terms of productivity, to deliver energy efficiency. And in order to do that well, you cannot sell just 1 product, you need to sell a system, you need to train the craftsmen, you need to recover waste. In France next year, we are forced by law to recover waste. Why do we have 55% circular economy recover waste in our insulation business around the world because we have this ability to collect waste. So this presence across all the value chain on building solutions, this is the way to outperform and change the construction markets going forward for the better. This is what we are doing when we are strong across the full spectrum of our product line. So this is why it makes sense when we are strong, well not in Germany, you are right to point out. We had 8%, 7% market share in distribution in Germany. We sold it. We have 30-plus in France, we are extremely strong, and we gain and overperformed the market, last year was 2x overperformance versus the renovation market in France. So this is a proven success model, and we'll continue to drive it for one with success. Your third question is very legitimate. We are aware of that. If we can continue to run with gas, we'll continue to do it and this is what we are doing today because today, again, there is no lack of supply. Be reassured that we are comfortable with what we are doing in our operations day in day out. If need be, I've seen that some governments indeed in Germany went back to coal plants, even in France. So if need be, we prefer to continue to run our operation for 1 month or 5 weeks, 6 weeks with an alternative sourcing versus stopping the operations. So this is what we have prepared. Of course, if we can avoid it, we'll do it. And so far, we have not used this situation. If I take Romania, for instance, we have found in the last 6 months, an alternative with biogas in Romania. So we are happy to switch to biogas in Romania. If I take India, our #6 plasterboard plant is going to run with biogas with rice husk in the northeast of India, which is a very prominent place for rice agriculture. So we are accelerating all the innovative solutions for alternative energy. And this is, to some extent, quite a creative moment to find that. So yes, we are committed to our CO2 road map, whether on our carbon imprint. Keep in mind, we dropped by 23% in '21 versus 2017 and we dropped by 50% for the same euro of EBITDA we generated. So we are committed to continue to do that. And as I mentioned, all our country CEOs have taken full ownership of their road map. Last comment because I don't want to be too long, all this energy price and the situation will also accelerate us to add all the energy savings we could have in our plants. So we are looking at any source of energy savings we could have in our own plants, on the process, on the billings, whatever. So we are conscious to deliver the best of the best for Saint-Gobain and for the planet going forward. Not without mentioning, of course, that our products are good to save energy. So you need to produce glass, you need to produce glass wool insulation to save energy and the sooner you do it, the better. So this is our commitment to be there to help our customers save on their energy bill. And I can tell you the support from the various governments, whether it's in France and Germany is also very strong. They get the point that we need to accelerate energy efficiency of buildings and we need to support those production, those training of customers going forward on energy efficiency. It's something which is super high on the agenda of everyone. I guess there is no more question on the call. There is 1 question from Nabil Ahmed from Barclays on GCP acquisition process. What milestones have been met. What do you still need for close -- to close the transaction? Important milestone, of course, was to get the approval from the shareholders. We got it in February, if my memory is correct. We got all necessary antitrust approvals. We didn't go to the EU level, we didn't have to. We went to 3 countries. Remember, I think it was Denmark, Austria and Cyprus and we got that green light. Same in the U.S., so we are still left with the U.K. The good news, and you have seen the U.K. authority did post, they have to -- they did post on their website that we have finished all the exchange with them and they started the round the clock time frame of their review and therefore answer. Another question from Nabil Ahmed. Update on HPS margin into year-end, possibly even increasing more, thanks to the actions we have taken. Yes, I'm confident that high performance solutions going forward, you have seen the volumes were up in the second quarter versus the first quarter. I tend to think, and this is what we have noticed in June or early July, we may have reached a floor on the automotive market in Europe. So I'm confident about the volumes of HPS in the second half. I mentioned that construction industry is strong. You have seen the performance of Chryso and other areas and also a nice improvement based on all the actions we have taken. In automotive, we had quite a lot of restructuring in the last 18 months. So I expect overall the margin of HPS for the full year to be a bit above the margin from last year. Another question from Nabil Ahmed. Update on operating income impact between the stoppage of certain plants, the cost to switch other sources and the higher logistic cost to serve customers for more distant location. Again, we have been preparing ourselves with no stoppage. And what is important to understand is that, yes, we will not be happy to run with alternative energy, but we have prepared, which was not the case early this year, 8 float lines out of 13 to run without Russian gas supply. So I think that's good news, and we don't anticipate stoppages of plants.

So on the price/cost spread, again, I said we have objective to compensate more than the inflation in euro terms for the full year, to your question on price/cost spread.

And after that there is 1 -- 2 questions from Glynis Johnson, update on labor cost inflation. There are a couple of points of additional labor inflation versus last year. What is very important is the fact that we have kept our turnover low versus other companies. And I think this is also one reason for the outperformance of Saint-Gobain. Our teams are highly motivated. We measure that, as you know, every single year. The fact that we have local managers talking to them, our general manager in Poland, Joanna Czynsz, she is Polish in Poland. So she's better than me to talk and motivate the Polish teams and to talk to the Polish customers. So I think that proximity with our teams on top of customers and decisions for the business is extremely helpful for Saint-Gobain. Keeping also in mind that our teams have been happy, and I've been extremely happy to pay higher variable pay related to the very strong performance of 2021. So if I take our teams in France, they have had higher variable pay and same in other countries, which is a nice and well-deserved recognition of the strong improvement of Saint-Gobain performance, and that keeps them confident about the future of the group, very clear on the strategy and also getting the rewards. A point I mentioned to some of you, they bought 15% more shares of Saint-Gobain in that period. Some large investors are a bit worried about the performance of Saint-Gobain going forward. The employees of Saint-Gobain are very confident and they bought 15% more shares to give you the mood and the mindset and the fighting spirit within Saint-Gobain. Another question from Glynis Johnson. What drove the 250 force majeure in the U.S. Is this disruption now just part of the market or are there measures to try to improve this reliability. It's part of the supply chain disruption. You have heard around the world, we wanted to highlight that because it's real cases, and that shows the magnitude of what we face. That means you have to react every single day or every second day, and that means local organization is much more powerful than central global organization, where you would have to queue in purchasing list in Paris. I need this material for next week or next month, and you will be priority #55. And maybe you will not get the best answer. In the U.S., I didn't hear from Mark Rayfield, but those cases of force majeure, he did manage himself without shutting plants and shutting down customers. So clearly in the outperformance of Saint-Gobain. Yes, it's on the solutions side, but it's also managing well, a bit of inventory on raw materials and also extra care, very fast reactiveness on supply chain to overcome all this. So it's a bit better now, but it's not a walk in the park, and we are vigilant of going forward. I think we have...

