Zurich (awp) – The construction chemist Sika posted a net profit of 598.8 million Swiss francs in the first six months of the year, a sharp increase of 21%. The turnover was coated by 18% to 5.25 billion. The acquisition of the sealing activities of the German competitor BASF is running a little behind schedule.
The operating margin swelled by 40 basis points to reach 16.0%, allowing the related surplus to grow faster than revenues. Ebit thus jumped 22.7% to 841.9 million.
With the exception of the net profit, the performance is in the high end of the AWP consensus range. Revenues were expected at 5.22 billion, the Ebit margin at 15.6% for a result of 81 million. On the other hand, the profit was to reach 603 million.
The management is renewing its ambitions for the whole of the year, including an increase in revenue in local currencies of more than 10%, which should lead the turnover to cross the 10 billion mark for the first time. Ebit should grow more than proportionally.
The group is still aiming for annual growth of 6 to 8% in local currencies by 2023 and an Ebit margin of 15 to 18%. Optimizations in organization and procurement should lighten the cost base by the equivalent of 0.5% of revenues.
Referring to the necessary approval of the operation by the competition authorities, the Zug-based multinational is now anticipating the finalization of the acquisition of the MBCC division of BASF – announced last November for 5.5 billion Swiss francs – “around the end of the year” instead of the second half of 2022 initially.
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