Saint Gobain Or Regulatory News (COD)

14 Sep 2005 16:00

Compagnie de Saint-Gobain14 September 2005 Not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in, into orfrom Australia, Canada or Japan 14 September 2005 Compagnie de Saint-Gobain Cash Offer for BPB plc Response to BPB's document Compagnie de Saint-Gobain ("Saint-Gobain") notes that BPB plc ("BPB") has todayissued its formal defence document and has the following comments to make: • Although the document contains considerable detail, Saint-Gobain was aware of the key elements • The document contains a profit forecast, which takes earnings per share from a consensus of 44p per share1 immediately before the offer period to 47p per share2 for the year to 31 March 2006, before taking into account the impact of the proposed return of capital • BPB's view that it should trade on a P/E multiple as high as 14.3x is very surprising • The peer group used by BPB to arrive at this multiple includes US companies that have historically traded at substantially higher P/E multiples to European companies. Saint-Gobain does not believe that the methodology used by BPB is valid and believes a more appropriate current year P/E multiple would be considerably lower In summary, Saint-Gobain continues to believe that its offer of 720p per sharetakes into account the quality and growth of BPB's business. The documentcontains no information that suggests that BPB deserves a re-rating and indeedvalidates Saint-Gobain's view that 720p per share fully and fairly values BPB. Enquiries Saint-Gobain (for analysts and investors) Florence Triou-Teixeira, Head of IR Tel: +33 1 47 62 45 19Alexandre Etuy, Deputy Head of IR Tel: +33 1 47 62 37 15 BNP Paribas (joint financial adviser to Saint-Gobain) Thierry Dormeuil Tel: +33 1 42 98 12 34Oliver Ellingham Tel: +44 20 7595 2000 UBS Investment Bank (joint financial adviser and broker to Saint-Gobain) Charles-Henri Le Bret Tel: +33 1 48 88 30 30Liam Beere Tel: +44 20 7567 8000 Brunswick (PR adviser to Saint-Gobain) John Sunnucks Tel: +44 20 7404 5959Sophie Fitton Tel: +44 20 7404 5959 Notes 1. Consensus immediately prior to the offer period is comprised of forecastsfrom ABN Amro, Citigroup, CSFB, Deutsche Bank, DrKW, Merrill Lynch, MorganStanley and Teather & Greenwood 2. Underlying pro forma earnings and EPS (diluted) of 50p less pro forma impactassuming a capital return on 1 April 2005 of 3p Copies of the Offer Document and the Form of Acceptance are available forcollection (during normal business hours) from Capita Registrars at PO Box 166,The Registry, 34 Beckenham Road, Beckenham, Kent BR3 4TH. Further information on Saint-Gobain is available on Saint-Gobain's websitewww.saint-gobain.com. Terms used in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in theOffer Document. The Offer in the United States is made solely by the Offeror and neither BNPParibas, UBS nor any of their respective affiliates is making the Offer into theUnited States. The Saint-Gobain Directors and the Offeror Directors accept responsibility forthe information contained in this announcement. To the best of the knowledge andbelief of the Saint-Gobain Directors and the Offeror Directors (who have takenall reasonable care to ensure that such is the case), the information containedin this announcement for which they are responsible is in accordance with thefacts and does not omit anything likely to affect the import of suchinformation. BNP Paribas and UBS are acting exclusively for Saint-Gobain and the Offeror inconnection with the Offer and no one else, and will not be responsible to anyoneother than Saint-Gobain and the Offeror for providing the protections affordedto respective clients of BNP Paribas and UBS nor for providing advice inrelation to the Offer or any other matter referred to herein. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or an invitation topurchase any securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange