European building materials supplier Saint-Gobain reported sales for 2017 of €40.8 billion (US$50.3 billion), up 4.4 percent from 2016. Profit increased 19.5 percent to €1.6 billion (US$2 billion) from the previous year.

Innovative materials sales were up 3.6 percent in 2017, while sales for the construction products sector were up 7.8 percent and building distribution was up 3.4 percent.

Geographically, sales in France were up 6.2 percent, other Western European countries were up 3.7 percent, North America was up 1.2 percent and Asia and emerging countries were up 8.4 percent.

Fourth-quarter sales were €10.2 billion (US$12.6 billion), an increase of 4.6 percent from the same period the previous year.