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Sika makes specialty chemicals that help hold buildings, bridges, and cars together and keep them waterproof.
Sika is a Swiss chemicals company that sells the invisible stuff that makes construction and cars work better. Its three main businesses are construction chemicals, industrial adhesives, and automotive sealing. The biggest chunk — roughly 80% of sales — is construction, where it sells concrete admixtures (liquids that make concrete stronger and easier to pour), waterproofing membranes, mortars, sealants, and repair products. Its customers are mostly construction contractors, concrete producers, and big infrastructure projects like tunnels, bridges, and dams. The rest of the business — around 20% — sells adhesives and sealants directly to carmakers and other manufacturers, gluing windshields, bonding panels, and damping noise in vehicles.
Think of it as the seasoning and glue of the building world. You don't see it, but without it the concrete cracks, the roof leaks, and the car rattles. Sika's edge is that once a builder or carmaker specifies Sika into a project or a production line, switching is painful and slow. That stickiness gives it pricing power and steady recurring revenue, even when construction slows. The company was founded in 1910 in Switzerland by Kaspar Winkler, who invented a quick-setting mortar additive for the Gotthard railway tunnel. Today it's a global player with about 34,000 employees and roughly CHF 11.5 billion in annual sales, growing steadily through small and mid-sized acquisitions — it bought MBCC Group in 2023 and has been digesting that deal while expanding in fast-growing markets like the US, China, and Latin America. Sika generates solid free cash flow, which it splits between buying smaller rivals, paying a rising dividend, and keeping debt in check. It rarely does big buybacks, preferring to grow by bolting on businesses that add technology or geography.
Sika AG is the company behind the OTC ticker SKFOF, confirmed by OTC Markets as its US over-the-counter listing.
Saved answer · last researched 11 Oct 2026