Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I hope that you have received our press release and you have been able to go through the highlights. Together with Sreedhar, our CFO, we will present our Q1 performance, which is solid despite some markets remaining difficult. We saw a second straight improvement in volumes versus Q4 of 2023, which are progressively troughing in Europe country by country. On the operational side, our local teams continue to take country by country the right proactive measures on commercial priorities, on pricing, on purchasing actions, and also, of course, on cost. So they have clear priorities to optimize their P&L and make the best of their local environment. On the strategic side, the quarter has been busy.
We continue to pursue at a good pace our growth strategy as a worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction, and we have been decisively allocating capital in a disciplined manner. This is demonstrated, once again, first by our recently announced acquisitions to expand our presence in the fast-growing geographies of North America, Asia-Pacific, and emerging markets, which now represent around two-thirds of the group operating profit. In Australia, of course, our acquisition of CSR will give us a leading position in light and sustainable construction within a very attractive market with strong demographic needs and also a new building code with stricter energy efficiency requirements. In Canada, our acquisition of Bailey in metal frames will further reinforce our offer for light and sustainable construction in the country following the moves of Kaycan and Building Products of Canada in recent years. The processes, which are necessary for completion, are underway.
Together, these two acquisitions will add more than 3% to our group sales on a full-year basis. Second, on the strategy side, we keep going with our focus on the attractive construction chemicals market with 6 bolt-on acquisitions since the start of the year. All this means that we continue to deliver strong milestones on our strategic roadmap to reinforce the group's profitable growth profile. I now hand over to Sreedhar, who will give you additional information about our first-quarter sales.
Thank you, Benoit, and good evening to everybody. As Benoit said, Saint-Gobain demonstrated, once again, its resilience in Q1 with a sequential improvement in volumes even in the difficult new construction market environment in Europe. In Q1, we had a negative scope impact reflecting our continued portfolio optimization strategy. Volumes fell down 4.7% in the quarter with a negative working day impact of around -1.5% at the group level. This means we saw an improvement in volumes compared to Q4, which was at 4.5%. Thanks to our pricing discipline and purchasing actions, we were able to benefit from lower costs in energy and some raw materials delivering a price-cost spread positive in Q1 and in all segments even with prices down 1.1%.
Given the strong focus on price-cost spread from each and every country CEO, I'm confident that we will, once again, deliver a positive price-cost spread for the full year 2024. Now, let us look at by segment. Overall, in Europe, we saw a sequential improvement in volumes, and we are progressively troughing country by country. Volumes showed an improvement compared to Q4, which were at around -6% at comparable working days. Note, working days were especially negative in Europe at more than -2%. We continue to see contrasted trends by end market with resilient renovation but weak new construction. The difficult new construction markets impacted Nordic countries and Germany, while renovation markets remained more resilient. In the U.K., we saw a smaller decline in Q1, and we think we have troughed.
We are benefiting from a strong commercial dynamic in the country thanks to our complete solutions offering, which is allowing us to lead and gain market share. In Eastern Europe, we saw positive volumes for the second quarter in a row, leveraging our full set of solutions across the broadest offer in the market. In France, we were impacted by the weak new construction market but continue to outperform thanks to our strong position in the renovation market. Renovation market continues to be resilient. Spain and Italy saw solid performance with volume growth in resilient construction markets. In the Middle East and Africa, we achieved strong growth, especially in Turkey and Egypt thanks to our recent investments. In the Americas, the strong growth of 5.9% in Q1, up in both volumes and prices, was driven by our clear outperformance in North America.
In North America, we continue to see strong volume growth. We benefited from a strong renovation market on an easier comparison basis in roofing as well as the stabilization of the new construction market at a very good level. We continue to gain market share thanks to our comprehensive offer for exterior and interior solutions for the light construction market. The recent integrations of KCAN and Building Products of Canada contributed to this robust sales momentum. Latin America saw continued weak markets, but volumes are now stabilizing at the level of Q4. In Brazil, certain macroeconomic indicators are improving, and we are benefiting from our complete solutions in light construction. Coming to the Asia-Pacific region, we saw a robust growth of 4.5% in Q1 driven by India.
