Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A.

Good evening, everybody. I hope that you have received our press release and that you have been able to go through the highlights. So, together with Maud, our CFO, we will present our Q1 2026 sales performance. BankBank sales decreased 2.3% in Q1 in local currencies and also like-for-like, with good performance. given the unfavorable weather conditions in January and February in North America and in Europe. We delivered strong growth in Asia Pacific at 9% in local currencies. Europe was nearly stable and the Americas decreased as expected due to weather effects and the weakness also in new construction. The geopolitical situation has changed since our full year results at the end of February. I remind everyone that our Middle East presence is limited to 1% of good sales. Our priority has and continues to be the safety of our teams in the region. Since the start of the conflict, the raw materials and energy environment has become inflationary. We know how to manage this as we have done it very well in recent years. and we are confident to deliver a slightly positive price-cost spread for 2026 as planned. Our commercial teams and our key account managers are present with our customers, supporting them to be more than ever their partner of choice, limiting also the volatility that our customers experience. Our objective is to continue to deliver on the margin for the group while strengthening customer satisfaction and intimacy for long-term loyalty and our performance for Saint-Gobain. We have a very solid and seasoned supply chain organization combining the local nature of our business and also our global purchasing capabilities. Our R&D capabilities allow us to adapt formulations and use our large-scale footprint as needed. Of course, each crisis and situation is different, but you have seen how we manage it in 21-22. We are thus well-placed to manage inflation and supply chain, and I'm confident to continue to outperform in such a changing environment. We have no crystal ball on how long the Middle East conflict will last and its impact on the macroeconomic environment. So far, we have not seen any significant impact on demand overall, and we are confident about the structural needs and megatrends that underpin the strategic direction of our plan lead and grow. We will continue to focus on delivering our strategic objectives of lead and grow, looking for opportunities across our broad geographical footprint, driving our performance thanks to our competitive advantages, being proactive also in terms of cost, and continuing to focus on our growth priorities. You know them, deepening our solutions offering, expanding in non-residential and infrastructure, and continuing to optimize our portfolio. Indeed, we have taken further steps to enhance our portfolio in the first quarter with three Bolton acquisitions in construction chemicals. We continue to see a strong dynamic in this area, one of our target areas for growth investment, as you know. In Q1, we are performing construction chemicals with 4.3% growth in local currencies and organic growth of plus 1.7%. On the portfolio, we have also announced the divestment of our ventilation distribution business in the Nordics. We will continue, as we told you end of February already, we will continue to be active on both acquisitions and divestments in line with our target of more than 20% portfolio rotation between 2026 and 2030. I now hand over to Maud, who will discuss our first quarter sales in more details.

