Compagnie St-Gobain - Re Interim Financial Stmts

RNS No 9839k
COMPAGNIE DE SAINT-GOBAIN
23 September 1999



               CONFIRMATION OF NET INCOME EXCLUDING CAPITAL GAINS
                    FOR FIRST-HALF 1999 OF 469 MILLION EUROS
                    (+10.9%) OR 3,076 MILLION FRENCH FRANCS

At its meeting of September 23, 1999, the Board of Directors of SAINT-GOBAIN
reviewed the Group's consolidated financial statements for the first half of
1999. The key consolidated figures, which confirm the estimates published on
July 22, 1999, are as follows:

                                            First half 1999      First half 1998

In millions                                   EUR      FF         EUR       FF
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sales                                       10,957   71,873      8,795   57,691
Operating income                             1,115    7,314        879    5,766
Dividend income                                 31      204         49      323
Interest and other financial charges, net     (132)    (866)      (142)    (932)
Non-operating costs                            (85)    (558)       (57)    (374)
Income before tax and before profit on 
  sales of non-current assets                  929    6,094        729    4,783
Profit on sales of non-current assets          537    3,522        137      899
Income taxes                                  (452)  (2,965)      (287)  (1,885)
Amortization of goodwill                       (65)    (426)       (50)    (326)
Share in net results of associated companies    16      105         43      281
Net income before minority interests           965    6,330        572    3,752
Minority interests                             (83)    (544)       (46)    (304)
Net income                                     882    5,786        526    3,448
Earnings per share (in euros and francs)     10.14    66.53       5.83    38.23
Net inome excluding capital gains              469    3,076        423    2,773
Resources from operations (cash flow)        1,126    7,386        991    6,499
Capital expenditure on plant and equipment     673    4,415        563    3,695
Acquisition of investments                   1,845   12,102        577    3,786
Net indebtedness                             5,873   38,524      3,299   21,641

The Board of Directors also reviewed the accounts of Compagnie de SAINT-GOBAIN,
the parent (holding) company. Income before tax and before sales of non-current
assets totalled EUR278 million (FF 1,825 million) for first-half 1999, against
EUR219 million (FF 1,435 million) for the same period in 1998.

Outlook: Taking into account the sustained good level of activity in its various
business lines, the Saint-Cobain Group confirms its objective of 15% growth in
earnings per share for the 1999 full year. This objective includes the 5% share
capital cancellation occurred on June 24th.


                          Investor Relations Department
                     Tel.: Florence TRIOU +(33) 1 47 62 45 19
                     Tel.: Lounis BEKKAT  +(33) 1 47 62 32 36
                                      Fax +(33) 1 47 62 50 62


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