MOSCOW (MRC) -- AkzoNobel, the Dutch paints and performance coatings multinational, has reported net income falls by 46% to EUR162.0 mln, said the company.
AkzoNobel's third-quarter net income fell on a year-on-year basis on the back of higher contributions from discontinued operations in the same period of 2018. The company's third-quarter 2018 net income from discontinued operations stood at €152m. The company did not post any net income from discontinued operations in the third quarter of this year.
The Amsterdam-based company credited its Q3 performance to selected price hikes and cost savings. It said it is on target to achieve a 15% return on sales in 2020, up from 13.8% this year. An increasing ROS means a company grows more efficiently.
"We are delivering toward our 15% by 2020 strategy," said AkzoNobel CEO Thierry Vanlancker.
He added the Q3 profit “was a year-on-year increase for the fifth quarter in a row. Our profit improvement of 23% in the third quarter was strong, even though we had to deal with softer end market demand."
Vanlancker also announced his company will buy back EUR500m of its own shares, an investor-pleasing move bound to boost the value of their shares in the company.
AkzoNobel is active in several markets, including boatbuilding. It recently unveiled Awlgrip HDT (High Definition Technology), a new single-stage repairable topcoat.
Vanlancker says the global market is relatively “subdued” except in aerospace and powder coatings. He said that “continued pricing initiatives and cost-saving programs are in place to address the current challenges.” In recent years, AkzoNobel implemented cost savings of EUR19m.
As it was written before, AkzoNobel finalized the acquisition of BASF’s global Industrial Coatings business, which supplies a range of products for industries including construction, domestic appliances, wind energy and commercial transport, strengthening its position as the global number one supplier in coil coatings.
As MRC informed earlier, BASF would expand the capacity of ethylene oxide and ethylene oxide derivatives at its Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The total investment adds about 400 000 tpy to BASF’s production capacity for the corresponding products with an expected investment amount exceeding EUR500 million.
Ethylene is a feedstock for producing polyethylene (PE).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,255,800 tonnes in the first seven months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased.
Akzo Nobel N.V., trading as AkzoNobel, is a Dutch multinational, active in the fields of decorative paints, performance coatings and specialty chemicals. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company has activities in more than 80 countries, and employs approximately 55,000 people.
MRC