India delivered another strong performance with market share gains thanks to our complete solutions approach, the right trade-off on price, and our targeted investments for growth. We continue to take many sustainability-driven initiatives in the country, including the production of a very low-carbon plaster, increasing the amount of recycled content in our products, and also using biogas energy. In China, although the new construction market remains difficult, we are continuing to gain market share thanks to our positioning in renovation. Our expansion in certain regions and, above all, our attractive offering, delivering quality, circularity, lighter solutions, and excellent customer service is helping us to strengthen our position. Southeast Asia remained at a good level driven by Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore thanks to our rich set of solutions. Now, let us look at our global customer markets. High Performance Solutions saw organic sales decrease 5.4% in Q1 on a high comparison basis.
We saw a significant decrease in our reinforcement grid business, Adfors, due to the weak new construction market in Central Europe. However, in construction chemicals, we continue to have a good dynamic both in Chryso and GCP driven by infrastructure projects and innovations to decarbonize construction. In Q1, Saint-Gobain Construction Chemicals opened two new plants. Our mobility business was stable on a high comparison basis, and our business serving industrial markets decreased due to weaker industrial markets linked to the investment cycles. To sum up, Saint-Gobain remains resilient with a sequential improvement in volumes. We continue to achieve market share gains in many countries through our solutions. We are confident to deliver a positive price-cost spread for the full year and also to achieve in 2024 a double-digit margin for the fourth consecutive year. Now, I hand over back to Benoit for the concluding remarks.
Thank you, Sreedhar. So I would like to make a few comments to conclude. First, I would like to thank our teams. I'm very proud of the operational results they have achieved in Q1 despite some markets remaining difficult. The solid performance in Q1 is thanks to their hard work, focus on outperformance, a very strong disciplined execution, and also good trade-offs such as investment for growth, proactive cost rationalization, or footprint optimization wherever necessary. Although new construction markets in Europe remain difficult, we have seen a sequential improvement in volumes in Q1, and we are progressively troughing in Europe country by country. Renovation, which represents around 60% of our sales in the region, remains more resilient. We have delivered also strong performance of growth in North America, Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and also in construction chemicals.
At the group level, we believe we have reached a floor, and the worst is behind us. We are confident to deliver a double-digit margin once again in 2024, which will mean a fourth consecutive year of double-digit margin for Saint-Gobain. To sum up, 2024 will be another successful year for Saint-Gobain. Why is that? Because we will show once again our performance versus our markets, also another year of strong resilience. We will continue to deliver important milestones in our strategic worldwide leadership in light and sustainable construction with very good quality assets, business, and geographic positions that bode very well for our future. Thank you for your attention. Sreedhar and I are now happy to answer any of your questions.
This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. The first question is from Paul Roger with BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you. Good evening, Benoit, Sreedhar, and team. Thanks for taking the question. So I'll just have a couple to start then. The first one is on volumes. And I wonder if you can comment a bit more about what you're actually seeing at ground level that gives you the confidence that Europe is troughing and maybe also whether you've seen any acceleration in April so far that reinforces that view. And then the second one is on the Americas, obviously very strong performance in Q1. I'm just wondering if you've seen any sequential price improvements in the U.S., and if so, in which business lines, and also how sustainable that run rate is. Thank you.
Thank you, Paul. Good evening. So related to volumes, well, first, we have seen already positive volumes in Eastern Europe in Q4, and it's continuing in Q1. So I think we are now in the right direction in those countries. We think we have troughed in the UK. We think we are close to that in Germany and in the Nordics. If I take France, it may take a few quarters before reaching a low point. So that's what we see on the ground. We can look also at other indicators like the mortgage rates approvals, whether it's in the UK or in France, which are now moving in the right direction. So that's what we see in terms of volumes in Europe. We continue to see good volumes in South Europe. You have heard from Sreedhar that Spain and Italy are in positive volume territory.
I think we performed very well over there.
Middle East Africa.
Middle East, Africa as well. In Brazil, we see several product lines where the volumes started to turn slightly positive. So here again, I think we have troughed, and we have maybe reached a plateau, and we'll bounce back from there. Some product lines have started to do so. So that's the overall picture. Of course, in Asia, India has been very strong, and all countries have been growing with one exception, which is Vietnam for economic and maybe political reasons. But all countries of Asia have been in positive territories. So that's what we see on the ground in terms of volumes. Of course, good volumes as well in North America. And I think we have clearly outperformed in North America. That comes to the second question. Yes, we have seen some price evolution positive in the U.S., notably on the roofing early in the year.