Thank you Benoit and good evening everyone. I'm pleased to give you some more details on our Q1 sales release and starting with Q1 sales growth. As usual, let's get first the technical effects covered off. In Q1, we had a negative currency effect of minus 2.6% due to the depreciation of the US dollar and Asian currencies against the Euro. Based on spot rates, we expect Q2 foreign exchange to be slightly negative and therefore H1 to remain negative. The effect of profit is much more significant. But remember that foreign exchange is purely a translation effect for Saint-Gobain. Sales were down 2.3% in Q1 in local currencies and like-for-like, a smaller decrease than expected. March was better than expected, not easy to read, but likely thanks to a good catch-up in regions affected by adverse weather in January and February, and also in anticipation of price increases. The scope effect was neutral for the quarter, with the impact of phosphoric and ceramics acquisitions in construction chemicals offset by our continued portfolio rotation streamlining, divestments of distribution businesses in Belgium and Brazil, and dry mortars and off-site construction in Germany. We saw a continuation of Q4 volume trends, but with North America and Europe impacted by the unfavorable weather conditions in January and February. Growth in local currencies accelerated in Asia-Pacific to 9%. Prices were stable at group level with a high comparison basis in the Americas in the context of a flattish inflation environment in January and February. And given the conflict in the Middle East, we now expect raw materials and energy inflation for 2026. Our commercial teams, as Benoit said, are on the ground with our customers, country by country, pushing for price increases needed. And it's a strong attribute of Saint-Gobain to know how to deliver on pricing while supporting our customers through a time of volatility. We currently expect around mid-single-digit inflation on our $12 billion energy, transportation, and raw materials bill for the full year. we remain confident to deliver a slight positive price-cost spread for the full year. Now, on energy specifically, I would add that we are much less energy intensive than some may think, with an energy bill below 4% of group sales, around half electricity and half gas. So our gas bill represents less than 2% of group sales. We are well-hedged for this year and beyond. And in volatile times, we like to be hedged around 75%, and this is a good indication for this year, including Q2. Now, let us look by segment. Sales in Europe were down 0.9%, like for life in Q1, resilient, despite the unusual weather conditions in January and February. Northern Europe was down 1.7%, like for like, with different trends from one country to another, and starting with Eastern Europe, which saw good growth, driven by Poland and the Czech Republic, especially in industrial solutions and light construction. Activity remained mixed in the Nordics, not helped by the negative weather conditions, and the UK started the year down in a soft market. Germany saw good growth in construction chemicals but decreased overall, and this was due to restructuring measures taken in 2025 to optimize our platform for growth. Turning now to Southern Europe, which was stable over the quarter. We continued to outperform in France thanks to the success of our solution strategy supported by AI tools, which are accelerating cross-selling and specified sales. As a result, sales in France were down only 0.8% light for light, despite the record rainfall and flooding in January and February. And new construction continued to grow with good advanced indicators. Pay in Italy grew slightly, once again driven by market share gains in interior solutions. We specified complete solutions for the renovation of the Kachina-Monloué historic buildings in Milan, bringing energy efficiency and comfort benefits for occupants. The Middle East and Africa region was stable over the quarter, where Turkey was strong, but the Middle East itself was affected by the conflict. Moving on to the Americas. The Americas region saw a 7% decrease in volumes, similar to Q4 2025, despite the unfavorable weather conditions in North America. The price effect was down 1.5% against a high comparison basis. Starting with North America, was down 11.3% like for like, continuing the volume trend seen in Q4. Activity in March picked up after a slow start to the year due to the harsh winter. New construction remained weak. Q1 was also affected by a high comparison basis, given that H1 2025 benefited from roofing demand linked to 2024 storms. Pricing was down in Q1 on a high comparison basis. As Q1 2025, so price increases at the start of the year. Price increases were implemented as planned in April across different product categories. We saw growth and further market share gains in construction chemicals. And lastly, I'll just highlight one interesting example of non-residential solutions. Our North American teams are specifying solutions for 180 data centers projects currently versus 80 last years. We bring construction speed, safety, resilience, sustainability, and performance to these customers in particular. Latin America now decreased 1.6% like for like. We saw volume growth but lower pricing given the adjustments due to the drop in energy costs in Q1. we are methodically rolling out our solutions offering country by country and final market. From individual and multifamily residential, through hotels, health and education facilities, to transport and mining infrastructure, as well as data centers. We continue to gain market share in Brazil in light construction and construction chemicals. Mexico and Central America are benefiting from the success of Cemex which again grew double digit. Lastly, moving to Asia Pacific which grew 9% in local currencies and 7% like for like in Q1. All main countries grew as well as industrial solutions where the group is very well positioned in terms of value added and innovation. India delivered another strong performance with double-digit volume growth and market share gains, driven by its complete, innovative, and sustainable solutions. We won new projects in non-residential and infrastructure, for example, the Pune Metro or the high-speed train line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, thanks notably to fast-track in construction chemicals. We have developed as well an AI-augmented technology vendor program to enhance product expertise and accelerate cross-selling. Southeast Asia continued to be dynamic, benefiting from the widening of its specified brands, especially for infrastructure projects, such as the Changi Airport in Singapore and data centers. Vietnam has launched the first zero-carbon production of cement boards, scope one and two, using biomass and renewable electricity. Australia returned to growth in an improving new construction market, benefiting from its expanded solutions offering, and China continued the good growth trends seen since H2 2025. So to sum up Q1, sales were down 2.3% in local currencies and like-for-like with a better month of March. Given the more inflationary environment due to the Middle East conflict, We have been pushing for price increases that will materialize over Q2 with additional price increases tailored to the evolution of the situation and full realization in H2. We are confident that we will deliver a slight positive spread for the year. And, of course, we remain focused on continuing to deliver strong operational performance. Benoit, I now hand it over to you for the conclusion.

Thank you, Maud. A few comments. So, you know, we drive the business for profitable growth. In an uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop, we are well positioned to deliver a strong performance. We have a balanced footprint with hopefully one-third of our results coming from each of North America, Western Europe, and Asia emerging markets. This is a real strength. It gives us the ability to capture growth opportunities in multiple geographies. There are clear structural needs and strong megatrends in construction across multiple end markets and geographies, and I'm confident that we have the right local business model to thrive and to overcome any external shock. Our country CEOs are proactive and hands-on. very experienced also, and focused on a small set of priorities, pricing, cost management, and our performance. So we confirm our 2026 outlook in a contrasted macroeconomic and uncertain geopolitical landscape. The group expects an EBITDA margin of more than 15% in 2026, with the first half affected by the extreme weather conditions at the start of the year in Europe and in North America. Thank you for your attention. And now, Maud and I are happy to answer any question you may have.

Thank you. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star N1 on their tapstone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star N2. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. First question is from Elodie Rao, JP Morgan.

Hi, thanks for taking the time. Thank you very much. So the performance in the end came better than you had expected, I think, when you last gated at three-year results. I think you told us Q1 would be down like 3% to 5% for like. So what drove that better performance overall? Is it the pre-buying that you mentioned? How much do you think that represented? What was the exit rate? Or what are the current trends that could help us? And you had said that Q2 volumes would not be able to offset the weakness in Q1. So I think you had gated for H1 volumes to be down still. Is that still the case? Or given the better start in Q1, we could expect H1 volumes to be positive? And my second question is on margins. Obviously, you've reiterated guidance and we expect H1 margins to be impacted in particular in Americas. Could you maybe be a bit more specific about where we should be landing? You had mentioned around the 16% mark for Americas, I think. For H1, is that still the case? Thanks a lot.

