Investing.com -- Shares of Sika AG (SIX:SIKA) fell on Friday its third-quarter results, which Citi Research described as “marginally light.”
At 6:57 am (1057 GMT), Sika AG was trading 1.1% lower at CHF 245.30.
The company’s quarterly revenue came in at CHF 3,080 million, down by 0.8% year-on-year. This figure was largely aligned with market expectations, being just 0.3%.
Additionally, Sika reported an EBITDA of CHF 609 million for the quarter, representing a year-on-year decline of 2.1%.
In terms of margins, Sika’s third-quarter EBITDA margin was reported at 19.8%, slightly below last year’s 20% and the market consensus of 20.2%, with Citi estimating a more optimistic 20.7%.
As per Citi, this softer-than-expected result could apply slight downward pressure to Sika's 2024 consensus forecasts.
The company maintained its full-year guidance of a 6-9% increase in sales growth in local currencies, expecting an over-proportional increase in EBITDA.
While this target is under review by Citi analysts, they noted Sika’s projected topline growth in 2024 to reach about 6.8%, somewhat conservative relative to market consensus at 7.5%. Sika’s results were impacted by regional performance differences.
EMEA saw steady demand, driven by infrastructure and commercial construction, while the Americas benefited from U.S. infrastructure projects.
However, the Asia-Pacific region saw more modest growth, with distribution gains offset by weaker project activity, especially in China.
“The 3Q’24 EBITDA is marginally light, and is likely to have a neutral to slightly negative impact on the 2024 consensus estimates,” said analysts from Citi.