We might have more in the next few months around the summer. We have also seen that in gypsum in the U.S. Secondarily, it's also moving up again in insulation. Overall, there is a reasonably good pricing environment in the U.S. supported by good volumes. That's what I would say on the pricing environment in the U.S. We are confident that it will stay in this positive territory and moving in the right direction based on the volume activity on the market and the fact that if I take roofing, we are clearly on allocation for all our plants in roofing. We still have the carryover of the storms from last year. The activity, I would say, on storms has been reasonable and quite busy also at the beginning of the year. That's a comment overall in North America.
I don't comment specifically April, but again, we are in line with our overall guidance that we commented 2 months ago for the full year in terms of low single-digit full-year volumes. April is in line with what we have in mind and what we said exiting Q1.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Elodie Rall with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one will be on the price decline on 1.1%. Could you give us a bit of color about what's driving that? Is it contained to flat glass? What are the plus and minuses at group level excluding flat glass? My second question is on margins. But clearly, I will phrase it this way. You confirm that price cost will be positive, which I think is an improvement from what you said, that the full-year presentation of at least neutral. Now, can you confirm that you can also absorb fixed costs through ongoing operational efficiencies? And my last question is on the new seasonality of the business at group level between H1 and H2. How would you say margins should be now on a normalized basis? H1 margin equal H2 or a bit more heavy on one of the two semesters?
Because with all the changes at group level, it'd be helpful to have guidance on what is the new normal. Thank you.
Thank you, Elodie. So, Sreedhar, you take the first question.
Sure. I'll take. Elodie, your point on in terms of price, I think it's very much in line with what we had guided the market at end of February. It's in line with our expectation. And as we said at end of February, this is directly linked to the tailwind that we saw and seeing in certain businesses of raw materials and energy cost. And when you look at what has happened in the first 4 months, it clearly gives us the confidence that we should deliver a positive price-cost spread for the full year. So you're right. It is much more it gives us more confidence. Again, we believe that the tailwind which we have seen and I am actually very proud of what I see the team has done on purchasing actions. And while there is still some volatility, but I think they're hands-on.
They're really monitoring very, very closely. And also a lot of pricing discipline. I think that's another significant improvement over the years where each and every country CEO is focused on pricing and making sure that only when it is essential, we make those adjustments. And that's why we have been able to deliver the price-cost spread in all the segments. I think it's a very important point to keep in mind that this is across the board, all the segments, we have delivered the price-cost spread positive. And coming to your question on fixed costs, I know we have been doing. We have been active. You can rest assured that every country CEO is super active in making sure that he takes proactive steps on every single lines of the P&L to ensure that the profits and margins are maintained and constantly looking for scope to improve.
We remain very confident overall on this whole profitability, price, and price-cost spread.
On the seasonality, I would not read too much because if I take the last year, every year had been quite different. So yes, in the recent past, the second-half margin was a bit below the first half. So you could say that's the new seasonality. But again, every year was quite different because of the inflation, because of the volume. So we have not been through normal years in the last three, 4 years. So I would not read too much into that. But clearly, we are on it, and we are confident that 2024 will be a successful year for Saint-Gobain.
Helpful. Thank you.
The next question is from Ebrahim Homani with CIC. Please go ahead.
Hello, Benoit and Sreedhar. Thank you for taking my question. Two, if I may, the first one is about Chryso. Could you give us maybe more details? The HPS in the construction and industry is down 8%. Is the margin still higher than 20%, the EBIT margin of Chryso? And my second question is about the comparison basis. It's a follow-up question. In H2, especially in Europe, do you are more confident for the next quarters, especially in H2? And if I focus on France as MaPrimeRénov’ has been is now more easier to implement.
So just a high-level comment. And Sreedhar will come back to H2 and Europe. But MaPrimeRénov’ and all the energy efficiency measures, they keep moving in the right direction. So yes, there has been some debate, and we discussed that during the full-year call in late February.
