Partner Article

AkzoNobel paint mixed bag of results

International paint and coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel has reported revenue increases of 5% but revealed an operating loss of €1,733m for 2012.

The firm said their Decorative Paints division was impacted by weaker demand in European markets, and was eventually sold to US rival PPG in December.

Early on in the year the company acquired Boxing Olechemicals in Speciality Chemicals, a supplier to the Chinese and Asian market.

AkzoNobel said a €500m “performance improvement program” would be delivered one year ahead of schedule.

CEO Ton Büchner said: “AkzoNobel delivered a strong set of results in difficult markets, underpinned by the performance improvement program which exceeded our intermediate targets.

“The economic environment remains challenging and we expect no fundamental changes in the trends that we have seen recently in our businesses. We will continue to focus on performance improvements and operational efficiencies in order to benefit from our strong portfolio of businesses with many leading market positions and exposure to growth markets.”

The firm operates sites in Gateshead and Slough, and is currently building a £100m factory in Northumberland that will reach full production capacity by 2014.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .