About Compagnie de Saint-Gobain

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. engages in the manufacture and provision of materials, such as glass, ceramics, plastics, and cast iron, abrasives and associated services. The company operates in five segments: Flat Glass, Packaging, Construction Products, Building Distribution, and High-Performance Materials. FLAT GLASS SECTOR Flat glass sector manufactures, processes, and sells glass products for various markets, including the car and transports industries, the building trade, the furnishing, the electrical goods and the electronics industries. The basic product, clear or tinted glass, is made on floats, in industrial units that also produce high-value-added glazing. This Division also has companies specializing in making glass products for the aerospace and transport industries, optics, household electrical appliances, and electronics. Glazing for the Automobile Sector For the automobile, SEKURIT SAINT-GOBAIN INTERNATIONAL works in partnership with automakers to develop new glazing and new functions that simplify the work of fitting the glazing on the body and allow for recycling. SEKURIT SAINT-GOBAIN, active in 22 countries, is the glass supplier of reference to the automobile industry. Glazing for the Building Sector For Building, the Flat Glass Division offers the line of glass products under its SAINT-GOBAIN GLASS brand name. It is active in Europe and Latin America through companies that make the basic products and subsidiaries specializing in processing and trade. Glazing for Specialties The Flat Glass Division meets global demand in specific sectors through its specialized companies. They have developed particular glassmaking techniques for household appliances, fireproof glass optics for industry, nuclear protection glass, and commercial refrigeration. The company SOVIS specializes in making glass products for the optics industry (technical lighting, spectacles and radiation shielding windows for the nuclear industry), as well as glass processing for household appliances (oven doors, stovetops) and commercial refrigeration (refrigerated food counters). Other companies in the Flat Glass Division are also active in the household appliance sector: EMMABODA and SCAN GLASS in Scandinavia, THERMAX in Great Britain, COVINA in Portugal and COVISEL in Brazil. EUROKERA and KERAGLASS manufacture and market clear fire-resistant glass ceramics used for cooking tops. EUROKERA NORTH AMERICA produces and markets these burners in America. VETROTECH INTERNATIONAL develops and markets special fireproof glass. THE PACKAGING SECTOR The Packaging sector has three activities: the production and sale of bottles and jars for the food industry and bottles for the perfume and pharmaceutical sectors. There is a plastics activity which produces high-performance plastic pumps for packaging liquid hygienic and beauty products, as well as household products. THE CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS SECTOR The Construction products sector includes Building materials, Insulation and Pipe. Building materials: The Company’s worldwide materials offering cover solutions for new and renovated buildings. Building Materials helps improve the aesthetic harmony of homes, can adapt to regional traditions, and has an influence on urban and home environments. CertainTeed spearheads U.S. operations, which include on the one hand PVC products for wall facings and outdoor design of the home (sidings, windows, gutters, railings, patio equipment) and on the other roofing and ventilation products (asphalt-covered shingles, equipment for mechanical ventilation of attics). Saint-Gobain Weber develops solutions based on ready mixed mortars to build and maintain constructions. Industrial concrete, a French business run by Saint-Gobain Stradal, covers products for road construction and utilities, for civil engineering (railway sleepers, arch stones, and supports), as well as town fixtures, floor slabs and paving stones, gardening and landscaping items. Insulation: Drawing on its capacity to process sand and rock, Saint-Gobain offers insulating products in glass wool or rock wool for protection against cold, heat, noise and fire. These insulating products are manufactured in coated or un-coated rolls, panels and packs. Insulating products are manufactured in some thirty facilities in Europe, the USA, Brazil, Argentina and China. They are used for roofs, walls, facings and ceilings and help reduce energy consumption and absorb noise. The activities of the Insulation Division are divided among glass wool (TEL process), rock wool, and other sectors that are smaller in scale but have promising growth, e.g., foams and acoustic ceilings. Pipe: The Company is in complete ductile iron pipe systems, Saint-Gobain Canalisation designs, produces and markets a range of complete solutions to water transport. The Division, divided into three core businesses (Water and Sewerage, Foundry and Building), primarily supplies two major markets: public works and the building industry. Population growth, the development of urban areas and irrigation, the immediate or recurring consequences of droughts and industry needs create a continuous and growing demand for water supply and sewerage systems. Their production depends on the availability of financing by public authorities or federal governments. THE BUILDING DISTRIBUTION SECTOR The Building Distribution sector engages in building materials distribution. It has a network of 3,100 outlets located in 19 