GS EUROPEAN EXPRESS: Earnings preview | Sponsor Activity | Utilities | Building Materials | Auto1 | Macro | Global | Corporate Access

Research evidence excerpt

GS EUROPEAN EXPRESS: Earnings preview | Sponsor Activity | Utilities | Building Materials | Auto1 | Macro | Global | Corporate Access

Goldman Sachs GS EUROPEAN EXPRESS

Building Materials: ‘Solutions strategy’, a driver of outperformance, or a way to

broaden the portfolio? - We assess the “solutions selling” strategy increasingly adopted

by building materials companies, with mentions of “building solutions” or “building

envelope” 3x higher on conference calls over the last five years and net acquisitions 2x

higher in nominal USD. We believe solutions can be a differentiator for some categories

but is not a universal approach, particularly in more commoditised products. Within our

coverage, we see Sika (Buy) and Kingspan (Neutral) as having the strongest strategies to

drive outperformance, with upside to forecasts for Saint-Gobain (Neutral) and Holcim

(Buy) if they can execute on bundling their diversified portfolios. We identify three

dimensions of an effective strategy: product offering, targeted distribution, and margin

capture. (Ben Rada Martin) See also: Holcim (HOLN.S): Incorporating Xella, the

company’s most significant solutions investment yet; Previewing 2Q’26; Buy

Auto1 Group (AG1G.DE): 2Q26 preview: Expect strong Autohero units vs. consensus

underpinned by high frequency data - Auto1 will report its 2Q26 results on July 29,

where we expect above-consensus units sold, gross profit, and adj. EBITDA (GSe

+2%/+3%/+5% vs. Visible Alpha Consensus Data). In particular, our above-consensus

Autohero Q2 units sold forecast (+7% vs. consensus) is underpinned by our latest

proprietary high-frequency data analysis where we track individual delistings from

Autohero websites (see here for our Jun-26 high-frequency data report published

alongside this preview).