-- Sika (SIKA.SW) on Tuesday upheld its 2026 guidance even as first-quarter sales in Swiss francs declined 7% year over year due to foreign-currency impacts in a subdued global construction market.
Net sales of the Swiss specialty chemicals group reached 2.49 billion francs in the three months ended March 31, down from 2.68 billion francs a year ago. Sales beat the FactSet-compiled consensus estimate of 2.45 billion francs.
In local currencies, sales edged up 0.9% thanks to market share gains across all regions. Sales growth in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa accelerated to 3.6% from 0.7% as construction activity gained pace after the winter months. However, sales in the Americas fell 0.8% after a 4.9% rise in the 2025 first quarter, owing to winter storms and economic uncertainty. Asia-Pacific also declined 2.2% due to a double-digit drop in the Chinese construction business.
While Sika flagged muted global market conditions in 2026, including a low single-digit percentage decline, it expects a gradual improvement in momentum for the construction industry after a softer first half. As such, the company maintained its expectations for sales to increase between 1% and 4% in local currencies in 2026, in line with its target of outperforming the market by 3% to 6%. Sika also confirmed its medium-term strategic targets for "sustainable, profitable" growth under the Strategy 2028.
Additionally, Sika made targeted structural adjustments in China and implemented operational improvements in other markets as part of its Fast Forward program, through which it is on course to deliver 80 million francs of savings in 2026 and 150 million francs to 200 million francs annually at full run rate by 2028.
"We are accelerating our investment in product innovation and improving our customer value proposition," Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hasler said. "We are watchful on the impact of events in the Middle East. We expect global market conditions to remain muted in 2026 and we are acting preemptively."