Sika News 2018

Sika has agreed to acquire Arcon Membrane Srl, a leading manufacturer of roofing and waterproofing systems in Romania. By acquiring Arcon, Sika will significantly strengthen its position in the Romanian market and extend its product portfolio to meet the increasing demand for complete solutions in the roofing and waterproofing markets. The acquired business generates annual sales of CHF 23 million. The transaction is subject to approval by the Romanian anti-trust authority.

Sika has opened a new production plant in Central America, located in Palin in the metropolitan area of Guatemala City. This move further expands the company's market position in the emerging countries of the region. The portfolio of locally manufactured products includes concrete admixtures, mortars, and liquid applied membranes, which will be used to supply the neighboring countries of Honduras and El Salvador as well as the domestic market.

Sika Peru has opened new headquarters in the metropolitan area of Lima and introduced a modern plant for the production of concrete admixtures, mortar products, and acrylic liquid applied membranes (LAM). With this new plant, Sika is tripling its production capacities and strengthening its market position in Peru.

Sika has acquired the global Concrete Fibers business from Propex Holding, LLC, which includes a US plant manufacturing synthetic fibers for use in concrete reinforcement, sales operations in Sika’s three geographical regions, and a strong brand. The acquired business is a perfect addition to Sika’s concrete systems for high value-added solutions required in the construction of high-rise buildings and demanding infrastructure projects. The acquired business generates annual sales of CHF 30 million.

▪ Sales growth of 14.1% in local currency (15.0% in CHF) to CHF 5,322.7 million
▪ Growth in all regions
▪ Operating profit (EBIT) up 9.0% (excluding one-off costs incurred in connection with the resolution of the dispute with Saint-Gobain, EBIT would have risen by 12.4%)
▪ Double-digit increase in net profit of 10.5%
▪ Consistent implementation of growth strategy with establishment of a further national subsidiary, the opening of six new factories, and completion of three acquisitions
▪ Outlook 2018: Confirmation of sales target of more than CHF 7 billion ̶ double-digit growth in both EBIT and net profit

Sika opens a new production plant for concrete admixtures near Yekaterinburg, Russia. In the area around the plant, there are five cities with populations of over one million and attractive construction markets. Large parts of the Volga region and Siberia can also be supplied from the new site.

Sika is expanding its presence in Kazakhstan and strengthening its position in two of the country's growth regions. To reinforce existing production operations in Almaty in the southeast of the country, Sika is simultaneously commissioning two further concrete admixture production plants, one in the capital Astana and the other in Atyrau in the west.

At the Sika Capital Markets Day, currently taking place in New York, Sika CEO Paul Schuler confirmed the strategic goals for 2020. Citing the motto "Megacities drive Sika’s growth", Group Management members and Sika experts from the United States used the example of New York to illustrate how the urbanization megatrend and the strongly growing large cities are driving Sika's structural growth. In the USA, Sika already generates 37% of its sales in the 20 biggest cities, with New York as one of the leading markets.

Sika is adding strength and capacity to its Mexican product supply chain in the Automotive sector with the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Querétaro, Mexico. The new factory, which includes an integrated logistics center, will manufacture and locally supply Sika’s full range of acoustic treatments and body structural products for the growing number of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) assembly and component makers located in the country. The Mexican subsidiary of Faist ChemTec, acquired by Sika at the start of 2018, will also be integrated into the new facility.

A World War II navigational sign has been restored to its former glory with a little charitable help from 100 litres of high performance coating, from global building product manufacturer Sika.