Thank you, Elodie. So I will take the The first one and Maud will take the second one. You know, we have seen indeed a good March, a good month of March. So clearly, versus where we were end of February with very harsh weather, we have seen a good catch-up and we have been able to deliver on that in March. So broadly speaking, across all regions, a good situation in March. You have seen also that we outperformed in concentration chemicals overall. I've been impressed by our performance in Asia, 7% like or like, and all major countries, India, China, Southeast Asia growing. So overall, concentration chemicals, Asia, were good. A good month of March. Clearly some catch-up after the weather. On the price increase anticipation, it's always hard. to get estimate what it could be in some areas. I don't think it's meaningful, but there might have been a bit of that in March. And we expect, you know, this good trend to continue. Regarding your question on Q2 and going forward, I'm optimistic that light for light should turn positive in Q2 with a progressive improvement. you can understand that there are a lot of uncertainties on things that we don't control day by day with the geopolitics. So it's a bit hard to predict things, and we don't give a precise guidance on Q2. We might still be slightly negative in like for like in H1, but I'm optimistic again that things and current trends continue to turn positive. Would you take the second question? On the margin overall, you know, we have a full year margin for the year, and we confirmed this guidance. So this is what we told you end of February.

Yes, yes, sure. Good evening, Elodie. So indeed, we have a strong focus on the margin delivery across all the teams. We have some technical effects for specific to H1, and we discussed that during the full year. Maybe I can remind a few of those. First, FX, of course, is going to weigh negatively in H1 because it's negative in Q1 minus 2.6, you've seen, and probably it will remain negative in H1 overall with a dilutive effect on the margin. Then scope will have no meaningful effect. Then you have, of course, the geographical mix, and you mentioned the fact that, indeed, we discussed that point in February. The weaker market in North America and the abnormal weather at the start of the year leads to saying, as we said again in line with what we said at the beginning of the year, H225 EBDA margins being a good indicator of H1 2026 EBDA margins. Then in terms of other regions, Europe again should be resilient, slightly impacted by the slower start of the year, and Asia-Pacific should continue to show, again, some, you know, sales and margin growth. Then, of course, you also have to keep in mind the timing for non-operating costs and some versus last year when we had 50 million in H1, so it has a little bit of a seasonality effect there. And last but not least, of course, and this is extremely relevant in those times, it's about cost management and price-cost spread, where, as you know, we are confident for the slight positive price-cost spread for the full year and working, again, on pushing the price increases as we need in Q2 and beyond. So those are a bit all the moving pieces of it. Great. Thank you very much.

Next question is from .

Thanks very much, everyone. Can we talk a little bit more about pricing? It's not a surprise, I think, to hear that you're going for price increases and being quick, which is encouraging. It would be helpful, however, to get a little bit more detail around sort of pricing in Europe versus the America's markets. Obviously, Europe's got the sort of bigger headwind from energy. And maybe you could also elaborate a little bit on pricing trends in the North American roofing business. I think that's been a focus for people around sort of stickiness of pricing, considering weak volumes and new capacity. So a little bit more color around regional pricing, and then also specifically talk to the U.S., please. Thank you.

Very good. So I will respond to the question I led you to. mode can give you some color on the inflation on raw materials energy we expect, which of course is aligned with our pricing action. So in all geographies, you know, we have pushed prices up as early as we could, as always, like we did in 2022. And again, it's not a new experience for our country's CEOs, be it in Europe, be it in India, be it in Latin America, be it in North America. So it's going across the board. It will materialize progressively in Q2 and full speed in H2. I can tell you that, for instance, in Wolfing, North America, because you asked specifically, we have already a second-fold improvement in April on pricing versus the start of the year where we had to put some deals here and there to start the season, but we have already seen the information of some second full price improvement in roofing in April. And we have already announced, I think it's today or yesterday, an additional price increase for sometimes in June up to 10%. So that's the roofing situation. And we are confident that the momentum overall should be positive in terms of second full improvement on pricing in North America. So that's the picture here. It will be also for siding, you know, PVC is an important for siding, so we will push up prices for siding in North America. So it's a broad type of actions, and as you know, we follow that in a lot of details, not on a monthly basis, but on a weekly basis across the board, and we combine this view on global purchasing and also the local commercial actions on pricing. So yes, it's moving with a lot of energy and momentum and all our country CEOs are hands-on and they are incentivized, as you know, on their margin. So this is the what's going on on the ground.

Maybe Maud on the... Yes, and their mandate is to protect their margins. So basically they have, you know, they need to pass what we see in terms of inflation on energy, transportation and raw material. And there we expect around mid-single-digit inflation on our $12 billion bill. And that's, of course, this is a moving target, not the same region by region. We are, you know, people on the ground and countries and their teams are very agile and very proactive. So we push, again, the price increases to protect the margins based on what we are seeing in terms of inflation. Maybe I can dive a little bit into categories of inflation. There is some inflation on energy, but again, we are hedged at around 75% in Q2 and around for the year as well. We see some inflation, of course, in some very specific... The highest increases are in chemicals and in resins, but we are mostly... non-oil-based raw materials, mostly minerals. And therefore, we are, again, seeing mid-single-digit inflation on our raw material transportation and energy. And maybe a small zoom on transportation itself, which is an impact as well. There, we are moving a lot with... energy surcharge or transportation surcharge, so that we pass directly that inflation in particular to our customers, which is very good in terms of commercial transparency, I would say, and easiness of implementation.

Thank you. The next question, maybe?

Next question is from Arnold Lemon, Bank of America.