But it's still an increased volume versus the year before. On top of that, you have renovation now happening within public buildings. So the trend towards energy efficiency renovation keeps moving in the right direction. On Chryso specifically, we don't comment anymore on the Chryso margin versus the rest. But I can tell you that, remember, we improved by 400 basis points Chryso plus GCP in 2023 on the pro forma basis for the first full year, which is great. Chryso has always been a stellar performance in terms of margin. And yes, the goal is to, of course, keep, and that's the case, Chryso legacy above 20% and bring the rest to that level. And we are making good moves based on synergies, based on the integration of GCP. So all that is moving in the right direction.
Remember, last year, we outperformed the market altogether for construction chemical quite significantly. I'm pleased, again, with what I've seen from the teams in different geographies in Q1, be it in North America, Latin America, or in Europe. We keep moving. I'm happy both on the top-line momentum and also the margin evolution of that business and the way also they deal with pricing, with some pricing actions also at the beginning of the year. H2, you wanted to comment to H2.
Yeah. I mean, H2, the comparison basis should be helpful. It should be easier. We should also see the working days effect, the technical effect in Q2 and Q3 should be positive. That's why I think when Benoit said that the worst is behind us, it's very true because we have a lot of such indicators, which clearly helps us to be confident about the next quarters to come.
Okay. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Brijesh Siya with HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi. And good afternoon, gents. I have two questions as well. Firstly, Mr. Sreedhar, so you said you have price cost positive in Q1, and you are confident for the full year. Would you say that you will be offsetting the volume decline with those positive price costs as well? So that's the first one. And the second one, looking a little more detail into the high-performance solution. So the global construction volumes are down or sales is down 6.7%. Within that, how has the construction chemical business performed? If you could just comment on that.
So I will take the second. And Sreedhar, we'll take the first. As I said, we had a good positive performance of construction chemicals. So within this segment, you have the business which we call Adfors, which is glass grid reinforcement, notably for external facades, very much related to new construction, a lot in Central Europe. And this business, we highlighted it in the last few quarters, this business is the most impacted for the drop of new builds in countries like Germany and Central Europe. So the negative impact is purely and entirely due to this Adfors business. Again, we think we are not far from the trough in that regard. But that's the negative impact in the first quarter, like we have seen it already in the second half of last year.
Coming to the price cost spread, the price cost spread, it's going to be positive to take care of all the tailwinds that you would see in the raw material costs coming in. So I wish it was true that we can compensate every other downside. No, it doesn't work like that. But most important is managing this price cost spread, making sure that the tailwind, what we are getting, we are not passing on more than what we are getting. I think we are clearly managing that in a very, very disciplined manner. And what we have done in the first quarter really is fantastic to see every single segment having a price cost spread positive. It's very encouraging. So for me, I think this is a good situation, good start to the year.
Coming back to your question on HPS, if I take it on a bit broader view, also keep in mind that HPS in Q1 of 2023 had still a strong first quarter. Volumes were up 2.7%. HPS, on the quarter-to-quarter comparison, has a higher comp from last year in terms of volume. That does explain also the drop on volumes from HPS last year. Prices, typically, was also quite high also, still again in Q1 of last year. That's a technical effect of comparison basis.
Understood. Benoit, if I just supplement this last answer, would it be fair to say that the HPS possibly have seen the worst volume decline or the like-for-like sales decline in Q1, and it's only going to improve as we move through the year?
Correct. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. We expect volumes to improve quarter- by- quarter for the rest of the year. That's correct.
All right. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Yassine Touahri with On Field Investment Research. Please go ahead.
Yes. Maybe a little bit of a clarification about the volume development that you see in March and April. Is it fair to understand your comment that in April, for the time being, you're seeing volume low single-digit down, similar to what you would expect for the full year? Or could it be better because you've got some extra working day? And then the second question is regarding the pricing development. I think last year, prices came off a little bit sequentially, especially in flat glass. Do you think that the base effect on prices could become easier? And could we have stabilization of prices in the second part of 2024? And the last question is, if at some point we see a bit of a volume recovery, let's say, in the second part of the year, do you think we could see some earnings growth?
I didn't get your last. Some operating earnings growth, if we start to see a little bit of a volume recovery in the second part of the year when the comparison is easier.
