Sika raises the bar
Sika closed the first quarter of 2021 with record sales of just under CHF 2 billion. In a year-on-year comparison, sales increased in all regions. The globally active building materials group from Zug is raising its growth targets for 2021 to at least 10 percent in local currencies.
Sika closed the first quarter of 2021 with record sales of just under 2.0 billion francs, the Zug-based building materials group announced in a press release . In a year-on-year comparison, this corresponds to growth of 10.2 percent. Sika writes that growth of 12.6 percent was achieved in local currencies. The announcement puts organic growth at 11.1 percent.
All market regions of the globally active group contributed to the positive development. In the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, Africa), a year-on-year increase in sales of 13.2 percent in local currencies to 914.7 million Swiss francs was achieved. The Americas region grew by 6.2 percent in local currencies. In the Asia / Pacific region, sales in local currencies rose by 25.8 percent to 422.8 million Swiss francs. In business with the automotive industry (Global Business), growth of 2.7 percent in local currencies was achieved after a minus in the previous year.
"In the new year we were able to seamlessly build on our strong performance from the fourth quarter of the previous year", Paul Schuler, chairman of the group management, is quoted in the announcement. As a consequence of the development, Sika is adjusting its growth targets for the year as a whole upwards. Instead of the 6 to 8 percent originally communicated, the aim is now to achieve double-digit sales growth in local currencies. The margin on the operating result (EBIT) is also to be increased to 15 percent for the first time this year. In the previous year, an EBIT margin of 14.4 percent was achieved.