Thank you very much, and good evening. I have three questions, but they'll be quick, hopefully. Firstly, on your 26 outlook, if I'm not mistaken, it's worked forward exactly the same as the one you gave in February, including a gradual recovery in volumes in Europe. And obviously the world has changed a lot in March, April. So what made you think that it was the right call at this stage to keep the wording exactly the same despite a potentially more challenging outlook, especially on interest rates and volumes? That's my first question. My second question, have you experienced in Asia or in the rest of the world any supply chain disruptions? Are there any raw materials that are more challenging to source, and could there be a little bit of disruption from that? And lastly, in a more volatile world, do you still have appetite, the same appetite for M&A activity, including acquisitions? Thank you very much. Thank you. No, we didn't change. a few comments on that. First, you know, the structural needs and the momentum, for instance, that we see on new construction, be it in France, be it in some countries, is there, and we don't see that being impacted going forward, so that's important to keep that in mind. We keep the same type of lifestyle-like trajectory. Of course, based on what happened in the last six weeks, there might be a bit more pricing versus volume compared to the scenario we had six to eight weeks ago but the direction of travel in terms of like for like and evolution of the different markets in terms of like for like performance and trend is indeed the same scenario so that's how to answer on the outlook for 2026 with a bit more pricing, of course, but maybe in some areas a bit less volume. For instance, if I take some of the renovation markets in Europe, there has been a bit of negative sentiment about what happened in the last few weeks, so that could weigh a bit on some renovation markets in Western Europe, but you have seen that nonetheless in France we outperformed. On your second question regarding supply chain disruption, no. We have not seen disruption in terms of lack of materials or problems of availability. Of course, we have to be extremely agile, so based on past crises, be it COVID or Ukraine war, et cetera, we managed and we optimized also multiple sources for raw materials, polymers, and this is a good strength. We leverage as well our R&D capabilities when you have to reformulate some of the materials in order to go for different ones or cheaper ones. So it's a lot of not only supply chain, but also R&D and product reformulation from time to time. We had just in the beginning of the one or two days of gas supply issue in India that it had been solved, and India had been doing very well in March. We'll be in India next week with Shraddha, but it has done very well in the last four to five weeks, so no no supply chain disruption in Asia or elsewhere. We have sometimes to address the ports and the destination, but all this is so far well under control. And on your third question, we have a very solid balance sheet. We have a critical, clear strategy in terms of rolling out lead and grow and working on the portfolio. You have seen that we have done some research acquisitions in construction chemicals. We have been able to divest the distribution business in the Nordic, so we will continue to be active on M&A, and we have the pipeline of discussions as we speak. It's also during those times that it could open up some good opportunities, because we are there to execute. We don't need to raise financing or whatever, so when you talk to sellers, not only do we have the country-led organization, which was extremely beneficial for CEMIX. I was two, three weeks ago in Mexico, and I could see directly the performance of CEMIX in Central America and Mexico. So we have this country-led organization, which is a good final home for family businesses, plus we have the certainty of execution when we talk to the sellers. So price does matter in terms of valuation, but have a final good home plus certainty of execution from Saint-Gobain in those times is also quite critical. So, you know, we are still with a good appetite on M&A, of course, with all the same discipline on strategic alignment, cultural alignment, and, of course, financial value creation. Very clear. Thank you very much.

Next question is from Hebraim Homani, CIC Market Solutions.

No, thank you for taking my questions. I have three. If I may, the first one is about North America. It has been difficult in Q1. Do you expect any catch-up in Q2? My second question is about your price-cost spread in Q1. Could you give us maybe more detail on it? And maybe on the margin dynamic, you expect between H1 and H2, and my third question is about the distribution consolidation in North America. What could be the impact for you? You are one of the biggest producers in the country. What could be the impact of this consolidation for Saint-Gobain? Thank you.

Thank you. So I will take the first and the third, and Maud, you take the second. In North America, you know, Q1 last year was very, very strong, and as Maud mentioned, we had the price increase at the beginning of the quarter. Normally, we do it just in April, but it was January, so good volumes, good prices, so the comparison basis was high in Q1. We don't expect to turn positive as soon as in Q2 in North America. Why is that? Because we still have new consumption down in North America, so we don't expect to turn positive as soon as in Q2. The second half comparison is much easier. We are back, I would say, to a normal weather pattern overall in North America, so we expect H2 to be much easier and, therefore, much better for North America. So that's what I would say on Q1, Q2 dynamic in the U.S.

Yes, and on your second question, Abraham, the price cut spread for Q1, We communicate on a full year basis on the spread, and again, we are, I think you understood, very confident about it. We are pushing, we have been pushing for price increases since the, actually, you know, for traditional price increases in some countries at the beginning of the year, as we discussed in our full year results. We have been pushing for additional price increases based on the inflationary situation. and we will see that materializing. Inflation right now is a moving target, so it's, again, it's early to say, and we continuously adapt, but we have that clear confidence about the full year spread. Then on your second topic, H1 versus H2 margin seasonality, we might not have the usual seasonality, Given the impact I have discussed before on the H1 margins, and therefore that's overall in line with the guidance, which is delivering on the margin for the full year above 15%. And again, it's clear from every country CEO to Benoit and ourselves that we are, you know, we have a strong focus on delivering on the margins.