Operating leverage? What do you say?
Operating what?
Would you say operating earnings growth?
Earnings growth. Sorry. Sorry, Benoit. Okay. Thank you for your question. So volume development, I will not comment specifically. But April, what I said is that we have seen already in Q1 showing improvement on volumes versus Q4. And we expect that to continue. So what I commented, that April versus the full-year target and overall framework that we shared with you in late February of low single-digit full-year volume drop, we are in line with this assumption. So that's what I would say for March, April in terms of dynamics. So we continue to move in the right direction. Pricing, you take the.
Yeah. Just to add one more point is, if you look at the evolution in percentage terms, it should improve in Q2 versus Q1. That's what I would say. Coming to pricing, we expect our pricing in Q2 to remain around the same level in Q1. When you look at the last year, the pricing was more or less stable at the group level. So I would not get into the product line pricing. But at the group level, it was more or less stable. So there is no real comparison-based impact that you would see in pricing. But as of now, the Q2 should be in line with what you have seen in Q1, more or less.
Last question is on leverage. I think it's always back to the same question. Of course, if you turn into positive volumes, you have a positive leverage. So that's the normal P&L effect, I would say, within Saint-Gobain. We commented several times about the leverage ratio that you would expect. And this is something that indeed will happen when volumes will turn positive or in the regions where volumes are getting positive.
Thank you.
The next question is from Gregor Kuglitsch with UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good evening. Thank you. So just to clarify your points on volume, so are you talking about trading day-adjusted volume? So basically, in Q1, you were down, I think, a little bit over 3. I think in Q2, you get a trading day tailwind. So I just want to be clear, when you're saying sequential improvements in Q2 versus Q1, are you talking about sort of a cleansed trading day basis? Because I think you previously said you're going to get a tailwind of a percentage point on volumes in the second quarter. So that's question one. Question two is, historically, you've kind of talked price cost, I think, purely price raw mat, I think. And I think that's still the case. Maybe it was answered before or sort of alluded to before, but I didn't quite catch that.
In terms of the fixed cost inflation, are you able to offset that with efficiencies right now? Or do you need a little bit of the price cost, essentially, to pay for that? Yeah. Those are my two questions. Thank you.
Okay. So I'll take the first. And Sreedhar, you take the second. On volumes, if I take the second quarter, the evolution in percentage will improve in Q2 for several reasons. First, indeed, it will be driven by a positive impact of working days. Second, an easier comparison basis in Q2. And third, a trend improving in certain countries. And we'll continue to see that in the second half. So you will have both effect, positive impact of working days, easier comparison basis in H2, and trend improving in certain countries. So this is how we look at volumes going forward.
So Gregor, coming to this fixed cost inflation or the wages inflation, we continue to make good progress on operational efficiencies. We should be able to largely compensate all these increases which we see in the fixed cost. If at all there's something which we should take care of with the price cost spread, which is going to be positive. So I think as far as margin is concerned, I think we are quite comfortable that there is clear, good progress that we have made in the first 4 months, which gives us the confidence that we should continue to do well and deliver on our commitments on margins.
Thank you.
If I take, Gregor, a bit broader view on the full year related to volumes, overall, if I take the full year, we expect volumes to be positive or neutral everywhere except in Europe. And if I take the view for the next quarter, so again, positive evolution based on the impact of working days in Q2 and moving to the second half, an easier comparison basis, and the trend improving in certain countries going forward. So that's how we see sequentially things moving in the right direction and why we say we think we have the worst behind us now.
Okay. Sorry. Just to be clear, so you're saying the comp and the sequential improvement is a second-half comment. And in Q2, you basically get the trading days. Is that right? Or are you also saying the same for Q2?
Correct. Correct.
Just to be clear with your yeah. Yeah. Because you're sort of yeah. Yeah. Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
The next question is from Woerner Tobias with Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good evening, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. Two, if I may. Following up on the sort of volume sequentially improving trend, you sort of, I think if I remember correctly, pointed to a low single-digit decline. I think you even put a number at -2% for volume for the year. But I may be wrong. But when you think about what you just described, you may even say that that could be seen as a little bit too conservative in terms of the full year development. That's the first question. Secondly, when we look to pricing, and if I may put Sreedhar on the spot here, second quarter same as first quarter.