countries including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Company's Key markets include the construction, restoration and home improvement sectors, serviced through branded stores. Each of its companies targets a certain type of customer – from professional builders to consumers - and organizes its distribution method according to their specific needs. THE HIGH PERFORMANCE MATERIALS SECTOR The High performance materials sector includes Ceramics and Plastics, Abrasives and Reinforcement. Ceramics & Plastics Division The Ceramics & Plastics Division breaks down into four business lines. Grains & Powders: The Company's nano-alumina particles, used for micro-surface finishing. Its proppants, of the size of a grain of sand, are great for fracturing gas and oil wells. Its zirconia powders give intense color to tiles and tableware. Its ceramic coating products provide extended resistance and protection to TV satellite dishes and aircraft engines. Its ceramic moulds make the best titanium-based golf clubs. Ceramics: The Company's refractories line the glass furnaces that manufacture bottles, windows, car windshields and TV screens. Its silicon carbide particulate filters remove the fine particles emitted by diesel engines. Its boron nitride powders help make cosmetics and lipsticks that have coverage and are easy to apply. Its silicon nitride balls are used in Formula 1 Racing cars’ wheel bearings and gear boxes. Saint-Gobain ceramics offers application-driven and cutting-edge materials. Crystals: Saint-Gobain Crystals provides engineered products that are at the frontiers of technology. Plastics: The Company's seals are in Formula One race cars. Its bearings are used in automotive door hinges and pedal linkage systems. Its tubing products handle fluids in laboratories and hospitals. Its foams are used for bonding, sealing, acoustical and vibration damping. Its coated fabrics have many uses, including architectural. Its radomes allow TV and telephone access on airplanes. Abrasives Saint-Gobain is in the Abrasives market with a presence in the USA and operations throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. Abrasives are vital to production and processing industries where they are used for cutting, grinding and polishing. There are three major types or families of Abrasives: Bonded abrasives (precision and fine grinding wheels), Coated abrasives (applied to paper, cloth and synthetic materials) and Superabrasives (diamond-based grinding and tools used in machine tooling or finishing on extremely hard or very fragile materials). Abrasives are also used in everyday life for sand paper, polishing disks, and grinding wheels. Reinforcement The Reinforcement Division has been gradually organized into divisions based on two fundamental business sectors: Saint-Gobain Vetrotex for spinning and Saint-Gobain Technical Fabrics for transformation. Saint-Gobain Vetrotex Saint-Gobain Vetrotex ensures the production and marketing of glass fibre for composite material reinforcements. Saint-Gobain Vetrotex customers are moulders or transformers and the applications are numerous. Its textile glass fibre lines are used in technical fabrics. Its reinforcement glass fibre lines are used in reinforced plastic parts manufactured in small or large series, with multiple sizes and shapes. These reinforced plastic parts are light (up to 30% lighter than steel), insulating, corrosion-resistant, shock- and heat-resistant, and used to replace steel, wood, cardboard, etc. in many sectors: transportation (body panels, bumper-beams, instrument panels); building and infrastructure (sinks, wall covering, lighting, bridges); industrial equipment (pipes, tanks); yachting, leisure (pools); consumer goods (casing for household appliances and computers); electricity (supply boxes, cable trays) and electronics (printed circuits). Special glass strands lines Cem-Fil (alkali-resistant glass) is used in the reinforcement of cements and mortars. Twintex (glass/thermoplastic commingled) is used for the manufacture of high performance composite parts (automotive panels or structural parts). Glass Mat (non-woven glass fabric) is used for the reinforcement of bituminous covering for roofing, and for the reinforcement of linoleum and walls. Saint-Gobain Technical Fabrics Saint-Gobain Technical Fabrics specializes in the manufacture and sale of reinforcement fabrics and scrims (made of glass, polyester, aramid and carbon) for construction, engineered composites and industrial products. Significant Events In February 2007, the company and Owens Corning announced that they have entered into agreements to form a global joint venture to develop, manufacture, market, sell and distribute glass reinforcements products. The company has signed an agreement with the Krasnodar region Administration on construction of a plant for production of the glass bottles in the Bryukhovetsky district of the region (Russia South). The projected capacity of the establishment amounts to 700mn bottles per annum. Saint Gobain and Turkiye Sise ve Cam Fabrikalari AS have agreed to jointly develop their flat glass (float) activities in Egypt and Russia, by carrying out two projects together. Sisecam would take a minority stake in Saint-Gobain Glass's investment project to build its first float glass production line in Egypt, alongside Saint-Gobain's local partner, MMID. In addition, a joint venture would be set up between Saint-Gobain and Sisecam for the construction of a float line in Russia, in the Republic of Tatarstan.