And on your third question, overall, as we discussed over the last one or two years, distribution consolidation would favor big partners, big manufacturers. So that's overall a positive trend. We have seen it, you know, if I take the last two years with Home Depot, getting into SRS with roofing, GMS with plasterboard, As you know, we are the only one large player with the full offer exterior roofing, siding and interior gypsum and insulation. So as we speak, you know, we have some good discussion to expand a bit into retail. leveraging the very good relationship we have with GMS and SRIs under the umbrella of Home Depot. By the way, when I was in Mexico, I spent almost three hours with the CEO of Home Depot in Mexico. The is very strong with Home Depot in Mexico. So all these show that, yes, we can be a good partner, not only in the U.S. and Canada, but also in Mexico. So that's, again, a large partner, not only in terms of product offer, but also in terms of coverage of different countries. in favor of Sangoba. It was the same with ABC, you know, and still the same, of course, ongoing in terms of exterior products, interior with their LNW on factor board. Now, more recently, on the move with QXO, Beacon Roofing, of course, and Top Build. Again, we have good relationships with QXO, Beacon Roofing on the roofing and siding. We are one of their important partners, and we are an important partner for Top Build. So, all these... Again, it's a very solid relationship. As you know, insulation is not the largest business of Sangoba in the U.S. It's actually our number four business if I compare with roofing, gypsum siding, and insulation or ceilings. But we are, I think, a good, solid, reliable partner with Top Built, and we will continue to have that going forward with QXO and Beacon Roofing. So overall, I think it's up to us, of course, to have the right innovation, the right service, the right teams on the ground. but continue to deliver good service and good investment. I think it makes us very credible in the eyes of the big names when you invest and commit yourself in terms of capex to the country. We have seen that on acquisitions. We have seen that on capex. We have seen that on acquisitions in Mexico, as I mentioned. So it's, I think, a very solid framework in this overall consolidation.

Thank you very much.

Next question is from Ben Radha Matan, Goldman Sachs.

Great. Good evening, Ben, Warren, Maud. Thank you for the questions this evening. My first is on pricing strategy. I'd be interested in, I guess, how you're seeing competitors' pricing actions given the changes in the last month or two. Where, I guess, have you seen the industry move faster on pricing and where have you seen maybe a bit of a slower response? And then the second question would just be on capital allocation, given the kind of buckets you outlined at the Capital Markets Day. With the share price a little bit lower than where we were at that time, did this change, I guess, your capital allocation priorities in the short term? I'm thinking in particular relating to the $2 billion in buybacks you are targeting by 2030. Thank you.

Thank you. So, Maud will take the second one and I answer your first. You know, we are super committed within Sangoma to do what it takes to drive the performance of the group and deliver an immaculate service to our customers thanks to the value of our solutions and the intimacy that we have with our customers, which we measure, you know, with net promoter scores, with loyalty clubs, with contractor engagements in the U.S., et cetera, et cetera, so forth. We don't look at the side. We move on what is right for the P&L of Saint-Gobain. We are a very reliable partner to our customer. So for me, the question is not, again, in a specific product line. It's country by country. Of course, the impact of the new situation that we face and we have been facing over the last six weeks has been slightly different. If you take India, as I mentioned, in two days, there has been a gas problem. So it was very quick to solve it, and now it's done. But the impact on pricing was immediate in India. So it was more country by country, at least within Sangoba. Again, I'm not going to talk about competitors, but I think the reaction has been fact, but it's more country by country than specific industry versus others. If you think of some, you know, if I take insulation, for instance, I know that some of the foam plastic products Plastic foam manufacturers, they have a super high cost increase on chemicals. It's 40, 50, 60% with maybe some worry about the supply chain. So I guess in their shoes, they have to act extremely fast, which could open up some opportunities when you are in glass wool, stone wool, which is more mineral-based sand than anything else. I think you have those kind of dynamics from one product to the other in terms of creativity to the raw materials or to the energy. And I think it's also important to mention that sometimes I think we are a bit less energy intensive with 4% of sales than some may think. So you have a bit, I think, on product substitution or moves or pricing dynamic. that are a bit different based on the specificity of some raw materials, notably all the ones related to oil derivatives, which is not the case for gypsum, which is not the case so much for insulation, because our furnaces are, more than half of them are electrical, and we buy sand to make glass, so it's more that kind of dynamic, but I would say overall, the reactiveness on the country with the customer acceptance have been swift on the ground, have been quite swift.

Yes, on the second point, first of all, no change, of course, in our capital allocation. I think this quarter shows very well how we stick to it because we opened 11 new plants and lines and 10 of them were in high-growth countries or regions. We also made three Bolton acquisitions, as Benoit mentioned, which were in construction chemicals. So, again, very clear and sticking to our capital allocation framework. Then in terms of share buyback, obviously, we are very... and when the share price is a bit weaker, then this is an opportunity. So far, we have done a bit less than half of, you know, if you take a very year-by-year allocation of our $2 billion program, we have done a bit less than half of what we should do this year. But again, this $2 billion are... over the five-year period of our plan and we are opportunistic based on the share price where it is, where we believe that, you know, we should be buying back a bit more shares to show our commitment to share price appreciation and value creation for the shareholders.

And maybe a side comment which might be interesting for you that, you know, once a year we have a group savings plan for employees. And I'm happy to say that this year is the second best ever in terms of subscription from the employees. So it shows their confidence about, you know, the share price and the strategy of Saint-Gobain going forward. So it shows their alignment, which is good and always important, of course, to us. And also their confidence that, yes, there will be some good trajectory for Saint-Gobain going forward. So it's always a good indicator of the morale of the troops on the ground, even during difficult times for the subscription of the group saving term is between early March and end of March. Excellent. Thank you.