But having said that, when you look at what you just talked about, i.e., gypsum prices in the U.S., insulation, and also asphalt roofing, they actually exited sorry, March at an accelerating rate in terms of price inflation. So I would say that unless your prices get much worse elsewhere, you should normally see also Q2 at least slightly up versus Q1 in terms of the trends. And then following up on that, when you look at flat glass prices, it seems to me when I look at the latest sort of survey for prices in Europe for glass that has become slightly less bad, that glass prices may well stop falling from here and that the 15% you talked about for the full year may again be a little bit too cautious. So if you could give us a sense of these three questions, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Tobias. So I will take the first. And Sreedhar, you followed up on the second and the third. Yes, we guided for low single-digit volumes. We didn't give you a precise number, Tobias. So I will not comment one way or the other your figure. But again, it's low single-digit. We are there. We confirm this assumption. Again, I think the positive about the first quarter is we think we have reached a floor of the group level and the worst is behind us. You see, and that's good news, that we have a lot of countries already or regions which are in positive territories. We commented on what we expect for the second half. Could be some upside in Latin America, etc. So I think that gives you the framework in terms of the low single-digit volume assumption. And we are there.
So Tobias, you are right that we will continuously look for options to get some incremental price increase. You are right that America, especially the North America, gives us clearly scope for us to keep remaining focused on incremental price increases. And this is something which we did even last year, if you remember, that we were quite successful in pushing the prices quarter after quarter in North America. So what I would say is that at the end of the day, the price cost spread is what matters. So again, I want to emphasize on this, that the fact that the first 4 months we have seen, we are very confident that we should be able to deliver positive price cost spread.
I think that's where I would like to lead the whole conversation because then if I get into the product line, it doesn't help beyond a point. Yes, you are right that glass situation can improve. But then it's an ongoing dynamic situation on a daily basis. We have to be conscious about the fact that the market is quite dynamic. Also, the volatility does exist. For me, most important element, that's what I think Benoit and I constantly, when we do our business reviews, we look at is the price cost spread with each and every country CEO.
If I may follow up with one question. When you look at publicly available data, it seems to me as if construction chemicals are doing a little bit worse than other sort of building products you have in your portfolio. Is that a fair assumption?
No. No. I think it's something we should look at more by geography than by product line because clearly, the market dynamic is quite a significant driver. So I can tell you that all the businesses, all the CEOs, all the business lines of Saint-Gobain, we are looking at the price cost spread. It's sometimes a bit easier when you have tailwind on volumes like in North America. But everyone is focused on that spread. And it's well managed also within construction chemicals overall. The impact of energy is not as brutal as we can see it in glass. But you have natural gas for plasterboard, for gypsum. So all the parameters are quite different. But construction chemicals is also moving in positive territories in terms of price cost spread.
In prices or just price cost spread?
There is some carry-forward effect in construction chemicals. So again, yeah, there is a carry-forward effect. But I think for me, coming back again, the spread is a very important point.
Okay. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Thank you.
The next question is from Laurent Runacher with LRESG Advisory. Please go ahead.
[audio distortion] Hello. Good evening, everyone. I just would like you, if you could, give us a sense of the volume's evolution in renovation. And also, is it fair to assume that there is a counter effect with quite quick new construction? So there is a balance effect as people are staying at home or not moving from their homes. And the second question would be, broadly or not, the acquisition you made in 2023, can you share with us what could be the incremental savings or synergies you could expect for 2024?
So Laurent, thank you for your questions. I'll take the first one. I would not say there is a counter effect of renovation when people cannot go to new construction. The effect on energy efficiency is there. The regulations are there in terms of moving forward and deadlines, if I take France or if I take the public buildings. So that's moving on its own, I would say. What we see as, I would say, ripple effect of interest rate on renovation is related transactions. When interest rates come down, you tend to have a bit more transaction. And we all experience that on an individual basis. When you enter into a new home, you tend to have a bit more heavy renovation than 3, 4, 5 years later. So that's the interest rate driver towards renovation outside of energy efficiency renovation.
