What’s the long-term aim of this acquisition policy?
Vincent Legros: Bostik is a leader in high-performance adhesives, demonstrating strong growth, high profitability and a global presence in industry and construction. We’re currently number three or four in the world, with a market share of approximately 4%. But there’s still plenty of potential for growth: the glues and adhesives sector is highly fragmented with a lot of small and medium-sized players, including some very high performers. Our aim is to maintain organic growth of 3 to 4% per year over time, and 10% including acquisitional growth.
How does the synergy with the Group’s other business activities tie in with this strategy?
Vincent Legros: Operating within Arkema is a huge asset, beyond the financing capabilities that it gives us. It’s a considerable lever of growth in terms of geographical presence, market access, as well as technology and know-how. We’re developing more and more relationships with our colleagues in the Coating Solutions and High-Performance Polymers divisions. These may be in the form of direct collaborations for a given solution, for instance the Elium® resin in wind power (see next page) or more broadly in the form of commercial and applications synergies. We share many customers and we’re committed to bringing them innovative and sustainable solutions.