Next question is from Martin Furtiger, Kepler Sugar.

Yeah. Hi, Benoit. Hi, Maude. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got two. I've been following the European house purchase loan volumes recently and I'm noticed an interesting stagnation in January, February, in spite of the encouraging development in European building permits. Just wondering whether you track these financing data by the ECB as well for residential construction markets and what your interpretation is there, whether you would also infer that there's a current wait-and-see attitude due to interest rates may be worsened now by the geopolitical tensions That's my first question. And the second one is, if you could be a little bit more clear with regards to your outperformance in construction chemicals, does that entail the entire construction chemicals business, so including mortars, for instance, or does that just pertain to, you know, Phosphor, GCP, and the other newer acquisitions that you've done? Thank you very much.

So I'll take the second one, and Maud will answer to you on the first. Yes, it does capture the total perimeter of our construction chemicals exposure. You know, it's north of 6.5 billion euros. I think we have, I think, a good presence, of course, in this segment across multiple geographies. It's almost the 80 countries of Sangha. As you know, we are outperforming because it's leveraging in and out the broad range of solutions of . Sometimes construction chemicals will pull the demand of other products, and sometimes it will be . So it's a good showcase of when you have a broader portfolio, of course you don't win all the time, but it's the ability when you talk to, you know, a data center, not only do you have the anti-static floor, but you have the fireproofing on the partition, you have the ceilings, you have all this together. gaining market share in North America. As you heard, we are extremely happy with the CENIX and Frostrock acquisitions. We meet in India for Frostrock, CENIX in Mexico and Central America, growing double digits. Something that we have not highlighted, which I think is a good complement to our digital applications, we verify, which was a kind of growth gen within GCP, is doing well, and we are capturing growth with verifying with this IoT to measure on the traffic the formulation of the red mix in the truck. So that's interesting. We bought last year Matrix. It's a way to digitally measure the performance of the concrete, how fast it would dry, et cetera. So digital applications, I think, are part of the overall solutions. And last but not least, we have dedicated teams by segments. on tunnels, on bridges, on windmills, on airports. We have key account managers in all countries. This is the Saint-Gobain, you know, solutions with on-site technical support and training. And this is the way we win infrastructure projects. It's JFK Airport. I think we discovered that in February. It's the metro line in Chile. It's good infrastructure projects in India. So multiple examples. So it's not one single reason, but it's across the board that we have been able to accelerate the momentum on consequent chemicals with also a good playbook on M&A to integrate well what we buy, which creates a snowball effect and appealing effect for other family businesses to join us.

Yes, on the first question, Martin. Yes, we are tracking this data as well. I would say, as you said, rightly, a little bit of a wait and see. What we track as well is for new construction, indeed, the permits and the starts, which are still quite pointing in the right direction, as well as transactions. So it's a bit early to say, honestly, but we are seeing, again, some growth in new construction. which is anyway at a very low point and therefore we don't, we expect that to be on the trajectory of improvement.

Thank you.

Next question is from Pujarani Ghosh, Bernstein.

Hi, and thanks for taking my questions. So my first question, again, a little bit broader picture and the implications of the war. So between, you know, the time when you had your full year results and now a lot has changed. Could you give a little bit more color on how you are seeing the outlook on a region by region basis or on the different end markets, resi, non-resi, infra. You mentioned a little while earlier that maybe the war means that pricing could be a bit higher, whereas volumes could be a bit lower. So could you give a little bit granularity on your expectations more by region and end markets? And my second question, if we go back to America's pricing and for Q1, you mentioned that... you had to take some price cuts in Q1, and we see that in your press release as well. So could you provide some color on which specific products or end markets you had to cut prices and whether this still means you have a positive price cost spread in Q1 in the Americas?

Thank you. On your second question, you mentioned that we have seen some deflation in Latin America, for instance, on energy for the full first quarter. And therefore, if I take flat glass in Brazil, we decreased our prices because we had quite a significant deflation in Latin America, not impacting negatively the margin. So that's one example. In North America, to kick start, the season you have always some discussions with some distributors to again restock a bit at the start of the year. So this is why we have a slight negative price in Q1 in North America. So that's what I would say.

Yes, maybe also to add in North America itself last year, remember that we had a price increase in January and then a second price increase Whereas this year, you know, that was based on the traction from the carryover effect from the 2024 hurricanes. Whereas this year, the price increase actually came in April. So that's also a high comparison basis that you see for Q1 in particular in North America.