The state of home that you may have in mind has been a bit sometimes in the U.S. where when mortgage rates were a bit expensive and not cooling down, people would not put their home for sale because otherwise, they would have to take a new mortgage in a new home. Based on the increased mortgage, the new home may be a bit smaller. There has been a very low or lower than normal level of activity in terms of home resale in the U.S., which supported a bit housing start. That's the only effect I would comment is a bit of the state of home because you have to wait for the mortgage rates to drop a bit, which they have done, versus investing in a new transaction and buying a new home. We don't see that effect in Europe.
There may have been a bit of that in the U.S. if I take the last 12 or 18 months. But I think it has disappeared for the ballpark. The new housing single-family homes in the U.S. is strong. Multifamily is down. But for us, it's much more important that single-family homes are up. And then it's based on the needs for the population, be it in the U.S. or in Canada.
So coming on the synergies, so yes, we would see a positive effect of the synergy between last year versus this year. We would expect something like around EUR 50 million. We should see that impact overall. And that's something which we had indicated when we made the announcement of different acquisitions.
Okay. Thank you so much. But just coming back to the first question, can you give us some quantitative guidance as far as renovation has evolved in Europe, for example?
Well, it varies. Then we would have to, too, I would say, Europe in the different countries. And it varies country by country. But you can see based on official statistics that if I take the big countries of Germany, Norway, Sweden, France, new built has been down 30%-40%. So when our volumes in those countries are down 5%-7%, that means renovation is slightly down. But again, low single digit. So it's quite a magnitude of change between new built and renovation. We are not seeing that renovation is up in some of those countries because of the overall macroeconomic environment. But it's quite a very big difference between new built, if I stay on the residential side, and renovation.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Laurent.
The next question is from Rosemarie Morbelli with Gabelli Funds. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I was wondering if you could touch a little more on the acquisition. You mentioned that the process is underway for CSR and Bailey. Do you expect any issues? Can you give us some details as to what you are doing and if the timing for the closure has changed?
No. Thank you for your question. So overall, no change. We expect those acquisitions to close in the second half of 2024. Of course, we are working on all the necessary authorization levels. It's antitrust in Canada. It's foreign investment in Australia. There is no particular antitrust filing. There is no red flag. There is no negative news. So you could say it's only positive. I would say yes. So it's progressing well. But of course, we have to respect all those processes and administrative approvals. But again, the interaction has been positive. If anything, it has been positive. I can tell you some of you may have picked that we will have the first court hearing in Australia on Friday reviewing the scheme document. It's public information. If you look at the court hearing, it's public. So that will be the first hearing.
We will see if there is any additional question from the court. So in Australia, we expect the court approval, the foreign investment. And after that, the shareholder vote. So all this is progressing well. This is why we wanted to have a paragraph on that in the press release by the same token. And at the same time, of course, we have quite a lot of interactions, all that being within the legal framework of what we can do, what we cannot do during this period. But we have a lot of discussions with the teams be it in Canada. And we knew them before, as you remember, because it has been a partner for 15 years with CertainTeed in ceiling grids, be it in Australia on all kinds of topics to prepare the integration, to prepare the synergies. So we have an integration committee.
We had already two meetings. So all this is, I would say, normal homework. But I can tell you the spirit on both sides is extremely positive. We will have additional visits of our mutual teams over there in late May. So it's progressing well, preparing the integration and be ready on day one when it comes. So that's overall progressing well on a positive note between the teams. And nothing negative or nothing unexpected on the administrative antitrust or foreign investment side.
Thank you. That is helpful. And then you have been really on a buying binge, if I can use that term, regarding acquisitions. They are all of a reasonably small size except for the two, and particularly CSR, that is pending. Are there any possibility for a large acquisition out there? And if there is, how much leverage are you willing to take in order to accomplish it?
Well, first, I consider that CSR is a significant move. It's totally aligned with the strategy of Saint-Gobain, of course, in terms of geographic development, in terms of light construction, a company we knew well over the last years. But it's a significant size. We don't have in mind a large acquisition. We stay very disciplined on several fronts. First, on the financial side, the leverage. We indicated at the time of the capital market day, we would stay between 1.5-2 times debt to EBITDA ratio. Correct me if I'm wrong, Sreedhar. But even with CSR and Bailey, we are at the low side, if not below the low range of this bracket. But we stay, of course, very disciplined on the financial side. The two other criteria is, one, the strategic alignment.
