Performance 2018

Sika continued its success story in the 2018 financial year with record figures. Sales in local currencies increased by 13.6% to CHF 7,085.4 million. Operating profit (EBIT) rose by 5.5% to CHF 945.9 million (previous year: CHF 896.3 million), while net profit grew by 5.9% to CHF 687.1 million (previous year: CHF 649.0 million). The 16 strategic investments made during the year under review will continue to drive future growth. The Board of Directors is proposing to the 2019 Annual General Meeting a dividend increase of 10.8%. The strategic goals for 2020 were confirmed.

TARGET 1: All new product developments are reviewed against sustainability criteria using a standardized methodology, including a documented sustainability profile and an appropriate improvement plan where necessary. In 2018, this target was achieved.

Performance

A uniform sustainability assessment process (including guidelines and tools) addresses relevant sustainability indicators and forms part of the official Sika product development process. The objective of the sustainability assessment process, which is established throughout the company, is to evaluate relevant sustainability aspects of a new development over its entire life cycle, compared to the company’s own or competitive solutions. Economic, environmental, and social aspects are assessed and serve as the basis for understanding risks and opportunities and thus deciding what measures are feasible to improve the sustainability profile of a development. If a new solution fails to provide an improvement over the existing product, it may not be worthwhile to further pursue a particular development. On the other hand, if a significant improvement over the existing product is achieved, the relevant projects must be prioritized for special attention.

In 2018 , the sustainability assessment process was used to evaluate 108 new local and global product developments. Of these, 15% were identified to offer an improvement over the existing product and are therefore of importance to the company’s sustainability.

• Example 1: New process for high-quality recycling concrete

One example of sustainable innovation is a new process for recycling 100% of concrete/mortar demolition waste, which significantly reduces the embodied footprint of buildings and structures. Sika has developed a new patented recycling process which allows the extraction of secondary raw material from old concrete at the quality level of primary material. This enables the production of high quality recycling concrete by using 100% secondary aggregates, which saves limited natural resources such as sand and gravel. Sika’s new recycling technology exploits the synergy from a chemo-mechanical treatment of concrete demolition waste. The process focuses on sequestrating approximately 50 kilograms of CO2 per ton of crushed concrete demolition waste. It involves a superficial carbonation of the cementitious matrix that is softened and removed upon attrition. The freshly exposed surfaces are able to further carbonate until aggregates which are free from cementitious material are obtained. In this way, concrete/mortar demolition waste can be separated into “secondary aggregates” for recycling at a quality level of primary material, and a powdery by-product that can be used as secondary raw materials in a broad application spectrum, such as partly replacing primary cement raw meal for cement clinker production, or as an inert filler for cement plants and building materials in general. Once implemented at an industrial scale, this new process can also significantly help decarbonize the cementitious sector as well.

• Example 2: New i-Cure-technology-based polyurethane waterproof coating system for balcony range

Resin flooring developments continue to focus on high-performance products that meet sustainable building requirements. To complement the existing balcony range, a new moisture triggered polyurethane waterproof coating system was developed, consisting of Sika® Concrete Primer LO, Sikafloor®-425 (waterproofing layer) and Sikafloor®-420 (protection layer). All system components are i-Cure-technology-based, a novel latent hardener that prevents gassing in the finished film, which can often be seen in conventional polyurethanes when applied in harsh environments. The new technology allows the final products to be formulated with higher solid content, reduced VOC’s (volatile organic compounds), lower odor, lower hazard, and most importantly, reduced emissions. The system is protected by the water- based polyurethane Sikafloor®-418 W top sealer, which allows the design of a new generation of best-in-class highly durable and aesthetically attractive balcony system buildups.
 

TARGET 2: The major Sika national subsidiaries prepare a sustainability action plan and implement all key projects planned in this context. The plan is aligned with local trends and with market requirements, and encompasses the key projects and topics that are geared towards the global initiative. In 2018, this target was achieved.

Performance

All of the larger countries in North America, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe further developed product sustainability road maps in the year under review. As a result of the regional Sustainability Academy programs in 2017 for Asia/Pacific and Latin America, a priority in the year under review was to extend the scope of the road map activities into the Asia/Pacific and Latin America regions. In this regard, the Sustainability Academy programs played an important role in involving additional national subsidiaries, and increasing the future number of projects and activities to currently 39 countries. Customers, as well as building and construction standards, increasingly demand that companies declare the environmental performance or environmental impact of its products in a transparent manner. This calls for sound data and knowledge about the impacts of product manufacturing and application, and the added value of finished products in their application and use phase.

In 2018, Sika expanded the existing reference database for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for its products and systems in accordance with the international ISO and EN standards, which increases the customer’s choice when it comes to product selection and decision making by providing information on the environmental performance of Sika solutions. Examples include the preparation of EPD for Pulastic® multifunctional sportsfloor and Sikafloor® product range under the German IBU standard, whereby Sika has published EPDs for all of its major European flooring products and technologies. Furthermore, Sika has been developing third-party certified EPDs for the North American construction market, covering sealing and flooring products and liquid applied membranes for roof waterproofing solutions, utilizing local US standards.