And to your first question, of course, I don't have any crystal ball, so it's difficult to have a long-term view on that. What we said is that as of today, we don't see a negative impact on the demand. I think back to the earlier questions about if and when interest rates go up on the long-term basis, if the conflict would last, then it could have a negative impact on some construction activity, new build, if interest rates go up, like in the U.S., you know, we were slightly below 6% mid-February. We went up 6.3, 6.4. We are below where we were a year ago, but of course, on the long term, we have to watch the impact of the inflation, if it lasts, versus interest rates, and therefore the the border activity on new construction, keeping always in mind that we are from a very low base. We need to build everywhere. You know, it's true in every single country in Europe on new housing. It's true also in the U.S. So that's something to keep in mind for the long run. After that, you know, yes, of course, there is an impact in the Middle East. I can tell you I've been extremely impressed by the way they delivered in March and I would say so far in April. We had the I was in Turkey last week. It's not exactly the Middle East, but we had a very good run in Turkey since the beginning of the year. So, yes, Middle East, which is around 500, a bit more than 500 million euros of sales, will be impacted. So that's one area. Too early to say. We may have less hospitality and markets, hotels going forward, more infrastructure, more defense infrastructure. Keep also in mind that the fact that ENG goes up again is always a wake-up call, if need be, on energy efficiency. So if I take France, if I take Germany, we see again all those discussions on energy efficiency, energy renovation, surfacing quite brutally again for everyone. So we know that energy will stay high even after the end of the ground. So the energy efficiency measures, if I take Europe, will continue. And we see that in renovation. renovation may be a bit impacted short-term by the consumer sentiment, etc., but the energy efficiency part of renovation will continue to be supported. So that's what we can say. You take Australia, we have seen a good trend on new builds in Australia. You take India, it's a double-digit growth. I don't see that changing as long as, of course, we can deliver, but we have secured everything we need in India. So overall, again, and we are not on a different planet, and I don't want to describe a rosy situation based on the geopolitics of today, of course, and we don't underestimate the current environment, and we prepare all our countries for a tough scenario, be it on pricing and contingency plans, et cetera, but I would say we are confident that energy efficiency is there, structural needs on new construction are there, needs for infrastructure, be it on defense and infrastructure, Other areas are there. We are grasping a lot of market share on data centers, so all these so far are quite well-oriented and going forward, and this is part of the long-lasting trend of lead and grow. So that's what I would say. As I said earlier, we might see a bit more prices for share than volumes in some areas, but the like-for-like type of trend is in line with what we had in mind.

Thank you. Very helpful.

Next question is from Julian Radding there, UBS.

Yeah. Hey, guys. Benoit, thanks for taking my questions. Three quick ones. So, firstly, could I just get back to something? I think you just said, you said earlier in the call in response to a question from Cedar, I think, Benoit. You said in Q1, in U.S. roofing, you had to cut some deals here and there to start the season. Could you just Could you please elaborate on that? What exactly does that mean? And then secondly, in light of some of the price increases now coming, could you talk a little bit to how your conversations with the home builders are going right now, both in North America and in Europe? Home builder margins are quite depressed these days, obviously, due to the rate environment and lack of demand. And so digesting additional building products cost inflation is, of course, not as easy in this environment as it's been in the past. And so how are you working with them to get the price increases you need without putting them under too much pressure at the same time? And then a very, very quick last one, just a mathematical question. If you've got mid-single-digit cost inflation on a 12 billion input cost bill, that's around 600 million. you could offset that with less than 1.5% price on a group basis. Is that the magnitude of price that we should think about for the coming quarters? I guess I'm a bit surprised it wouldn't be more just based on many of the price announcements that we can see in the market these days. Thank you.

Thank you. So, Maud will take the third. I will take the first question. You know, what I mentioned is nothing significant. You always have to have a good commercial discussion with your distributors. What is significant in the U.S. is the fact that, so as you all understood, we are on a slight negative pricing comparison versus Q1 of last year. Why that? Because first quarter of last year, we had a significant price increase in January. So the reason why we are slightly below last year is purely based on this effect that January price increase last year. This year it's April plus the one we have announced for June. Last year was January and April. So this is not a mathematical, but I would say a timing reason of the pricing dynamic. You know also that, for example, last year Q4 we gained market share in roofing versus the statistics. I guess that Q1 we might be, because there are always some swings, Q1, Q4, we might be slightly under. Q2 will be slightly above. I don't know yet, but you have always quarter to quarter those kind of dynamics. So this is by far the biggest parameter, and notably on the pricing from last year. The discussion with home builders, ultimately the home builders, they want to save cost and improve their margin based on productivity. and all the effort, and it's true around the world, the effort and the direction that we have put together on solutions help them save on productivity and therefore improve or restore some of their margins. So we are on the kind of discussions we have with them. This is the performance in terms of thermal efficiency, in terms of productivity, in terms of air quality that we will deliver to you if you put all those solutions of Saint-Gobain together. And the products, the has part of the job site. You know, it's one-third of their total cost. So we have, of course, to be competitive. We have to be innovative. We have to have a good service. But the high-level discussion and the most important ones we have are on these kind of solutions. I don't know, Julian, if you were there during the visit of the scale one test. with Barrett in the UK, it's a perfect example of having this, it was a visit that we had in July 24, if I'm correct. It's always possible to come back and visit that, but it's a long-term partnership that we have with Barrett to deliver on the performance, design the home together, and for them to build thousands of homes later on on the Stangland solution. So that's the kind of partnership country by country discussions we have with the home builders.

And on the... Yes, on the pricing. So indeed, Julien, no question about your math. We are talking, of course, of a moving target, as I said, in terms of inflation. So that's our assumption as of today. And then we are also talking of implementation of pricing, of course, starting from Q2 with gradual implementation of that And on the year, and again, we will adapt very proactively based on the situation, country by country, based on the evolution of that mid-single-digit inflation and based on what's happening on the ground from our teams. But that's the kind of direction of travel, again, that we are seeing as of today.

Okay. Thanks very much, guys.

Next question is from Yasin Towari on field investment research.