There's a question from Tobias Woerner. Any guidance on H2, '22. H2 free cash flow and net debt development. You have seen the working capital has been a little higher. I mean we are talking of 1 day more than what you saw last year. This is something which is, again, not surprising. We have been saying that we need to build a stock, we need to serve the customers. At the end of the day, it is important that we make sure that the customers, whatever they are expecting, we are able to serve them. So this is something which was planned and it has been done. So I expect this to continue to be there. At the end of the year, you will see that our working capital should still be slightly higher than what you saw last year. Again, coming back, you don't forget that we are talking about a reduction of 15 days working capital. So this is on the face of it, if it's 1 day, it doesn't bother me. And it's something we need to be pragmatic, again, to make sure that we do the right thing, which is relevant from the customer's perspective.

So I can add to this, I think it's very important Sreedhar mentioned it, our balance sheet, our strong balance sheet, our commitment for a strong investment grade is something very important when we enter a bit more uncertain times, it's very important our commitment for a strong balance sheet. You have seen the figures end of June and a strong investment grade going forward and the super performance congratulations to our teams on cash management and working capital. I think there is a last question from Tobias Woerner, on what are flat glass margins now. NSG are 220 basis points below 2018. Should we read this magnitude across to you. So we don't publish, as I said on Weber, our margin by segment because we don't report that anymore, and we don't have an owner of this P&L. So I don't want to have an orphan P&L within Saint-Gobain. Every P&L has a full ownership with 100% incentives on this P&L. So I don't want to go back to those kind of metrics organization. I can tell you that we are doing very well in our various glass business in the different countries. And it's interesting that the competitive dynamic on glass is changing. I can tell you if I take automotive glass. I think some competitors are either trying to leave Europe or reducing massively their presence in Europe. So it's quite helpful in our pricing discussion, which are turning very positive with our automotive customers, and we're having to push for that because we need it. It was not the case in the history, but we are turning the corner on strategic positioning for automotive glass. And also on the overall glass, the glass picture is actually, there is a lack of glass in Europe. On our side, we have 4 float lines less than in 2008. There is no new glass capacity coming in the next 2 years. So I'm comfortable and confident about the strong performance of glass going forward, of course, in Europe and of course, also accelerating in Mexico, in India, in Brazil, we are delivering a stellar performance on glass within those countries, and it's a very strong addition if you take the nonresidential sector, gypsum and glass along together, selling very nicely. This is what we are doing in India. This is what we are doing now in Mexico, now that we have entered in [indiscernible]. So glass overall country by country is doing well, and the competitive positioning has been changing, including on the sustainability road map, the technology and R&D spend and creative and talent that you need to decarbonize glass to have this world premier like we did in May is something that not all the small players can afford. So that's also a way to lead on the technology on carbon neutral. I didn't say that, but we launched in France last week or 2 weeks ago, the first low carbon offer on glass. Low carbon offer and there has been already a third blending in Normandie installed with low carbon offer. This is 40% less CO2 in glass and using 70% cullet. So that's also the low carbon offer on glass, which is ahead of the market and ahead of our competitors. Sorry, another question in the room from [ Jean-Christophe ].

Last but not least, regarding the tables here in Appendix 1, we used to see the contribution in terms of sales and EBIT of the distribution disappeared.

Yes, because we don't report that. We reported it for 3 years after the transformation because distribution was at 3% in 2018. So we wanted to show you that even though there is no distribution sector head, I used to be that years ago, but there is no anymore distribution P&L owner. So we wanted for 3 years to show to you the improvement we have done and we achieved that with 6.6% in 2021. I gave you a bit of flavor that it's even slightly higher if I take the addition of all this in the first half, but we are not going to report it anymore because we are by country. We are by country. This is truly the way we manage that. This is very powerful. This makes us providing solutions to our customers. You may have seen we signed an agreement with Nexity in France, the first builder of new homes. This is a combination between products, distribution, logistics, et cetera. We delivered [indiscernible] on the Seine River, the Olympic Village in June with products from Saint-Gobain with our division. So this is the way we manage it by country. Rest assured that it's now performing very well. I gave you the magnitude. Going forward, we are not going to report that because it's not the way it is managed. And like on insulation, like on glass, like on vapor, I don't want to have orphan P&Ls within Saint-Gobain. I want everyone to own his or her P&L. But you have seen the power of this business model within Saint-Gobain, improving the margin in the first half. I think we have exhausted all your questions. So thank you. I wish you a very good summer. Rest assured that we are very resilient. All the management teams is ready, has delivered a very strong performance in the first half. We are confident about the guidance going forward. We have all the levers. We have strong underlying markets, and we'll see you end of October for our Q3 results. Thank you very much.