Sika has introduced an “energy-saving calculator” for its roofing business, which enables the user to quantify the contribution of the roof design on energy and cost savings during a building’s use phase. Possible energy savings can be achieved through improved thermal insulation characteristics and/or reflectivity of roofing membranes. Dedicated trainings were held in countries including Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, and the UK, amongst others. In Spain, for example, the acquisition of first projects was successfully supported by quantifying the benefits of reflectivity of highly reflective roofing membranes in warm climates. In 2019 the focus will be to further introduce the energy saving concept in other key countries in EMEA, Latin America, and Asia/Pacific in order to support sales of insulation and cool roof solutions. Another initiative in Refurbishment is the development and introduction of a complete range of sustainable cementitious mortars for repairing, waterproofing, levelling, tiling, and flooring. The main characteristic of these products is the significant reduction of portland cement by replacing part of it with supplementary cementitious materials, which may otherwise be disposed of in a landfill. In direct comparison with a cement based mortar of equivalent performance, reducing the amount of portland cement results in a significant reduction in the embodied energy and carbon footprint.  

TARGET: 5% more social projects per year. Social projects benefit all non-commercial stakeholder groups of local companies and their neighborhoods. They encompass monetary benefits or material donations, local projects and community engagement programs, dialog with stakeholder groups, communal consultation procedures, social activities and programs, training, environmental projects, or recovery programs. In 2018, this target was achieved.

Performance

Sika sponsored 128 projects in 2018 (previous year: 118 projects). This equates to a year-on-year increase of 9%. The projects can be classed as “social” (including donations), “ecological”, “scientific”, and “sports and cultural”.

TARGET: 3% less energy consumption per ton and year. This includes the total energy produced and consumed by all Sika companies. In 2018, this target was achieved.

Performance

Energy consumption per ton sold was 424 megajoules (previous year: 450 megajoules), which leads to a reduction of 5.8% compared to the previous year. Overall energy consumption was reduced by 22% (target 15%) from 2013 to 2018, from 541 MJ/t to 424 MJ/t. The decrease in energy consumption is a consequence of a global strategy: Sika continued to replace lighting solutions with the latest LED technology. This technology has led to substantial energy savings of up to 70% of total lighting electricity consumption in those locations where the technology was implemented. Furthermore, shorter batch time in production led to a higher output on existing production lines, resulting in increased energy efficiency. The replacement of technical equipment focuses on new energy efficient installations, such as motors, air conditioning, heating/cooling, and pressurized air systems.

Further activities encompass energy efficient operation of electric motors with frequency converter, leakage detection and fixation of air losses in pressurized air systems, and energy efficient cooling of process water with use of cooling tower and optimized logistics. The modernization of the vehicle fleet in 2018 also resulted in fuel reduction. Energy audits and participation at energy networks promoted energy awareness throughout the company.

Water

TARGET: 3% less water consumption per ton and year. This includes water consumed by all Sika companies, whether from public utilities, or from ground or surface water sources. In 2018, this target was not achieved.

Performance

In 2018, Sika used approximately 1.8 million cubic meters of water (previous year: 1.4 million cubic meters). The water consumption per ton sold was around 0.39 cubic meters (previous year: 0.32 cubic meters). This increase is mainly caused by acquisitions processed in 2017, which were taken into account in 2018. Without considering acquisitions, the water consumption would remain at the same level as in the previous year. However, overall the water consumption was significantly reduced by 42% (target 15%) from 2013 to 2018 from 0.67 m3/t to 0.39 m3/t.

Waste

TARGET: 3% less waste per ton and year. This includes all waste material sent to external contractors for disposal – except materials returned to suppliers – and covers all Sika companies. In 2018, this target was not achieved.

Performance

With an increased production volume, the company generated some 84,000 tons of waste (previous year: 80,000 tons). This corresponds to 18.1 kilograms of waste per ton sold (previous year: 18.4 kilograms per ton sold), or a decrease of 1.6%. Overall, Sika could reduce the amount of waste per ton sold by putting in place activities such as optimization of the production planning, streamlining the production process layout, and the reuse of production waste. In addition, water from cleaning processes (tanks, bulk delivery trucks and gas scrubbers) was reused. Furthermore, filter dust from dosing and bagging stations was recycled into similar products in mortar production. Innovative warehouse management was also put in place to reduce the amount of expired products. In conclusion, taking into account all acquisitions since 2013, Sika was able to keep the waste rate per ton sold at the same level.

TARGET: 5% less accidents per year. This refers to the number of work-related accidents leading to injuries, and covers all Sika employees. This includes temporary and subcontracted staff. In 2018, this target was not achieved.

Performance

The number of occupational accidents (lost working days >1) increased by 19.5% in 2018 compared to 2017. In the year under review, 10.4 occupational accidents per 1,000 employees were recorded (previous year: 8.7). In 2018, injuries caused absences, on average, of 18.4 days (previous year: 22). Due to this unexpected result, Sika will process safety programs in 2019, covering all regions and countries, with the objective being to place greater emphasis on employee participation and to avoid small accidents due to lack of attention.