...The affirmation of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain's (SGO) ratings reflects its good operational performance in 2019 with like-for-like sales up 2.4%. A recovery in end-markets, price increases and a successful roll-out of a new organisational structure have led to sustainable margin and cash flow improvement. The coronavirus pandemic had a negative effect on the group's operations but Fitch Ratings believes SGO's product and end-market diversification will enable a quick recovery, bringing leverage metrics back within our sensitivities in 2021. SGO's strong liquidity position mitigates the negative short-term impact. Cash conservation has been further strengthened by SGO's announcement on 27 May 2020 of the disposal of the 10.75% stake in SIKA it owned for CHF2.6 billion....
