 The Board of Directors of Saint-Gobain met on September 19, 2002 to review the final consolidated financial statements of the Group for the six months ended June 30, 2002. The main consolidated results, which are in line with the estimates announced on July 25, are as follows:
Within the Housing Products Sector, the Pipe Division's distribution operations have been transferred, as from January 1, 2002, to the Building Materials Distribution Division, in order to set up a European organization for sales of materials in civil engineering markets.
Group net indebtedness improved: taking into account the fact that the dividend had not been paid at the end of June 2001, net indebtedness at June 30, 2002 was EUR 724 million lower than a year earlier.
The Board of Directors also reviewed the financial statements of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, the parent company of the Group, which operates as a holding company. These financial statements show net income of EUR 520 million for the first six months of 2002, compared with net income of EUR 1,027 million for the same period of 2001, which included capital gains from disposals that did not recur in 2002.
Group sales over the months of July and August were in line with the full-year target of net income excluding capital gains on a par with 2001.
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