Geographic development in fast-growing markets like Canada, North America, Asia, energy markets, and Australia, also on construction chemicals. This is why we have been happy to sign 6 deals in just the first quarter. Within the strategic targets, we have also in mind to have a good cultural alignment because those companies, we know them well, and we feel good. We feel confident about a smooth integration. The third criteria, of course, is the financial metrics in terms of creating value on year 3, if not earlier, like we have done for Continental Building Products year 2, for Chryso year 2. Those are the way we look at acquisition moving forward in terms of criteria and very rigorous capital allocation. Long answer to say no, we don't have a large acquisition in mind. But we are happy with what we have to integrate going forward.
It will be very good additions to Saint-Gobain, more than 3% of our total turnover and good margin businesses.
Thank you, Benoit. In talking about good margin businesses, you mentioned that you are confident that for 2024, you will achieve double-digit operating margin. Are you expecting those margins to be above those of 2023 given the macroeconomic environment?
We will do our best to deliver the best possible margin for Saint-Gobain. We are happy to say at the beginning of the year, for the first time, that we target a double-digit margin for 2024. We deliver that 3 years in a row. It will be a fourth year. As always, with Sreedhar and all the teams of Saint-Gobain who are super engaged, super committed, we are always doing our best to deliver the best possible, not only margins but gross returns for our shareholders and continue to create value and have the good, strong momentum we have been delivering for several years now in a row.
Thank you very much.
The next question is a follow-up from Yassine Touahri with On Field Investment Research. Please go ahead.
Yeah, just a follow-up. In Europe, I think a couple of weeks ago, the Parliament voted the Energy Performance of Building Directive, which is it something which could be substantial for you in the next decade? I think it introduced minimum energy performance standard for non-residential building and some renovation plans for each of the member states on housing. Is it something that is substantial for Saint-Gobain and that could change the growth cycle in the next decade compared to what we've seen in the past 10, 20 years?
Well, short answer is yes. That's good news. We knew it was coming. It was in the past because, again, it comes on top of several different programs and actions, the Fit for 55 package. Clearly, it does clear the way for implementation now. Overall, it's good news. After that, back to your question on April, it's not going to move the needle in April for ourselves. It's good news. This is why I'm confident about the renovation dynamic and the long-term dynamics of Saint-Gobain, be it new construction in the fast-growing geographies, be it renovation in Europe. I think what is interesting in this change of the EPBD adopted on the 12th of April is that basically, it's asking the countries, each of them, to define exactly, based on their existing stock of buildings, what are the right measures for them.
So I think it makes sense at the European level to not have a one-size-fits-all type of regulation but ask all the countries, again, on their existing stock of buildings, to move in the right direction. So a few details maybe on this directive. By 2030, all new buildings should be zero emissions. It was 2028 previously. So it did move by 2 years. But it's still quite a strong ambition. And 2030, it's almost tomorrow morning. Why do I say that? Because if you are an architect, if you are a homeowner, a building owner, you are not going to build in 2026 something which will be outdated by 2030. And by 2050, all EU building stock should transform into zero-emission buildings. So again, it's no longer minimum energy performance requirements for individual buildings.
It's now targeting a reduction in primary energy use of residential buildings, at least 16% in 2030, 22% by 2035. Member states have now the freedom to choose their own strategies and, therefore, deliver better than if it was something not totally adapted for their own country. They have to meet those targets. Yes, it's good news. We will clearly move now into deeper renovation. As you know, on renovation, on craftsmen, on labor force, on all the fragmented value chain that is necessary to deliver on those goals, the best is stability, visibility. I know with this directive, now we have visibility towards 2030 and beyond of what needs to be delivered. Yes, good news of all.
Thank you very much.
Benoit, there are no more questions registered at this time.
Okay. Thank you very much for your time and all your questions. As you may remember, we have a site visit in the U.K. on the 2nd of July, close to Manchester. I look forward, together with Sreedhar, Vivien, and all the team, to seeing many of you at our site in the U.K. with Maud Thuaudet, our U.K. CEO. Some of you have seen him in London. It will be an interesting visit. Thank you very much for participation in this call. Have a good evening to all of you. Thank you.