Thank you very much for taking my question. I think like in the past couple of quarter you disclosed your woofing volumes in the U.S. I think it was down 18%, 17% in Q3 and Q4. Could you give us this trend in the first quarter of 2026? And then I'm trying to understand the outlook for margin in the Americas in the second part of the year. So, if I understand correctly, the weather pattern looks a bit more normal. You have increased prices by, I think, 6-7% were announced in April, another 10% in June. The base effect is easy. Does it mean that we could go back to a margin in H2 which is closer to the 18% that you delivered in H1 2025? or it's too early to say because the new build is uncertain and could negatively impact your operations in plasterboard, siding, and insulation.

Okay, so I will take the first note. You have seen the like-for-like North American performance in Q1. It's a combination of multiple products. We are below that on roofing. So this is the picture that I would give on roofing without being more precise, a bit below the overall performance that we have delivered for Q1 North America. Why is that? Because again, Q1 roofing last year was extremely strong. So no surprise that on roofing specifically, the average of North America, we are a bit below the average because we didn't have such a strong Q1 across the other So that's the detail of the color I can give you on the roofing volume in North America.

And then the second question was on... The second question was on H2 margin in the Americas, if I'm correct.

Yeah, could you go back to something closer to 18% in a context where you would have had two successive price increase in shingle or... Or it's too early to say because there is too much uncertainty on the horizon?

I think it's pretty early to say. What we said is that there will be an easier comparison basis in H2 for AmeriCas. But then it's, again, very early to say. And, again, the commitment we have, and we are super committed to that, is margin for the group with the guidance that Benoit has restated before.

Thank you very much.

Next question is from Harry Godd, Berenberg.

Yeah, hi, good evening. I've got two questions, please, both really just points of clarity. Ben, I think in response to Elodie's first question, you talked about an expectation for organic growth or life-like growth in the second quarter. Can I just be clear, as a reference to both European divisions or was that just aggregated group number? And then second question, and I just want to check I heard it correctly. Did you say that you think there's been no impact on demand in Europe in Q1 from events in the Middle East? I appreciate there's an issue on the cost side, but in terms of demand, were you saying no impact? Thank you.

So first question, yes, it's a group answer that I gave for the Q2, you know, moving progressively positive, et cetera. And in Q1, of course, it's extremely difficult to, we are not behind every single customer, but I would say ballpark, with the exception of the Middle East, which of course was directly impacted. But I don't think we can say that we have seen an impact of the war in March. Now, whether a few renovation customers here and there in France may have been in a wait-and-see attitude in March, maybe, maybe not, frankly. I don't know. I don't think the first order of magnitude in terms of impact. So I don't think in Q1 we have seen on the demand side the impact of the war. So again, that's end of March. And I would say so far, I cannot say we have seen a significant or meaningful impact of the war in terms of demand. And as we said, the March months have been good, and all teams are on the ground delivering good solutions, good service, and good commercial actions. Okay. Thank you very much.

Next question is from Will Jones, Rothschild & Co, Redburn.

Thanks. Evening. A couple, please. First, just coming back to North America pricing and specifically, you mentioned what you've announced in roofing, but have you announced price increases in siding, wallboard and insulation for Q2? And the second was really around the Nordic markets. You mentioned mixed trends there, that any colour by country would be helpful. And just coming back to the ventilation, disposal and distribution, perhaps you could just help us with your thinking around that. and should we think of it as quite specialist and one-off in nature, or might you be willing to consider other parts of Nordic distribution as well?

Thanks. So in North America, we have had some discussions on pricing around gypsum. I don't think here, I'm not sure it will stick. We will see going forward, but there have been some discussions and some later out on gypsum. It's too early to say what's going to happen, so we might not realize the much there, siding, I think we will announce, or we have announced, I think we have announced already on siding, roofing and mentioning, because it's been twice, so different dynamics, again, country by country, and we have done it also on ceilings, so across not all the geographies, but we have done it. We have done it, of course, on construction chemicals, because there is more inflation on polymer for construction chemicals than elsewhere. So, of course, we have done it in North America. We have done it. So, again, all the different product lines have had their share in terms of pricing actions. Secondary versus, you know, the start of the year or the end of the first quarter. That's a lot of improvement and effort. On the Nordics, there is a Not much to say. We have been happy about the direct teacher. I think it's a good transaction. As you know, you know, on acquisitions, on direct teachers, we look at all the situation country by country, how we can maximize the performance, the outperformance, the value creation of the group. So this is how we are going to continue to look at different geographies, including in the Northeast. And I would say country by country, we have seen Norway improving a bit on new build recently, which was not the case last year. Sweden being okay like Denmark. And Finland also improving a bit. So it's a bit better. It's still mixed because you have one good month, one slow month. Weather impact was quite terrible in January, February. So frankly, we have only one month and a half of normal weather, even though they are used, of course, to half weather. But I can tell you January, February were extremely good. It's tough in the Nordics, so it's too early to say whether the year will be so much better in the Nordics or not. For me, the only piece of good news is that this year was a bit better on new builds, if I'm correct, in Norway.

Thank you.

There are no more questions registered at this time. The floor is back to the speakers for any closing remarks.

Okay, well, thank you very much. Thank you for all your time and your questions. So I look forward, together with Mo, to speaking to you after the release of our first half 2026 results, which will be on the 30th of July 2026. So thank you again for your participation, and have a good evening. Thank you.